An Introduction of Legendary Singer Udit Narayan Jha

Udit Narayan’s Musical and Cultural Contributions to Nepal and India

Indeed, music and culture of a country are closely associated with each other. A country’s music represents many cultural characteristics of the country. There are many singers, musicians, composers, and actors who are playing an important role promoting his/her country’s music and culture. There is no doubt that Udit Narayan, one of the singers of Nepali origin, is a leading male playback singer in Bollywood and Kollywood, who has contributed to flourish both music and culture in Nepal and India in several ways.

In fact, he was born on December 1, 1955 in Saptari district, Nepal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udit_Narayan). Udit Narayan Jha came to Kathmandu for his higher study after graduating from high school at his home town. He joined Ratna Rajya Campus, a musical campus in Nepal. In Kathmandu, he began struggling to become a singer. He began his career by “singing Nepali, Maithili, and Bhojpuri songs on Radio Nepal” as a staff artist. (http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-music/indian-singers/udit-narayan.html). Udit Narayan got a scholarship in music by the Indian Embassy for Nepal and then he moved away from Kathmandu to study classical music at Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan, a prestigious classical music school in India. (http://www.india-forums.com/celebrity/747/udit-narayan/biography/). He struggled there for 10 years and became a leading playback singer. Director Rajesh Roshan gave him a first chance to sing with the legendary singer Mohammed Rofi in the movie ‘Unees Bees’. Afterward, he again got a chance to sing the song ‘Papa kahete Hai’ (Father Says that) in the superhit Bollywood movie ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ (From the Day of Judgment to the Day of Judgment). (http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-music/indian-singers/udit-narayan.html.). This song became famous; it touched every heart of the young generation and helped Udit Narayan to prove his great voice quality that ultimately succeeded to win a Best Male Playback Singer Filmfare Award. Udit Narayan became successful overnight with this song. On the other hand, he also sang Nepali songs that bear many cultural facts, for example descriptions of Hindu festivals in his songs, and his songs also tell how people celebrate these festivals. He was also an actor in Nepali movies, for instance ‘Kusume Rumal’ and ‘Peerati.’ “He has sung more than 15,000 songs in more than thirty languages.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udit_Narayan.). His repertoire includes every kind of melody: soulful, romantic, fast paced and recently, even pop.

To be honest, he involved and participated in many social and cultural programs to boost up Nepali and Indian culture in many parts of the world. He cherished the identity of Nepal in foreign countries and has helped to popularize Nepali and Indian culture in the world. He also helped the victims of flood or other natural disasters by performing various cultural programs at many concerts to collect money to donate to the victims. Also many music directors believed that Udit Narayan has an extremely versatile tone that suit many Indian actors in the films. He has sung for the famous superstars Amir Khan, Salman Khan, Sharukh Khan and other actors in Bollywood. (http://www.india-forums.com/celebrity/747/udit-narayan/biography/). Due to his successful carrier in the Bollywood Industry, he has become able to give Nepali identity in India and in the world. His songs in different Indian and Nepali languages helped to develop and spread the knowledge of these languages to people through music. Udit Narayan shared the identity of Nepali and Indian culture with many parts of the world. Udit has sung many songs that bear national themes and describe many festival ceremonies. For his contributions to music and cultures of Nepal and India, he was honored with the IIFA Award, national awards and other awards both in Nepal and India.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udit_Narayan.).

In addition, National Award winning playback singer Udit Narayan introduced himself as a producer by making the Bhojpuri (a language in India and Nepal) film “Kab Hoi Gawna Hamar,” “a cinematic venture that took him to his roots.”

(http://www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=6510). This movie was the first Bhojpuri film that got a National award. Other Bhojpuri films produced by Udit Narayan are ’Kab Kahaba Tu I Love You,’ and ‘Babuwa Hamar’. (http://bhojpuri.thefilm.co.in/category/udit-narayan.). The film ‘Kab Hoi Gawna Hamar’ was the first Bhojpuri film to be shot in a foreign country. This was good news for Bhojpuri people and Indian people as well that Udit Narayan nurtured the Bhojpuri culture through these films with a higher budget, a foreign location shoot, and the honor of the National Award for the Bhojpuri film for the first time in the Bhojpuri film industry. Interestingly, it was at Bihar at his maternal uncle’s home at Bihar, where he passed high school and first dreamed to be a singer. So, through this film, he wanted to show the culture and traditions of the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) people. To promote this film in a press conference, he addressed:

Through this film, we have shown a lot of culture of Bihar and U.P, something which I cannot say about a majority of Hindi films today, reflecting as they do the NRIs’ Problems and the goings on in hi-society. Making a film in Bhojpuri (and not in Hindi) is, in a way, my tribute to the people and the culture amidst which I was brought up.

