Baat Niklegi toh Phir: The Life and Music of Jagjit Singh

Fantastic Book !! Well written and includes photographs gives both a written and photographic view of the life of the great music maestro, Jagjit Singh.

OK firstly great that someone decided to put a book together about one of the greatest singer, composer and artist (that's anywhere in the world - and I am an avid world music listerner) of our time. But this attempt is not worthy of such an artist.The book starts well enough, but seems to focused on leading to just one singlar tragic event in the singers life. Once it gets there the book swiftly tries to come to the end asap! And even skims over another tradegy in the final years of Jagjit and Chirta's life. I think this is perhaps partly down to a ridiculous page limit placed on the writer by the pubishers and also down to a lack of material (there's only so much one can borrow from Beyond time, an earlier Jagjit Singh commissioned book, which itself was written up to the time this book seems to fizzle out at)But the biggest disappointment is that the writer makes a meager attempt to analyse and explore the composers great depth of knowledge about music and his pursuit to create spirtual and healing music for his listeners. How did Jagjit go about composing and what did he look to create in his music, why are his fans so in love with his voice and compositions. Furthermore no discussions re his other notable work with Gulzar and also the great Ghalib live concerts. It's appears evident to me that the writer read Beyond time, listened to about 10 music albums, interviewed Chitra Singh and a few of Jagjits mates and that's it. At least the writer should speak to people like Anup Jalota, Ghulam Ali, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Deepak Pandit to name a few.Could have been a great book, but seems to be a lazy attempt. One should not set out to document such an amazing career unless one is prepared to produce something equally amazing. I give 3 stars just because the 1st half of the book is interesting enough.

Interesting description of his formative years but not an extensive study of man and his music

This is a beautifully written book and is a must have for all Jagjit Singh/Chitra Singh fans !! The first book on Jagjit Singh was actually a nice coffee table pictorial book called Beyond Time -this was released in 2002 and was contained mostly interviews with people related or connected with him. The narrative style of this book is much better. It has many rare B&W pictures of his family including his parents'. This book seems to be written more from Chitra Singh's viewpoint. It has may interesting aspects about their lives and at times difficult marriage relationship. His human frailties also find mention- his innocent flirtations included !! Of course this does not diminish his stature as a great communicator of melody and emotion.The story of his life is all too human and familiar-beginning with toil & uncertainty leading to meteoric success followed by the depths of pain and then a second wind of enormous creativity. In all probability we will never again see the likes of him-an artist who had trans-generational appeal and who remained at the forefront of ghazal singing & composition from the 1970's to his physical demise in 2011. Many millions of us are lucky to have lived in an era of his music and singing.

