A love letter to Pancham...04th Jan 2026

  04th Jan 2026   Dear Pancham,   Keh Doon Tumhein Yaa chup Rahoon Dil Mein Mere Aaj Kya Hai? How are you? Are you happy to be a...

 

04th Jan 2026

 

Dear Pancham,

 

Keh Doon Tumhein Yaa chup Rahoon Dil Mein Mere Aaj Kya Hai?

How are you? Are you happy to be amongst friends and family? With your Baba and Ma, Kishore-da, Kaka, Badal babu and your other friends? Even your beloveds Shammi Kapoor, Rishi, Nasir Husain, Ramesh Behl, Gulshan Bawra, Manohari, Basu, Bhanu-da, Homi Mullan sir are there with you. Am sure the Gods are spoilt rotten with the choice of music they have at their disposal now.

 

It’s lonely here. Khaali haath shaam aati hai, khaali haath jaati hai. Your near and dear ones here miss you a lot. Whether it is Gulzar saab, whose eyes fill up every time he remembers a “labrayz lamha” with you or Asha-ji who misses your free-spirited friendship. There are some composers, whose work has deteriorated (mysteriously) after you left us. I wonder why (wink wink). Or as you had once made kids sing mischievously in one of your songs…Chor Pakda Gaya !!!

 

I miss you too Pancham. Yet I do feel your presence all around me. All the time. Your music is like balm to me. It soothes my soul. Even though I didn’t know you personally, somewhere through your music I feel a bond. Surely Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Naata Koi, Yunhi Nahin Dil Lubhaata Koi….kuch to hai Pancham

 

I remember discovering you through the songs of Kishore-da initially. Once I started to compile my favourite songs of Kishore-da it didn’t take me long to discover the common factor in all those glorious gems. It was you Pancham. Your Baba discovered, encouraged and presented Kishore-da to hindi film music lovers, but it was you, who added that sheen, that polish, that glow to the “Voice of God”. If anyone could improve and enhance perfection it was you. Your collaboration with Kishore-da was magical. Almost like a dream. Kabhi Kabhi Sapna Lagta Hai….Kabhi Yeh Sab Apna Lagta Hai…

 

And after that discovery, you engulfed me in your music completely. Even sans Kishore-da your music meant more to me than anyone or anything in the world. Be it with Lata Ji, Asha Ji, Rafi Saab, Mukesh Ji or Manna-Da, you continued to weave magic after magic. Tu Jahan Mile Mujhe Wahi Mere Dono Jahaan. You soon were to become my whole world. 

 

Did you know Pancham? 

 

Did you know that just once in my life I had actually seen you? Don’t know if you remember or not but it was October 1993. It was Durga Puja and you were sitting in the Organising Committee stall at Shakti Samanta sir’s Puja at Linking Road. You were in a crisp white kurta pajama sitting all by yourself. I was standing outside the stall...mesmerised to see my God in flesh and blood. My father egged me on to go and talk to you but I didn’t. It didn’t seem right, to be “yet another fan disturbing and invading the privacy of a celebrity”. I didn’t want to disturb you. Later on when I read about your lonely last few years I cursed myself for not going up and talking to you and telling you what you meant to me. It’s one regret I will always have. Kuch Humko Tumse Kehna To Tha...

 

Today on 4th Jan we all remember you like we do every other day. With love, sadness and fondness and dollops of nostalgia. Wo din bhi kya din they when we could sing with unbridled abandon Kal Kya Hoga Kisko Pata Abhi Zindagi Ka Le Lo Mazaa. And even though you are physically not with us here, your soul is embedded in ours. Through your music. Bichhad jaate hain diya Aur baati Na Saath Kabhi chhode hai geet Aisa Saathi. 

 

So Pancham have a blast up there with all your friends and family. I envy heaven for it has you residing there. Laughing loving and singing whilst we miss you down here. But then your music reminds me that:

 

Bahut door hoke 

Bahut Paas ho Tum

Meri Zindagi 

Mera Ehsaas ho Tum. 

 

Miss you today…like everyday…and yet you’re always a part of me…tum Ho mere dil Ki Dhadkan…

 

(Just one of the millions of)

Your Deewana 

 

Pratik.

 

By Pratik Majumdar (author: Love Coffee Murder and 1975 The Year That Transformed Bollywood)