I had composed a Punjabi song and sang in front of a huge audience of about 5000 people. Everybody appreciated it and wanted me to sing another song. So I sang a song from the film Baiju Bawara. In Punjab to show appreciation money is showered on the singer, so I collected Rs 126 that day. I used that money to buy a Tanpura.
Manish: How did you start singing Ghazals?
Jagjit: In those days there were only two types of music on the radio -- either classical or film songs. Obviously in college, youth were attracted to film songs and these were mainly composed of ghazals. So I too got attracted to ghazals. I started reading Urdu ghazals and composed simpler ones of my own. They became very famous in college and for every inter-collegiate competition, I sang those ghazals.
Roop: Didn't you ever sing any fast Kishore Kumar songs in college?
Jagjit: If the crowd was too boisterous and rowdy, I would often sing Kishore Kumar's Hai apna dil to aawara which appealed to all. I came to Mumbai in 1965 and in 1969 I made a group called Rainbow. It had three main singers including Chitra (his wife), two dancers and one mimicry artist. We conducted a tour to East Africa and had over 30 shows there, with only film songs.
Roop: Did you want to be a playback artist or composer?
Jagjit: Both. When I came to Mumbai I met Jaikishenji of Shankar-Jaikishen fame, he took my audition too at Tardeo's Famous Studio but in those days there were many good singers in the fray like Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh and so on. It was difficult to get a break, but I never went hungry. I managed to earn something.
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