(http://www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=6510).

As a result, through this film he bolstered the culture of Bihar and U. P. people in India more effectively. In this movie their cultural dresses, songs, struggle and progress in life is shown in a very good manner. He also made a Maithili language film ‘Eojet’ (A Ray of Light) that shows the different culture of the Maithili people and their lives. (http://www.mithilaconnect.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=42.).

It helped the spectators to understand Bhojpuri culture. This is one way how he is contributing to promote the cultures of different people through making movies. He also made a Nepali film ‘Darjeelingko cheli Kathmanduko Keto’ (A Darjeeling’s girl and a Kathmandu’s Boy), in which he tried to show the culture and life of Darjeeling and Kathmandu.

(http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/gallery/Events/12508.html.). This film also reflects his personal life, how he met his wife Deepa of Darjeeling origin, while they were in Mumbai, India.

Moreover, Udit Narayan Jha is one of the greatest singers of his generation, his singing abilities are often compared with legendary singers like Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi. “Many renowned singers, such as, Lata Mangeshkhar, Pankaj Udhas, Asha Bhosle have mentioned Udit Narayan to be the best in his generation for his quality in voice and originality.” (http://www.blogger.com/feeds/1185464984807484393/posts/default.). He has songs in many superhit Hindi and Nepali movies, for example ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’, ‘Raja Hindustani,’ ‘Swades,’ ‘Darr,’ ‘Dilawale Dulhaniya Le jayenge,’ ‘Veer- Zaara,’ ‘Nepali Babu,’ ‘Dhadkan,’ etc. (http://www.hindilyrix.com/singers/singer-udit-narayan.html.). He has sung many patriotic songs, love songs, and also many songs that describe the cultural characteristics and festivals. He has sung many songs that bear homeland feelings, for instance, ‘Mitwa’ in the movie ‘Laggan,’ ‘Aisa Des Hai Mera’ in the movie ‘Veer-Zaara’ that describe nation and nationality. Both these songs also encourage people to devote themselves to their country. Moreover, he describes India through the song ‘Aisa Desh hai Mera Desh.’ In this song, he describes how Indian people treat guests coming to their country or home.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3e8x4NY6Hw.). Equally important are numbers of celebrations that precede an Indian wedding, of which the most important is ‘mehendi.’ In this ceremony, henna designs are made on the hands and feet of the bride. Dancing and singing takes place at the same time, One of Narayan’s song reflecting this ceremony is ‘Mehendi Lagakeh Rakhna’ (Remember to Put on the Henna) in the movie ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’( The Big Hearted Will take the Bride).

(http://weddings.iloveindia.com/hindi-wedding-songs/index.html.). During dancing in the wedding ceremony, numbers of hit songs by Udit Narayan are played, which makes the wedding ceremony more enjoyable. All the people enjoy these wedding songs along with dancing. ‘Mehendi lagake Rakhna,’ ‘Mere Yaar ke Shaadi hai’ (Its My Friend’s Wedding), ‘Mujhe Shaadi karogi,’ (Will You Marry Me) Chote Chote Bhaiyon ki Bade’ and ‘Aaye Dulhe Raja’ (Groom King Will Come). These songs explain the different levels of celebrating during wedding ceremonies in the Indian culture.

