Jagjit Singh's farewell

Mumbai, Oct. 16 -- In what turned out to be his last recorded interview, late ghazal legend Jagjit Singh candidly spoke at length about his struggling days in the city, the changing times and his new projects. The hour-long audio interview, interspersed with unplugged performances by the singer, was recorded for a mobile music series two days before he was admitted to the ICU.
Singh said, "Ek zamaana aisa tha, I was the hit party singer. Lekin waha se kaam nahi mila mujhe. Sirf partiyon mein gaake timepass kiya, aur naam aa gaya. (I used to be a hit party singer at one time, but never got any playback singing assignments. But still, earned a name for myself).
Not many know that the first job offer Singh received was for a role as a Gujarati film hero. "Mujhe first break mila Aziz Merchant se, Gujarati music director the. Pehele toh Aziz mujhe hero banane chahate the, Gujarati film mein. Meine kaha maaf karo baba, mujhe gaayak hi rehene do.... Toh usne bola teek hai... ek bhajan gaa diyije (My first break was in a Gujarati film whose music was directed by Aziz Merchant. At first, Merchant wanted to offer me the hero's role but I refused politely," said Singh to the interviewer, music composer Shameer Tandon. Singh went on to hit the big time in films like Saath Saath (1982) and Arth (1982).

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