POPULAR singer Arijit Singh turns a year older on April 25 and then returns to UK the first week of May for two huge arena concerts, where he will be performing his greatest hits.
To celebrate India’s most popular solo star returning for a British tour and his 35th birthday, Eastern Eye decided to present 20 quick facts about the sensational music maestro.
■ The singer was born on April 25, 1987, in the West Bengal district of Jiaganj, Murshidabad, to a Punjabi father and Bengali mother.
■ Arijit started learning music at the age of three and delivered his first live performance a year later when he sang a bhajan on stage.
■ The versatile singer had various influences growing up, including Ghulam Ali, Jagjit Singh, Mehdi Hassan, Kishore Kumar, Ustad Rashid Ali Khan, Michael Jackson, Mozart, Beethoven, Manna Dey, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, and Bengali classical music.
■ The classically trained maestro first came to prominence as an 18-year-old on reality TV series Fame Gurukul in 2005. Although he lost, Arijit entered another reality show, 10 Ke 10 Le Gaye Dil and won.
■ Top filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali recognised his talent on Fame Gurukul and got him to sing Yun Shabnami for his film Saawariya (2007), but a script change meant the song was never used or released.
■ He made his Telugu language singing debut with Neeve Na Neeve Na from Kedi (2010), which became his first major film song release.
■ The multi-talented star worked as a music programmer for big named composers like Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Vishal–Shekhar, Mithoon and Pritam before becoming an in-demand singer. He assisted in the production of hit songs like Balam Pichkari from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013).
■ He made his official Bollywood singing debut with the Mithoon composed song Phir Mohabbat from Murder 2 (2011). The song was actually recorded in 2009 and Arijit wasn’t aware until it finally released and a friend told him.
■ The second most popular language he has delivered songs in after Hindi is Bengali. He has sung for Bengali cinema every year since singing two tracks for his 2011 debut film Egaro, the Immortal Eleven.
■ Arijit became the youngest ever male singer to win a Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer award for his star-making Aashiqui 2 song Tum Hi Ho and was just 26 at the time. He has won the trophy six times in total so far.
■ The singer made his Marathi debut with the qawwali Yaar Illahi from the film Katyar Kaljat Ghusali (2015).
■ The singer made his directorial debut with Bengali film Bhalobashar Rojnamcha (2015), which is a compilation of short films tackling different subjects.
■ After singing in various other languages, Arijit finally sang his first Tamil film song Neeyae from the film Pugazh (2016) and made his Gujarati debut the same year with Satrangi Re from Wrong Side Raju (2016).
■ The versatile singer and musician once confessed that he likes all genres except heavy metal because it is too loud.
■ Arijit was declared the most-streamed Indian artist of 2020 and 2021 by Spotify and is currently the most followed Asian soloist on the music platform.
■ The singing superstar made his fullfledged debut as a film composer with the acclaimed Pagglait (2021) soundtrack and sang a majority of the 24 tracks, which he dedicated to AR Rahman.
■ Arijit likes lyricists to be in the recording studio to get a better understanding about sentiments he is singing.
■ He once confessed to being a fan of Coldplay and wanting to collaborate with Norah Jones because he loves her music. Other western artists he enjoys listening to include John Legend and John Mayer.
■ The singer enjoys playing badminton, is a huge cricket fan and supports British football club Manchester United.
■ Songs he enjoys singing most are ones that connect with him on a personal level and an example of this is Safar from Jab Harry Met Sejal.
Arijit Singh is in concert at Utilita Arena in Birmingham on May 1 and OVO Arena Wembley in London on May 2.
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
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Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
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A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5