I was never a Jagjit Singh fan. Even in the entire album of Mirza Ghalib, it was Gulzar saab who was my hero. Having read all the books by Sathya Saran, right from '10 years with Guru Dutt ' Abrar Alvi's journey', 'Sun mere bandhu re ' The musical world of SD Burman, I was intrigued by 'Baat niklegi to phir', but the very thought of reading a ghazal singer's journey to fame, losing his son and then moving on with life didn''t stimulate the film buff in me.Pyar ka pehla khat likhne mein waqt to lagta hai,Naye parindon ko uddne mein waqt to lagta hai'Tum itna jo muskura rahi ho was more of a reminder to revisit Mahesh Bhatt's brilliant, 'Arth'. 'Yeh tera ghar yeh mera ghar' never failed to reach out for that DVD of 'Saath Saath' and marvel at the simplicity of Faroque Shaikh and Deepti Naval. 'Hoshwalon ko khabar kya' was more of an Aamir Khan nostalgia when he was an effortless actor sans tag of perfectionist.The only song that connected me to Jagjit Singh was 'Koi yeh kaise bataaye'. Never before was an acoustic guitar used to such perfection in a ghazal. Like Jagjit Singh's legendary talent, this book, too, remained unnoticed since its launch. Until an opportunity to interact with the author fuelled my curiosity and I finally 'experienced' this wonderful journey.Woh pal ke jis mein mohabbat jawaan hoti hain,Us ek pal ka tujhe intezaar hai ke naheen'The best part about 'Baat niklegi to phir' is the blossoming of love between young Jagjit and the young married-with-kid Chitra. The 'I will wait' line defines the entire personality of the singer, who patiently waits for Chitra to be separated from her ex-husband Debu Dutta and supports her all throughout, even mentoring her as a 'senior' singer.Hamaare hauslon ka ghar,Hamaari himmaton ka ghar'This endearing love story makes one wonder how simple people used to be back then. With passage of time, we seem to have lost that innocence and simplicity. It is indeed no wonder that slight provocation spell doom for relationships in our times. In the times we live in, we believe in 'replacing' things rather than 'repairing' them. The Jagjit-Chitra love story is about braving through troubled times, enduring each other's idiosyncrasies, diverse cultural background, ways of dealing with loss, rather than giving up on each other.Kabhi yun bhi to ho, dariyaa ka saahil ho,Poore chaand ki raat ho'aur tum aao'Their struggle is surely akin to any other talent seeking opportunity in Indian film industry, but the difference here is the genre of their art. They created their own platform for an 'unusual' genre of ghazals, which went on to become the signature 'Jagjit Singh' style. Lata Mangeshkar, in a way seems like a metaphor for Indian film industry here ' a dream that remains elusive for a very long time and when it does come true, the maestro had entrenched his name in non-film sector as the 'King of ghazals'.Har waqt yehi hai gham,Us waqt kahan thhe hum, kahan tum chale gaye'Sathya Saran knows her readers very well. She knows they are anticipating the demise of Vivek aka Baboo, but she keeps building up the bond the father-son shared, to such extent that as reader, you end up soaking in the melancholy. Jagjit-Chitra's loss is no longer their loss. By now, it becomes the reader's loss. You no longer empathize with the couple, you start introspecting on your own life, asking yourself how many things we take for granted in our day-to-day lives. What if our world comes crashing down at the most unexpected moment? How well can we prepare ourselves to lose someone we love dearly? The answer, I guess, is ' never.Jaate jaate vo mujhe achchhi nishaani de gayaa,Umr bhar dohraaoongaa aisi kahaani de gaya'The bonding shared between Jagjit Singh and his musicians, sound recording artists, lyricists like Javed Akhtar and Gulzar saab have been well-documented and narrated in an engaging style. Sample this excerpt that describes the Jagjit-Gulzar collaboration for the classic television series, Mirza Ghalib, where Gulzar saab states:The singing had to be straightforward. Ghalib was a poet, not a singer, so there was no place for complicated music taans. He would have recited the poetry, so I kept the music simple with a few varations. I never felt that this is Jagjit Singh composing for Mirza Ghalib, so I must display my musical virtuosity. No, it should be Ghalib. Jagjit Singh should become Ghalib and sing, only then will the poetry come forth. The result of this introspection on Jagjit's part was that Gulzar went on record saying in high praise that, Mirza Ghalib is Jagjit beyond Jagjit.The chapter goes on to narrate the bonding the duo shared:The two creative men shared a deep understanding of each other's work and genius. According to the poet, 'Jagjit was younger, but he would scold me. He'd say, 'Give me a sher that will touch my heart,' and I would respond with, 'I try hard, but it does not reach your heart. Nishaana chook jaata hai.' The link between them remained strong.Woh umr kar raha tha meri,Mein saal apne badhaa raha tha'The demise of Jagjit Singh precedes with one more death that comes as a rude shock for the reader, which I'd better leave for you to discover. The transformation of Jagjit after his son passes away in a way prepares ground for his own immortality. The generous nature of Jagjit, right from his struggling days makes him remain alive in the memories of people close to him and few strangers who barely knew him, yet Jagjit went out of the way to help them.The biography chronicles not only the strengths of the singer, but also his weaknesses with utmost honesty, thanks to Chitra Singh, who doesn't mince her words even while sharing their story. It's the noble deeds and an illustrious career that spans decades of singing, composing and reinventing ghazals that keep Jagjit Singh alive ' converting 'non-Jagjit' fans like me into devout Jagjit worshipper like yours truly. Thanks Sathya Saran for writing and recommending this wonderful journey.Having said that, I must admit that reading this biography wasn’t easy as it leaves you with a melancholy that lingers over the mind for days after reading it. Well, I could go on sharing nuggets from it but I’d better stop here because…Baat niklegi to phir door talak jaaeygi,Log be-wajah udaasi ka sabab poochenge'