Furthermore, there are many Nepali songs sung by Udit Narayan that also explain about Nepali life, Nepali culture and Nepali society. Some of these songs are ’Kahile Timro,’ ‘Chori Deu,’ ‘Timro pacheurile,’ ‘Kodo fulyo,’ ‘Bamarale,’ ‘Malai yo jindagile,’ ‘Mero Manaiko ful tipi’ etc. The song ‘Kodo Fulyo’ (the Kodo millet bloomed) depicts the Dashain festival and a mother’s feelings of worries waiting for her sons and daughters to come home for festivals. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z7drwdhYa8.). He even acted in Nepali movies like ‘Kusume Rumal’ and ‘Peerati.’ Likewise he sings the song ‘Ma Hu Nepali Babu’ (I am a Nepali) in the movie ‘Nepali Babu’ that pronounces Nepali identity with ‘Khukhuri,’ a ‘Bhatgaule cap’ (traditional Dhaka topi, a Nepali hat). In the song, he describes aspects of Nepal-the Nepali national flower Rhododendron, the Mt. Everest (the highest mountain in the world), the God Buddha, and Ram. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0EhcRKFl-w.). Gautam Buddha was a founder of Buddhism. He illustrates Nepali religion in this song. There are many Buddhist people in Nepal, India and other Asian countries including Myanmar, China, and Thailand. Buddha means ‘one who is awake’ (in the sense having ‘woken up reality’). Buddhism sees him as an idol, and a guide who can lead them to Enlightenment. (http://www.buddhist-temples.com/gautam-buddha.html.). God Buddha also gives the identity of Nepal because Nepal is his birth place. God Buddha is worshiped as a symbol of peace. The singer Udit Naryan also describes in this song the God Ram that he had met the Sita in Nepal, and the melody that comes from ‘Sarangi’ (a traditional musical instrument in Nepal). In Hindu culture, we worship Ram as seventh avatar of Vishnu (a God).

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama.). Hindu also has a festival ‘Ram Nawami’, celebrating the birth of Lord Ram as well as the marriage ceremony of Ram and the Sita in Chaitra month of Hindu calendar.

In fact, there are many songs through which he explains the identity of Nepali culture, and Nepali life. Udit Narayan is a Nepali, who has reached the peak of success not only in Nepali cinema but also in Bollywood; therefore, he was successful in showing the aspects of Nepali in many foreign countries. Because of his success in Bollywood, he helped Nepali cinema with many Nepali songs in advanced technology. He helped to introduce highly advanced technology in music that finally contributed to the development of the Nepali cinema Industry. His songs in Nepali cinema have introduced a new kind of melody in every genre: love, sentimental, patriotic, and festival songs.

Above all, Udit Narayan has sung 15,000 songs in more than thirty languages including, Hindi, Nepali, Tamil, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Oriya, Guajarati, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Rajasthani, Haryanvi, English, Malayalam, Kannada, Assamese, and Urdu.

(http://www.hindilyrix.com/singers/singer-udit-narayan.html.). Because he has sung songs in several languages, he has assisted to nourish the different languages in his stage performance in many parts of the world. He always works hard to nourish the development of different music and culture through many songs in many films and album. His songs in different languages have become successful by touching the hearts of many people and thus helped to improve the use of different languages and the understanding of cultures. Many people enjoy singing these songs or enjoy listening to these songs at different occasions of different their culture and social programs like weddings, parties, and various festivals, for instance ‘Ram Nawami,’ ‘Shivaratri,’ and ‘Krishna Janmashtami.’ In this way, he has promoted and introduced the characteristic representations of different languages and culture.

Although he lives in India, he worked with many musicians and composers of Nepali cinema industry to sketch a vision of Nepali culture in many parts of the world in a different way. Likewise, he has brought the influence of Indian music to many parts of the world; as a result many people have a better understanding of Indian music, and were influenced by a variety of musical styles. He has great understanding of both Nepali and Indian culture. Additionally, he visited many parts of world, for example Canada, U. S., West Indies, Far East, South Africa, U. K., and other countries to promote Indian culture and Nepali culture through his songs. (http://www.hindilyrix.com/singers/singer-udit-narayan.html.).

An example of his popularity is the 50,000 fans celebrated and enjoyed at his concert in Trinidad and Tobago. (http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/kumar-sanu-udit-narayan-thrill-trinidad-audience_10050641.html.). Also, the great singer Udit Narayan was personally invited at the state foundation celebration of the Uttarakhand state by Uttarakhand chief minister to show his performance at this occasion he performed several cultural programs. (http://www.4to40.com/art/music_art_news_detail.asp?id=305.).

In addition, Udit Narayan Jha was involved in many musical shows to help the victims of flood and other natural disasters, such as tsunamis. To help the victims of the Bihar flood he performed many musical programs in the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai. Money collected from the concert was donated to victims of Bihar, where many villages had been submerged, affecting more than 50 million people. (http://abhisays.com/india/salman-will-help-bihar-flood-victims.html.). He also participated in the ‘Help Telethon Concert,’ Bollywood’s largest contribution to the Tsunami tragedy.

(http://www.bollywoodsargam.com/bollywoodsargam_search.php.). Udit Narayan sang many songs at this concert to help the victims, at which he also appealed to film industry’s personnel to donate money for such victims out of humanity. His thinking may guide to others to serve the poor people or the victims; in fact, it reflects the soul of Hinduism: to help others until our death whenever and however we can.

