Singer Mohammad Sikandar Alam. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

A single devotional song that featured in an Oriya movie changed the life and career of a young singer. The song Arata sure bare kare minatire (an ode to Lord Jagannath) not only became a hit number on the Grand Road of Puri during 1959-’60, but also made Mohammad Sikandar Alam a household name.

“The response to my first song, which was dedicated to Lord Jagannath, was so encouraging that many people from Puri came to meet me at my Buxi Bazar residence in Cuttack. Perhaps they wanted to see for themselves who was the young man that sang such a beautiful song. Some of the visitors are now famous personalities of the holy city,” said Alam.

Talking to The Telegraph in his residence at Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar, Alam said: “Among them was noted singer Prafulla Kar, who was then studying in SCS College, Puri. At the time, Kar was not a musician. He later became one of the best music composers, directors and singers of his generation.’’

The song Arata sure bare kare minatire was from the film Lakshmi. The movie was directed by Gour Ghosh. The music to the film was directed and composed by the legendary Balakrushna Dash. Later, Alam became famous for his renditions of bhajans like Ahe Nilagiri, Patitapaban bana au kete belaku and Brundabane ke banshi bajaila.

Alam, who is presently president of Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi, started his career singing geet and ghazals at the All India Radio (AIR), Cuttack in 1957. After shining on the radio, film songs and programmes on Doordarshan followed suit.

“In the early days of AIR Cuttack, Akshaya Mohanty and myself were probably the top two artistes,” Alam said, surrounded by pictures of him being felicitated at various award functions. He has recorded nearly 2,000 songs. One of the questions fans love to ask the singer pertain to his faith.

“Many listeners and music lovers used to ask me, ‘being a Muslim, how can you sing songs that are filled with Hindu devotion?,’” he said. “For them my reply used to be: ‘whenever I sing a bhajan in praise of Lord Jagannath, I can feel the presence of the Almighty. I do not believe in restricting religion to symbolism. It's a much greater thing. The best way to surrender to the Almighty is to sing for him with passion. I never think that devotion to the Almighty, the creator of the universe, is restricted to religious barriers. The feeling is at a higher and deeper level and that’s what inspires me to sing,” Alam said.

The singer believes that he is blessed by the love of his fans.“With so much of love from the people for my songs, for my voice and for my work, I think I am blessed,” he said.

Honoured with the State Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the Sarala citation, felicitated by the culture department, Alam was also awarded the Kalakar from Angul. The Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industries has felicitated him. The popular singer is also Soor Sagara and Soor Badshah.