It is often said that there is not a single heart that hasn’t been touched by the soulful voice of Jagjit Singh. The Ghazal King swooned many heartbeats and welled many eyes with his enchanting and captivating singing. Be it Chithi Na Koi Sandesh from Kajol’s film, Dushman or Hosh Walon Ko Khabar Kya from Aamir Khan’s Sarfarosh, Jagjit Singh has given many classics.
There is hardly anyone who made such a big impact on people’s hearts with his ghazals. People connected with him as they felt a sense of pain and longing in his voice. The Ghazal maestro’s professional life touched the sky, but his personal life was quite tragic. He married the woman he loved, but their life was struck with many tragedies.
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Jagjit Singh was surely a legend, but he was incomplete without his better half, Chitra Singh. They brought the ghazals, which were considered suitable for the elite mehfils of the havelis, to the commoners. The renditions of their poetry, ghazals and songs weaved magic. But life had stored many tragic surprises for them, which they endured with stoic strength. Let us delve into Jagjit Singh’s love story and journey with the Queen of Ghazals, Chitra Singh.
Born on February 8, 1941, in Rajasthan, Jagjit Singh always had a great passion for music. Throughout his teenage years, he composed music. His father was supportive, but like every middle-class family, he wanted Jagjit to become a bureaucrat. In 1965, Jagjit moved to Bombay without telling his family.
He began his career by singing advertising jingles and was struggling to make a living. It was in 1967 when Jagjit met the Bengali beauty Chitra Dutta at a recording studio. At that time, Chitra was already married to Debo Prasad Dutta, an executive in a leading advertising agency. The couple had a daughter named Monica.
Chitra met Jagjit as they were supposed to record a jingle together for an advertisement. In a throwback interview with Filmfare, Chitra recalled her first meeting with Jagjit and shared:
“I met him at a recording for a music director who wanted to compile a collection with various singers. My first memory of Jagjit ji was resting his hand on the door as I opened it, almost asleep. He then came in, walked to the corner of the room and fell asleep.”
However, after listening to Jagjit Singh’s voice, Chitra refused to sing with him because of his heavy voice. She told the music director that since he has a heavy baritone, she won’t be able to sing the duet with him. But she agreed later, and since then, they have created some unforgettable songs.
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Although Chitra was already married when she met Jagjit Singh for the first time, her marriage was undergoing a lot of problems. In 1968, Chitra took her daughter, Monica and left Debo Prasad. Later, Chitra divorced Prasad and took over their daughter, Monica’s custody.
On the other hand, Jagjit was smitten by Chitra and her singing. She was going through an emotional phase, but it was Jagjit’s humble and caring nature that touched her heart. When Jagjit proposed to Chitra, she rejected the proposal as she didn’t want any commitment. Madly-in-love with Chitra, Jagjit decided to take the proposal to Chitra’s ex-husband. As per a report in India Today, he asked Prasad:
“I want to marry your wife.”
As destiny had it, Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh tied the knot in 1969 and embraced parenthood with a son, Vivek. The couple’s family never approved of their relationship for multiple reasons, and they, too, didn’t bother to please anyone and kept little contact with their kin thereafter.
Chitra Singh used to call her husband, Jagjit Singh, ‘papa’, and he would call her mummy. Revealing how the tradition of calling each other mummy and papa began, Chitra recalled the same in an old interview and shared that she would often tell her son, Vivek, ‘Jaao, Papa ko bulao', and that’s how she began calling him papa.
Everything was going smoothly in Jagjit Singh and Chitra’s life when their world came crashing down. Their only son, Vivek passed away in a car accident on July 27, 1990. Vivek’s car rammed into a BEST truck, which was repairing streetlights late at night. The loss of their son, Vivek, who was just 21, shattered the couple to the core, and they gave up music for a year. Not only this, Chitra lost her voice after the tragedy. In a 2007 throwback interview, she recalled the painful moment and stated:
“My world came crashing down (after Vivek's demise). I reduced to 43 kilos and looked like a ghost. I couldn’t face people — mera gala apne aap bandh ho gaya. It stayed like that for nearly 14 years. I didn’t even hum during those years.”
After giving up music for almost a year, Jagjit Singh tried to get out of the house and immersed himself in his work. After his son’s death, Jagjit’s voice reflected the pain he bore as memories of his son were seen in his work. He would often say in his concerts, “My son is my stage partner.”
It was during a musical night organized by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation when Jagjit Singh revealed that his son, Vivek and Rajiv Gandhi shared the same birth date and both died a violent death. Later, when he sang the ghazal, Dard Se Mera Daaman Bhar De, the audience couldn’t stop their tears.
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On the other hand, Chitra Singh did try to make a comeback, but the emotional baggage of the tragedy was so heavy that it dented her confidence. To honour their son, who was very proud of his parent’s singing, Chitra regained her strength and returned to singing. Revealing the difficulty, Chitra shared:
“One morning, while I was looking at Vivek’s photograph, I felt I was dishonoring my gift. Vivek was so proud of our singing. To honor his memory, I wanted to sing again. It’s the biggest tragedy that I cannot sing. One day I’m doing well, the other day I’m back to square one. If I cannot match my calibre, I’ll let myself down.”
In 2009, Chitra Singh faced another tragedy when her daughter, Monica Dutta, from her first marriage, committed suicide. Monica was married to cinematographer Jehangir Choudhary, and the couple had two sons, Armaan and Umair. The couple parted ways in 2005, and she later married a British national, Mark Houghton Roger Atkins, MD of a firm in Mumbai.
In 2007, Monica filed a case of harassment against Atkins and a non-bailable warrant was issued against him, but he had already left the country. Monica’s death not only shocked Chitra but had shaken Jagjit too, who loved her like his own daughter. Chitra blamed herself for Monica’s suicide for not being able to sense her daughter was about to take a drastic step. Talking about the same to a leading portal, Chitra said:
“My daughter was so beautiful and strong, the stuff she’d handle singlehandedly! But ultimately, she lost, she couldn’t cope any more. She had a rough life (referring to her failed marriages). I was talking to her till 3 am. I must have been insensitive not to have sensed that she would do such thing. What kind of a mother am I? I should have given her more support, more of everything…. I blame myself for that.”
Within two years of losing her first child, Monica, Chitra Singh lost her soulmate, Jagjit Singh. On September 23, 2011, the maestro suffered a brain haemorrhage and passed away on October 10, 2011. After so many tragedies and heartbreaks, Chitra Singh found solace in spirituality. Talking about Jagjit Singh’s death, his doting wife stated:
“Since Baboo (Vivek) went, there was this thing between my daughter, Papa and me that who would be meeting him first. Both of them beat me to it! Everything in life is momentary yaa jee lo, yaa jhel lo.”
In 2017, Chitra Singh’s fans were delighted when news about her comeback to singing after 26 years hit the headlines. She was supposed to sing at the Sankatmochan Sangeet Samaroh at the Sankatmochan temple in Kashi. But as she appeared on stage, the veteran singer had a sea of emotions and broke down and failed to sing.
Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh’s love story has inspired millions. Her high notes complemented his heavy baritone. Her poise and his incessant energy gave life to a concert. Their journey might have ended up in the physical world, but their ghazals would continue to inspire generations to come.
“Kisi ke vaaste raahein kahan badalti hain, tum apne aapko khud hi badal sako to chalo”. From the maddening and deafening applause of their millions of fans to the forever silence left behind after their children’s untimely deaths, Jagjit Singh and Chitra lead the most tragic lives.
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