Anup Jalota

Anup Jalota (born 29 July 1953) is an Indian singer, musician and actor, best known for his contributions to the bhajan and ghazal genre of Indian music. He is popularly known as the Bhajan Samraat (transl.  "Emperor of Bhajan").^[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.

Anup Jalota
Jalota in 2011
Born	(1953-07-29) 29 July 1953 (age 72) Nainital, Uttar Pradesh, India (present–day Uttarakhand)
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Bhatkhande Music Institute[1]
Occupation	Singer
Spouses	Sonali Sheth ​ (div. 1984)​ Bina Bhatia (div.) Medha Gujral ​ ​ (m. 1994; died 2014)​
Partner	----
Children	1
Father	Purshottam Das Jalota
Honours	Padma Shri (2012)
Musical career
Also known as	Bhajan Samraat
Origin	Phagwara, Punjab, India
Genres	Bhajan, Ghazal
Instrument(s)	Vocals and Harmonium
Years active	1975–present
Website	anupjalota.in
Signature

Early life and background

Anup Jalota was born in Nainital to an Indian Punjabi Hindu family and hails from the Sham Chaurasia gharana of Punjab.^[3] He was educated at 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, USA.

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Anup Jalota shared on Jay-Ho! The Jay Kumar Show that, over his 50-year career, he’s seen many talented singers who became very famous but couldn’t keep that fame. He thinks staying famous isn’t just about becoming popular, but also about keeping it through being humble, respectful, and professional. He stressed that it’s important not to let success make you arrogant and to treat every performance as a chance to connect with your audience. ^[6]

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.^[7] Medha died on 25 November 2014 in New York City of renal failure following a second heart and first kidney transplant.^[8][9][10]

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.^[11]

Jalota also held charity concerts and created a fund to support Indian victims' families affected by the September 11 attacks.^[12]

Awards

The Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, was given to Jalota by the Government of India in 2012.^[13]

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^[14] with Kunal Saha
• Hot and Spicy with Sundar Popo
• Bhagwan Mere Bhagwan^[15] with Satyam Anandjee^[16]

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[17]
Mata Ka Jagrata	Mata Ki Aarti	Anup Jalota & Sanghamitra Bharali		Traditional	2011[18]
Mata Ka Jagrata	Tarse Naina barse Naina	Anup Jalota & Sanghamitra Bharali	Dinesh Kumar Dube	Mohan Sharma	2011[19]
Mata Ka Jagrata	Raat Jagraate Ki Hai	Anup Jalota & Sanghamitra Bharali		Mohan Sharma	2011[20]
Bhajan Sangrah – Lord Hanuman	Sankatmochan Naam Tiharo	Anup Jalota			2016[21]
Bhajan Sandhya, Vol. 16	Suraj Ki Garmi Se	Anup Jalota			2016[22]
Krishna Janmashtami Aayo Re – Best of Lord Krishna Songs 2016	Mukund Madhav Govind Bol	Anup Jalota			2016[23]
51 Essentials Krishna Best of Aarti, Bhajans, Kirtan, Mantras & Shlokas	Govind Bolo Hari Gopal[24]	Anup Jalota			2016[25]
Bhagwan Mere Bhagwan[15]	Bhagwan Mere Bhagwan[15]	Anup Jalota, Soma Ghosh, Sudesh Bhosale, Madhushree & Satyam Anandjee[26][16]	Satyam Anandjee[26]	Sukhnidhan Mishra[27]	2021[28]

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2019	Rock Star Bini	Guruji	[29]
2021	Satya Sai Baba	Sathya Sai Baba	[30]
2022	Kartoot	Police commissioner

Television}

Television

Year	Shows	Role	Notes
2018	Bigg Boss 12	Himself/Contestant	Evicted Day 42
2020	Paatal Lok	Balkishan Bajpayee