Jagjit Singh News

Event : A Unique Jugalbandi By Jagjit Singh & Gulzar
Location : Chowmahalla Palace, Khilwat, 20-4-236, Motigalli, Hyderabad
Date : Oct 11, 2009
Time : 07:00 PM

Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh believes that present day Bollywood music lacks depth as today`s filmmakers have no understanding of music and literature.
"Modern filmmakers have no interest in music and literature, moreover they don`t want to understand it. All they want to do is to earn money by selling sex and violence," the singer told reporters.

The musician also rues the fact that gazhals, which once enjoyed immense popularity in the Hindi film industry, are fast disappearing from Bollywood movies.

"They make excuses that people do not like ghazals and classical music but that is not true. The genre has seen a boom in recent times because young generation loves gazhals,"
the singer, who has evergreen hits like `Kaghaz Ki Kashti`, `Bekhudi`, `Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar` to his name.

"India is full of people who love ghazals, this is why Pakistani singers are coming to our country to perform," said the singer, who was in the capital to perform at a charity
concert.

Singh believes that unlike common perception ghazal is enjoying a greater acceptance among the young audience.

"Ghazal as a genre is more disciplined today because it is soothing to switch to them after a day`s hectic work," he adds. Singh also believes that gazhals have popularised spoken Urdu in present generation.

"It is very important today that you convey your ideas in simple language and today shayars are embracing the spoken Urdu in their creations, making it popular in young generation," Singh says.

The singer, who has a steady following in India and Pakistan, believes that there is no shortcut to the profession of music.

"Those who come in the field without learning classical music remain a bathroom singer and don`t get a chance to become famous and even if they earn some name for them, their fame is short lived," he adds.

Singh says that the young musicians aspiring for a career in the music should keep their focus right and work hard.

"Aarzoo" - is a special initiative by Smile Foundation and Sh. Jagjit Singh, to enlighten the lives of millions of underprivileged children in India . . Come watch the ghazal maestro perform live, in aid of deprived ones and thus support "Aarzoo"

"Jashn-e-Malhaar" A celebration of Rainy season & Ghazal Journey with Jagjit Singh...

Monica Chaudhry, the 49-year-old daughter of ghazal singer Chitra Singh, committed suicide at her residence at Bandra (W) early on Friday. Monica was Chitra's daughter from her first marriage.

Chitra, now the wife of ghazal singer Jagjit Singh, had been staying with her daughter for the past one month. The mother-daughter chatted late into the night on Thursday, after which both retired to their rooms. On Friday morning, when Monica didn't emerge from her room and wouldn't respond to repeated knocking, her elder son Armaan entered through a bathroom window. He found his mother hanging from the ceiling fan. No suicide note was found.

Monica was first married to Jahangir Chaudhury and had two sons--Armaan and Umer. The couple divorced in 2005, after which Monica remarried a British national called Mark Atkins. Even that relationship turned sour and Monica filed a complaint of harassment and assault against Atkins at Bandra police station. They separated a year-and-a-half ago.

Said zonal deputy commissioner of police Niket Kaushik, "Monica was depressed due to her marital problems. Her family members didn't make any allegation of abetment to suicide and we have registered a complaint of accidental death.''

Monica's fist husband Jahangir lives in Bandra and her second husband Atkins, who was chargesheeted in the harassment case in 2007, fled the country without police permission. A red corner notice against him is pending.

Chitra told the police that Jahangir picked up her grandson Umer at 11 pm on Thursday and they left for their planned holiday to Singapore. After that, she had a long chat with her daughter and then went to sleep around 2.30 am.

Around 10 am on Friday, when Chitra and Armaan found that Monica had not come out of her room, they tried to force open the door. Armaan then used the bathroom window to enter the room.

Source: timesofindia.com