Anup Jalota

Anup Jalota
Anup Jalota
	Jalota in 2011
Born	29 July 1953 (age 70); Nainital, Uttarakhand, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	University of Lucknow, Bhatkhande Music Institute
Occupation	Singer
Spouses	; Sonali Sheth (separated/divorced in 1984) ; Medha Gujral (m. 1994; died 2014)
Children	1
Parent	Purshottam Das Jalota (father);
Awards	Padma Shri Award 2012.
Honours	Padma Shri (2012)
	Musical career
Origin	Phagwara, Punjab, India
Genres	Bhajan, Ghazal
Instrument(s)	Vocals and Harmonium
Website	anupjalota.in
Signature

Anup Jalota, (born 29 July 1953) is an Indian singer, musician and actor, best known for his contributions to the Bhajan genre of Indian music. He is popularly known as the "Bhajan Samraat" (Emperor of Bhajans).^[2] The Padma Shri was awarded to him by the Government of India in 2012. He was a contestant on the reality show Bigg Boss 12.

Early life and background

Anup Jalota was born in Nainital, Uttrakhand and hails from the Sham Chowrasi Gharana of Punjab. He was educated in Lucknow's Bhatkhande Music Institute. His father, Purshottam Das Jalota, was also a Bhajan singer. He also spent few years in Savarkundla, Gujarat in his early days. He has four siblings, two of which are younger brothers, Anil Jalota and Ajay Jalota and two of which are his younger sisters, Anjali Dhir and Anita Mehra. Ajay currently lives in California.

Career

Jalota started his musical career as a chorus singer in All India Radio. He is usually backed by a santoor player, dholak player, sarod player, sarangi player, violinist, sitar player, tabla player and guitarist. Some of his popular bhajans include Aisi Lagi Lagan, Main Nahi Makhan Khayo, Rang De Chunariya, Jag Me Sundar Hai Do Naam, and Chadariya Jhini Re Jhini. He was also the presenter of the program Dharam Aur Hum, telecast in Star Plus from 2002 to 2005. He met Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj in Mumbai and agreed to release several CDs of his compositions.^[3] In 2008 he recorded the title song "Golden Memorable Yaadein" for the CD "Noorani Chehra", produced by Shaukat (Sam) Kassam to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the Aga Khan.

On 16 September 2018, Jalota entered Bigg Boss house in its twelfth season, as a contestant, along with Jasleen Matharu.^[4]

Personal life

Jalota's first marriage was to Sonali Sheth, a Gujarati girl who was then a music student and later a singer. They married without his family's approval. The couple became popular in the North Indian live performance circuit as "Anup and Sonali Jalota," which disbanded after their divorce.

His second marriage was an arranged one, to Bina Bhatia, which too ended in divorce. Anup's third marriage was to Medha Gujral, niece of former Indian Prime Minister I. K. Gujral and director Shekhar Kapur's first wife whom he had divorced in 1994. Anup and Medha have a son named Aryaman (born in 1996), who studied at Princeton University.^[5] Medha died on 25 November 2014 in New York City of renal failure following a second heart and first kidney transplant.^[6]^[7]^[8]

It came to light in 2018 that he had been in a relationship with Bigg Boss 12 contestant Jasleen Matharu, who is thirty-seven years younger than him. They had been together at least three and a half years prior. However, after getting evicted from the house, Anup said their relationship was only of a teacher and student.^[9]

Awards

The Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, was given to Jalota by the Government of India in 2012.^[10]

Discography

The Bhajans and ghazals for which he is credited the most are given below

Aisi Lagi Lagan
Chaand Angdaiyaan Le Raha Hai
Tumhare Shahar Ka Mausam
Jag Mein Sundar Hai Do Naam
Kabhi Kabhi Bhagwan Ko Bhi
Tere Man Mein Raam
Main Nazar Se Pee Raha Hoon
Hum Se Achi to Kahin Aaine ki Khismat Hogi
Rukh Se Parda Hata De
La Pila De Saqiya
Shree Hanuman Chalisa
Noorani Chehra (Ismaili Devotional songs)
Mere Kabr Par Pate Huye
Tum Kya Samjho Tum Kya Jano
Kategi Ye Zindagi Ab Rote Rote
Laga Chunari Mein Daag^[2]
Rang De Chunariya
Prabhuji Tum Chandan Hum Pani
Suraj ki Garmi Se
Bhajan prabhat
Bol pinjire ka tota ram
Chaderiya jhini re jhini
Radha Ke Bina Shyam Adha
Devonix^[11] with Kunal Saha
Hot and Spicy with Sundar Popo
Bhagwan Mere Bhagwan^[12] with Satyam Anandjee^[13]

Tracks

Albums	Song	Singer	Composer	Lyricist	Year of Release
Unknown	Jai Bholenath, Jai Mahadev	Anup Jalota			2004
Shri Siddhivinayak Aarti	Sindhur Lal Chadhayo	Anup Jalota			2009^[14]
Mata Ka Jagrata	Mata Ki Aarti	Anup Jalota & Sanghamitra Bharali		Traditional	2011^[15]
Mata Ka Jagrata	Tarse Naina barse Naina	Anup Jalota & Sanghamitra Bharali	Dinesh Kumar Dube	Mohan Sharma	2011^[16]
Mata Ka Jagrata	Raat Jagraate Ki Hai	Anup Jalota & Sanghamitra Bharali		Mohan Sharma	2011^[17]
Bhajan Sangrah – Lord Hanuman	Sankatmochan Naam Tiharo	Anup Jalota			2016^[18]
Bhajan Sandhya, Vol. 16	Suraj Ki Garmi Se	Anup Jalota			2016^[19]
Krishna Janmashtami Aayo Re – Best of Lord Krishna Songs 2016	Mukund Madhav Govind Bol	Anup Jalota			2016^[20]
51 Essentials Krishna Best of Aarti, Bhajans, Kirtan, Mantras & Shlokas	Govind Bolo Hari Gopal^[21]	Anup Jalota			2016^[22]
Bhagwan Mere Bhagwan^[12]	Bhagwan Mere Bhagwan^[12]	Anup Jalota, Soma Ghosh, Sudesh Bhosale, Madhushree & Satyam Anandjee^[23]^[13]	Satyam Anandjee^[23]	Sukhnidhan Mishra^[24]	2021^[25]