Pankaj Udhas is lovestruck

Ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas had a romantic start to 2011. He rang in the New Year with soft romantic numbers at a concert and is now planning a romantic getaway with his wife. Pankaj talks to CS about romance and his hopes for a prosperous year:

Love struck
I started my concert with slow romantic numbers as most of my listeners were young couples, who've grown up or fallen in love listening to my songs.

I sang Chandi Jaisa Rang Hai Tera and a few others, then moved on to upbeat tracks like Ghungroo Tut Gaye and Sabko Maloom Hai Main Sharabi Nahin, and then advised the youngsters to drink less with Thodi Thodi Piya Karo. And yes, I dedicated a ghazal to my wife Farida, as well.

Heaven on earth
I plan to make time for a romantic vacation with Farida this year. I have never been to Maldives and it is said to be one of the most romantic places on earth. So I thought that it would be great to head there on our 28th wedding anniversary on February 11. I still remember our courtship days.

Farida was a townie and I used to live in Bandra as a paying guest. One night, after I'd dropped her off and returned to my place, I realised that I had to tell her how much she meant to me. It was quite late at night, but I went to an Iranian restaurant in Bandra and called from the PCO there and asked her to marry me. The rest, as they say, is history.

To-do list for 2011
The last decade hasn't been too good for music. But things are starting to look quite positive now. Sonu Nigam has helped us form a singers' association and once there's a regulation about the Copyright Act, it will bring in money to all the performing artists.

We don't get even a single rupee as royalty and now it is time that this injustice was stopped. Singers, poets and musicians will hopefully get their rights nowu00a0-- better late than never.

This year, I want to release an album on poet Sahil Ludhianvi's Urdu poetry collection. He was a classical poet and a talented film lyricist. In fact, the lyrics of the song Kabhi Kabhi from Silsila were penned by him.

The next album in the making is a fusion one with Anand Shankar. The third project I want to start work on is translating ghazals into English.

I'm in search of people who can translate Urdu poetry into English so that works of Mirza Ghalib, Gulzar and others reaches out to the international audiences as well. Hope I can achieve all this and more in 2011.

Who: Pankaj Udhas
What: Revealing his romantic side