“It is more than a hundred years of his birth, and he is still remembered so fondly. I wish I could be half the human being and quarter the singer that my father was. Do you know of anyone who doesn’t have good things to say about my father?” asked singer Nitin Mukesh rhetorically on his father the legendary singer Mukesh.
Nitin Mukesh on his legendary father Mukesh’s 101st birth anniversary, “I wish I could be half the human being and quarter the singer that my father was”
“To be loved in equal measures for being a good human being and a good singer, is to me the highest achievement. I am so proud to by my father’s son,” said Nitin.
It wasn’t always like that. Nitin remembers feeling deeply ashamed as a son. “When I was 24, young brash and self-absorbed, I went to my mother and said I’d like to use my father’s car to go to college. When she told my father, he readily agreed and handed over the car keys to me. I zipped off without a second thought. A couple of days later when I drove out of our building, whom do I see standing at the bus stop? Yes, my father had switched to commuting by bus since his unthinking son had taken the family car! That’s the kind of humility, simplicity and purity my father possessed. In our very humble home as a child, my parents slept on the kitchen floor, literally,” he said.
As a child Nitin remembers his father’s insistence on a formal education. “My father was very keen that I pursue my studies. How was I to convince him my true vocation in life was singing? He would say, ‘Beta,pehle padhai phir jo jee chahe karna,’. I was packed off to a boarding school in England from where I returned in exactly two months. I cried and cried, begged and pleaded with my father to let me come back home. Finally, I threatened to kill myself if I wasn’t allowed home. My father immediately had me back. Today, looking back I have no regrets about not getting a higher education like my siblings. I chose to be near my father rather than in a boarding school,” recalled Nitin.
About the fabled friendship between Mukesh and filmmaker-actor Raj Kapoor, Nitin said, “They were not just inseparable professionally,” He said. “They were very close friends in real life. Raj uncle called my father ‘Mukesh Chand’, never Mukesh. In fact, when I was leaving Mumbai to go to boarding school Raj uncle and Krishna aunty saw me off at the airport as my father was away. They came home any time. Our home was like their own home. Raj uncle would be distressed by my father’s insistence on a humble lifestyle. He would see there was no air conditioner in our home. But he knew Papa wouldn’t agree to being gifted one, so Raj uncle would say, ‘Nitin Baba feels so warm in the night’ thereby deflecting the offer.”
Interestingly Mukesh turned film distributor on Raj Kapoor’s suggestion. “And do you know which film Papa distributed first? Mera Naam Joker!!! It wiped him out financially. But look at Raj uncle’s grace and kindness. When Bobby became a blockbuster, he insisted on compensating my father. When Papa refused Raj uncle insisted, ‘No, Mukesh Chand. I have to do this. I won’t listen to you this time,’” said Nitin.
On Mukesh’s vast repertoire of songs, Nitin said, “He is celebrated more for his melancholic songs , although he sang an equal number of happy songs. In fact, one of his biggest hits was the very happy song ‘Dum dum diga diga mausam bheega bheega’. The great religious guru Murari Bapu saw it as a song addressed to the divinity rather than to the beloved.”
Nitin confesses that professionally being Mukesh’s son was not easy. “I was constantly compared to him. People would say, ‘Haan achcha gaata hai. Lekin Mukesh ki tarah nahin.’ But I wasn’t trying to be like my father! There can never be another Mukesh, just like there can never be another Lata Mangeshkar,” said Nitin.
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