In the same way, he released numerous private albums: ‘Bhajan Sangam,’ ‘Bhajan Vatika,’ ‘I love You,’ ‘Dil Deewana,’ ‘Yeh Dosti, Love is Life,’ ‘Sona No Ghadulo,’ ‘Dhuli Ganga,’ ‘Ma Tarini,’ and many more. (http://www.hindilyrix.com/singers/singer-udit-narayan.html). The most significant album from the viewpoint of cultural importance is ‘Bhajan Sangam’ and ‘Bhajan Vatika.’ In our culture we worship God by singing many Bhajan songs. It is better to say that many festivals, for instance, ‘Maha Shivaratri,’ ‘Krishna Janmashtami,’ and Ram Nawami are associated with Bhajan songs. A Bhajan song is a devotional song. Bhajan songs are simple religious songs in soulful language expressing emotional love for God, and a self surrender to him through singing. We play Bhajan songs in these festivals or many religious people sing Narayan’s album songs in these festivals. These songs in the albums reflect our cultural characteristics; tell about God, and how God care about us. Many songs in these albums are famous, for example ‘Jai Mata Di,’ ‘Om Jai Jagadish Arati,’ ‘Hanuman Chalisa,’ and ‘Aaye Navaratre Bhakton’. It is very important to sing these songs with loving devotion (Bhakti). (http://search.smashits.com/songs/hindi/album/10587/bhajan-vatika-udit-narayan.html.).

Besides, he was in the judge panel on Sony TV for ‘Indian Idol 3’ and ‘War Pariwaar’.

(http://www.india-forums.com/celebrity/747/udit-narayan/biography/.) In ‘War Pariwaar’, he did his judging duties with fellow male playback singer Kumar Sanu and Jatin Pandit whereas he did judging duties with music director Anuk Malik, and Javed Akhatar: lyricist, script writer, and poet. ‘Indian Idol’ is a Sony television program that serves as the ultimate platform for the budding signers to realize their dreams and ‘War Pariwaar’ is a reality show, which brings the family of singer together. He gave confidence to the budding singers to build up their carrier and told them how he reached the peak of success. He gave plenty of examples to keep trying to do the best for those who were performing poorly in the show. Through the media, he encouraged all the budding singers to promote the Indian culture in the future and motivated people to involve building up their culture.

Consequently, having given the lots of contributions to the Indian and Nepali film Industry, the legendary singer Udit Narayan was honored by many awards. For the first time, he released a private album ‘Upahaar’ (Gift), in which he sang duet songs with his wife Deepa. This album did very well, one of best selling album for all times. He got Hits FM awards for two categories ‘album of the year’ and ‘record of the year’ for this album in 2004, the most popular music award in Nepal. He got the ‘Filmfare Best Male Playback Award’ for the songs ‘Mehendi Lagake Rakhna,’ and ‘Mitwaa’ from the movie ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ and ‘Lagaan’ respectively. He also got the IFFA Best Male Playback Award for the song ‘Chand Chupa Badal Mein,’ many National Awards, Filmfare Awards, and other television awards, for instance Zee Cine Awards. He was honored with the Padma Shri award in 2009, one of India’s highest civilian honors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udit_Narayan.). The public perceived his contributions to Indian and Nepali music in a positive way.

FIGURE 3: Indian President Pratibha Patil presenting the ‘Padma Shri” Award to Udit Narayan Jha, right, at President Palace in New Delhi, India, April 14, 2009.

Source: http://newshopper.sulekha.com/pratibha-patil-udit-narayan-jha_photo_762089.htm.

In conclusion, Udit Narayan Jha is a versatile legendary male playback singer in Bollywood and Kollywood, who always supports promoting the Indian and Nepali culture. His songs play an important role describing cultural aspects of Hindu festivals and ceremonies. He made the Bhojpuri, Maithili and Nepali movies. As a result, he familiarizes the culture of Bhojpuri, Maithili, and Nepali People. He involved in many charity shows and concerts. He donated part of the revenue to victims of floods, and tsunamis. Bhajan songs from his album also play a key role in reflecting the Hindu culture. The Indian and Nepal Government honored him by evaluating his efforts to promote culture. All in all, we can say Udit Narayan Jha is one of the legendary male playback singers in Bollywood and Kollywood, whose contribution to Indian and Nepali music and culture is very valuable.