The year was 1999. It was a rainy day and a teenager in his final year of college - and also in teens - was watching M-TV. The song being played was ‘Hosh walon ko kabar kya’ from the movie ‘Sarfarosh’. There was some deep magic in the voice of that singer. Mesmerized by it, and driven by the trademark impulsiveness of youth, the teenager headed out in the pouring rain to buy the audio cassette of that movie. Impatient to wait till returning home, he stopped at the auto stand on the way and asked a friend of his there to help him listen to that song once. Little would have that teenager imagined then that the same voice would heal his heart, soothe his soul, protect him from the real world around after half-a-decade, when unfulfilled Love - that inevitable bane of youth – would rip his heart into shreds. The teenager was, of course, me and the owner of that magical voice was none other than the great Jagjit Singh!Jagjit Singh – show me a man who loves ghazals but hasn’t heard of this name and I would show you the eighth wonder of the world. A name that has become synonymous with ghazals in India, Jagjit sahib rules the hearts of millions of his fans, even many years after his sudden demise.In life, I have quite a lot of regrets, but there are very few that I would carry to the pyre. Not having listened to this great exponent of the ghazal genre performing ‘live’ is definitely on top of that little list. The only time when we were both in the same city, I was too lazy to cross the vast expanse in that intense Sunday evening traffic. I convinced myself saying that I would listen to him during his next visit here. Little did I know then that it was never to happen. A few months later, he passed away, suddenly and as a shocker to millions of his fans. Today his voice is a permanent thing in my music player, protecting me still from the realities of this human life, soothing my wounds and helping me put to rest some old demons that come haunting often.About the book, have you seen how fans of movie stars and celebrities make all the efforts to get in proximity with their favorite stars - to see them from close quarters, to touch them and check whether they are real or made of shiny stardust? This book gives you one such experience taking you up close to the gentle giant called Jagjit Singh. This biography is so far the biggest tribute to this great singer. Smooth, flowing and gentle like the man himself, the book maps the journey of his life from his humble beginning to the calm end that took him away from us all in 2011. Reading about the amount of struggle that Jagjit sahib went through makes me wonder as to why should this book not be added to the self-improvement genre too! Running from pillar to post seeking a chance to sing in the movies, traveling without ticket in the trains, depending on the generosity of others for even food and shelter – this great man had gone through it all before attaining a stardom that he very much deserved.The book also traces his married life with Chitra Singh, another star in the Indian ghazal scene, their companionship both in front of the mike and away from it, the unfortunate loss of their son Vivek to a fatal accident and their different ways of coping with that loss. One unfortunate thing is that after reading through some statements of Chitra Singh, I felt my respect for her fall a couple of notches. She may have been a great singer, but some of her behaviors and statements make her appear a very ordinary woman with jealousy, nagging and mundane ideas. Jagjit sahib, on the contrary though, has gained an even higher place in my heart. Not just because he was a great singer, but he was also a generous philanthropist, never denying assistance to those that came to him in need.There is one amusing quality attributed to da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’. It is said that she reflects the mood of the viewer – if you are sad, she will seem sad, and if you are happy, she will appear happy too. I haven’t tested that theory seriously yet, but I have felt that strange quality in the voice of Jagjit sahib. If you listen to him with pain in your heart, the heavy bass voice will not only accentuate that pain but end up wringing tears out of you. Be happy and that gifted voice can raise you even further. The man was sheer magic.In his magnum opus ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, Viktor Frankl mentions art as one of the ways in which a man can create meaning for his life. Jagjit sahib has created profound meaning for his life by single-handedly reviving the dying art of ghazal, making it accessible and understandable to the public, without reducing its qualities in any way whatsoever for the sake of commercialization and popularization. If many uninformed music lovers like me developed a liking for the elevated genre like ghazal, it was definitely due to this one man and the history will stand testimony to that.Feeling bad that I could give only five stars to this book. A classic that any Jagjit fan worth his salt should read and own! ❤️

Very well written and engaging book.. insights and many unknown facts of Shri Jagjit Singh's life are there in this book..

If you are a Jagjit fan you will know there is a dearth of biographies on him in the market. Buy it for this reason if for nothing else. Does contain lots of interesting information