“I play Jasleen Matharu’s music teacher and do not romance with her in Vo Meri Student Hai”

ANUP JALOTA tells JYOTHI VENKATESH

No wonder I find Anup Jalota, my friend for the last 40 years, a guy who is expert at multi tasking. Besides the fact that he is a friend for life time if he makes you his friend at the first glance like he did 40 years ago when he came to give his interview to me at Hotel Oberoi Sheraton where I was working as a accounts supervisor, Anup is not only a performer par excellence, but also an actor, bhajan singer, ghazal singer, music composer etc but also a father of a 26 year old bright and handsome young son who is now studying in US.

Anup has also been the proud owner of an airlines called Fly Divine in Madhya Pradesh for two years which has stopped flying long before the lock-down, because of teething problems that he had faced then. The best role of Anup which he has perfected to the T is his ability to get into controversies of different kind at different times, including his last controversy when he was linked with pretty Jasleen Matharu.

For this interview, I met Anup Jalota at The Future Studio owned by my amicable friend late Mona Kapoor, who was Boney Kapoor’s wife and Arjun Kapoor’s wife at Goregaon East where he was shooting for his friend writer-director Kesar Matharu’s Vo Meri Student Hai for producers D.J. Kanwaljeet and Fahim R Qureshi in which he has been teamed with Jasleen Matharu.

“I had earlier told in the reality show Bigg Boss that Jasleen Matharu is my student. In the film, she plays a pop singer student who comes to learn music from me. I play myself- Anup Jalota, her music teacher, and not her boy friend. In fact in the film, I make it a point to find out a suitable boy in marriage for her and make her settle down. Kesar has already zeroed in on a new boy to play the lead opposite Jasleen in the film.

Anup adds that he is not at all producing the film to project himself in the lead as acting isn’t at all new to him. He has played the leading man in 50 films earlier, because acting is a hobby of his whereas singing and performing are not only his ardent passion but also my day to day jobs. I have been acting in not only Hindi films but also Rajasthani films. Among the other Hindi films in which I have acted till date are Pyar Ka Sawan and Branthopath (Bengali).

The last film that Anup Jalota had produced was Kartoot where he had played a police commissioner. “The other films in which I am acting as of now are Happy Singh, Black Birthday and Vicky Ranawat’s Satya Sai Baba. I am helping Vicky Ranawat to release Satya Sai Baba in which I am playing the title role of Satya Sai Baba”.

During the shooting lunch break, I ask Anup how he is able to strike the right balance between his various jobs and he answers with a solemn smile. “I have a lot of capacity and thanks to that I often work for not just 10 to 12 but even as many as 18 hours daily. I sing bhajans, ghazals, record my music albums, travel, shoot and perform. In fact I get a lot of peace when I perform on the stage. You believe it or not but most of the time when I am on the stage, I actually indulge in sleep too because I try to immerse myself in my work.”

Anup adds that he grooms himself every day by doing his rigorous riyaaz and practices a lot during his rehearsals at home. “I rehearse for at least 6 hours every day because I want to be very strong in music. I tell all my students that for a singer riyaaz is a very big must because I feel that just as if you do not have a bath for three days your body will start stinking, if you do not do your riyaaz for three days consecutively, your music will start stinking and without your music you will be sick.

While I prefer singing on a daily basis, acting in films or producing films is not a career as far as I am concerned but I like and enjoy both singing in films as well as producing films. I like to encourage good aspiring singers sing in my films and help the music industry discover new singers. I am also associated with Shemaroo Bhakti Sangeet with Suresh Wadkar where we help the company discover new singers.

Anup Jalota confesses that though he has been producing and acting in films besides singing for films, he frankly does not at all know what direction is and in fact not even inclined to take up direction. “Right now, I am all set to produce a film in which I will only act. I would not dare to take up direction  or be a DOP in a film , because forget about direction, I do not know what the camera angles are or what are the functions of lens in a camera are”.

Where do you see yourself say ten years hence? Anup exults, “I am 66 years old now though I work like I am 26 years old but let me promise you that when I am 86, I will still look like I am only 36 years old.”

When I asked him how many music albums he records every month as an artiste, he quipped, “The days of the music albums have completely gone out of our hands today. You would not believe it, since music has always been my passion, I make it a point to record on an average at least one song every day. It keeps me busy, happy and contented. Touchwood!”