Usha Uthup’s illustrious life is no secret to every single person who has attended her engaging and interactive performances on various stages. The pop music icon who fell in love with the city of Kolkata, with an emblazoned ‘kaw’ in Bengali script on her bindi, Uthup has sung for some of the biggest stalwarts of the world. She shared a deep relationship with the likes of Mother Teresa, singing at her canonisation at the Vatican. Starting her journey as a singer in Chennai’s glitzy nightclubs to Trincas restaurant in Kolkata, she has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Shah Rukh Khan, Jane Fonda, Asha Bhosle, Raj Kapoor, to name a few. In a musical career spanning five decades, she has sung songs in over 22 languages and her evergreen classics include Hari om, Rambha ho and Jeete hai shaan se.
I was so excited about that and now that Srishti has done this translation, it’s just amazing. I am so shy and reserved and a very private person that it means all the more to me
Her first memoir was penned by journalist Vikas Kumar Jha in Hindi, which has now been translated by his daughter Srishti Jha. Called The Queen of Indian Pop (Penguin India; Rs 599), the book was launched with great fanfare at The Oxford Bookstore on Park Street, followed by a QnA session with the audience. The singer spoke about the very loving and intimate relationship she shared with her brother and how those chapters would perhaps be her most favourite ones from the book. Always bursting with positivity, she quoted Rumi in her conversation with Jha and said, “If the road is rugged, it is perhaps the road for you. Keep moving was my mantra”.
Looking back at her life, after this book she also said, “I use the past only as a yardstick to measure how far I have come in the present and how far I need to go in the future.” We spoke to the author as well as Uthup about the experience of holding the hardcover in their hands.
Excerpts…
Usha Uthup
Usha Uthup with A.P.J Abdul Kalam
How do you feel about this translated book now that it has a wider audience?
I am absolutely thrilled and without meaning to sound like a cliche, this is something that we have all waited for. When you say ‘it has a wider reach’, I feel thrilled! Hopefully everybody will take home a copy. However, for me, the real pride was when it was written in Hindi. Nobody could have imagined a western or pop music singer being written about in Hindi. I was so excited about that and now that Srishti has done this translation, it’s just amazing. I am so shy and reserved and a very private person that it means all the more to me. The Hindi one was called Ullas Ki Nao and that is what is inscribed on my sari, done by Kanishka as usual.
Usha Uthup with Mother Teresa
Tell us about your interaction with Vikas Jha and what led to the book.
He had come for an interview and I felt an instant connection with him. Magical things happen when you subconsciously trust somebody. I immediately felt that he would not sensationalise anything and it came out just like that. Some of his questions, I pre-empted before he asked them!
Usha Uthup with Raj Kapoor
You became a feminist icon before feminism became a part of household conversation. What would you like to say to young women who look up to you as a role model?
Woman is Shakti and overdose of Shakti can only destroy. Just don’t fight for it and to be very honest, every woman’s issue is a man’s issue. And we must learn to fight hand-in-hand with men. What are we shouting about and saying “we want to be equal”. You can’t. There are some things only men can do and something’s only a few women can — like having babies.
Usha Uthup with Jane Fonda
How did you manage your iconic status with your musical practice?
Because of my family. They have always kept my head tightly screwed on my shoulders and my feet firmly on the ground. That’s very important, to have a family structure with great support. The next question would be how did your husband support you? And the answer to that would be by not helping! He has never interfered in my life and he has allowed me to do as I like and in the way I like.
Srishti Jha
Tell us about your experience of translating this book.
This book is special to me in a lot of ways — getting a peek into her life, being a part of her narrative and my name, sharing space with my father’s on the same book cover and translating the work of my guru who has taught me everything about journalism. It was an absolutely fantastic journey that I immersed myself in, leaving everything else behind. This book required my undivided attention. Every word, sentence and expression in this book has been crafted with so much honesty, love and fragrance that readers will vividly get to see her life unfold in front of them. This book holds every emotion — you will laugh, cry, get goosebumps, and feel overwhelmed. Usha ji has always said that she is an ordinary woman but this is an extraordinary tale of a life well-lived.
Picture: Rashbehari Das
