The queen of Indian pop: Usha Uthup on her new memoir that celebrates her musical career

Her over-five-decade-long musical career has been captured in her recently published memoir, which is penned by journalist Vikas Kumar Jha in Hindi, and has been translated into English by his daughter, Srishti Jha

At 74, the evergreen Indian pop icon Usha Uthup continues to conquer the world in her trademark kanjeevaram saree. Born in Mumbai in a traditional Tamil Brahmin family and married to a Malayalee Jani Chacko Uthup, she is madly in love with Kolkata, which has been her home since the mid-1970s. Her love for Kolkata is always on show as she sports a ubiquitous emblazoned alphabet “kaw” in Bengali script on her bindi on the forehead.

Though she had started singing in nightclubs in Chennai — that was called Madras back in 1960s in Tamil Nadu in south India — she found success while belting out covers and chartbuster at Trincas, a bar-cum-restaurant at hip-and-happening Park Street in Calcutta in the mid-1960s that exuded colonial charm.

Her over-five-decade-long musical career has been captured in her recently published memoir, which is penned by journalist Vikas Kumar Jha in Hindi, and has been translated into English by his daughter, Srishti Jha. The memoir is called The Queen of Indian Pop.

wknd. caught up with Uthup for a freewheeling conservation on her illustrious career, including singing at the canonisation of Mother Teresa — who founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor and the downtrodden that is headquartered in Kolkata — at the Vatican in 2016.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

How does the queen of Indian pop demystify her ‘unusual’ voice?

Well, it’s a tough question to answer. I don’t know how to demystify my voice. It’s nothing unusual, obviously, because I was born with a particular kind of voice. The fact that other people found my voice so different, and so much so, I didn’t get a place in the school choir. And everybody thought my voice was very low and they still think that way. So, for me, it was having a crooked nose or different kinds of eyes or whatever other physical attributes. I’ve always maintained that it’s not how good or how bad, it’s just how original you are. My voice being the way it is gave me more of an impetus to overcome any challenge.

How do you look back at your long and eventful career?

Yes, it’s a long journey that has lasted 53 years and is still counting. Though it seems like such a long time, it appears like only yesterday that I started. This is largely because I focused on the good things — on the highs in my career rather than the lows. It’s been a marvellous journey. I come from a happy space and I’m comfortable in my own skin. I don’t have regrets, except small ones like I wish I had learned notation, then it would’ve helped further career progression. It’s been a wonderful career. My audiences have accepted me, even though I didn’t have a godfather or a godmother in the Indian film industry. The intoxication of the applause is what makes it for me the most important thing in my career. I love to belong. I love to be loved. I love to be appreciated. I’m sure everybody does. But few people are as explicit in saying it as I do.

In retrospect, would you consider yourself as a stage performer and a nightclub performer rather than a playback singer?

I’ve always maintained that I’m a live performer. The fantastic thing about being a live performer is that there are no retakes. You need to rehearse well and put in a lot of hard work because that’s the only take you have. You just do it once and that’s it. There’s no substitute for hard work. For me, the instant reaction with my audiences is much more important than being a playback singer, but one is linked with the other. For instance, if I get a hit song in a film, then I get about 375 live shows because of that. I’m a live person. I need the reaction from the audience immediately. And I think that happens when you are going live as opposed to being a playback singer. But when you’re a playback singer, then the results come a little later.

How truthful have you been in the memoir?

Oh! I’ve been truthful, and honest. I was shy and reserved. A little hesitant, but 100 per cent honest. There’s no two ways about it. I’m a private person. When you trust the person who is writing in this case, of course, she becomes so much higher. When you trust the person or the person who is listening to you or the person who is writing about you, then it is easier. And that’s how it was for me.

What were the high and low points in your illustrious career?

Sometimes the highs were higher, and, at times, the lows were lower. But hey, isn’t that what life is all about? The lows came from my personal life more than my professional life. However, I learnt to take these things in my stride. I’ve had a fantastic guide, Rumi, who helped me negotiate the difficult phases of my life and removed all barricades from my life. The barricades are strewn in a path called life. The lows are like where I talk about my leg being the way it was following a bout of polio.

Of course, some of the highest points were getting married to Jani and my two children — Anjali and Sunny — and my grandchildren. What kind of a high is that? Besides, I’ve received such wonderful accolades from people from all walks of life. The other points were meeting the late Kenyan President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, for whom I performed my hit number Malaika in Swahili. Also, my meeting with the late South African President and anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela. I sang alongside Miriam Makeba, who was known as Mama Africa — the late South African singer, lyricist, actor, and civil rights activist. I have sung with the late Mahalia Jackson, one of the world’s best gospel singers. I’ve worked with RD Burman and Bappi Lahiri from our Indian film industry. I also worked with director-composer Vishal Bhardwaj for Darling. But I got the greatest satisfaction from working with Mother Teresa.