Pankaj Udhas
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas—the voice behind hits like Chitthi Aai Hai, Thodi Thodi Piya Karo, Na Kajre Ki Dhar and Aaj Fir Tum Pe—passed away in Mumbai on Monday after a prolonged illness.
He was 72.
The Udhas family, in a brief statement, announced the death of the veteran singer.
The Udhas family, which hails from Rajkot in Gujarat, includes his two brothers Nirmal Udhas and Manhar Udhas.
Udhas was trained under the tutelage of Navrang Nagpurkar, a singer from the Gwalior Gharana.
He started his career with a release of a ghazal album titled Aahat in 1980 and subsequently recorded many hits like Mukarar in 1981, Tarrannum in 1982, Mehfil in 1983, Nayaab in 1985 and Aafreen in 1986. He also performed at the famed Royal Albert Hall in London in 1984.
As he gained popularity as a ghazal singer, he was invited to appear and sing for a film by Mahesh Bhatt, Naam. Udhas rose to further fame for singing in the 1986 film Naam, in which his song Chitthi Aayee Hai (the letter has arrived) became an instant hit. He did playback singing for many Hindi films after that, in addition to releasing albums and performing in concerts around the world.