‘I am keen on composing Punjabi ghazals’

Gurnaaz Kaur

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The trailer of Manmarziyaan has succeeded in generating a lot of excitement and Anurag Kashyap fans have been eagerly waiting the film. While it’s a first time for the experimental director to do an out-and-out romantic drama, he did play around with the music launch!

The makers released one song every morning for a week, followed by music concerts at various cities. This has made us familiar with all the songs of the film and we also got a chance to know one of its singers, Jazim Sharma, who has sung two tracks — Chonch Ladhiyaan and Grey Walaa Shade. This young singer from Bathinda is relatively new to the industry, but has definitely impressed his listeners with his ghazal renditions. 

Mumbai calling

“I was four when I started learning music. Ghulam Ali ji inspired me to listen to ghazals during my childhood. As I grew up, I became more interested.” Jazim aka Jaspreet won many medals during his school and college days. He did bachelors in music from Punjab and won a gold medal at the National Youth Festival for his talent, but it was his search for more that led him to Mumbai. 

“Winning competitions and getting recognition felt good; but I wanted more opportunities and a bigger platform and thus decided to do Masters in music from Mumbai University.” And it did prove to be the right move. He participated in SaReGaMaPa in 2012 and bagged his debut song in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Dedh Ishqiya. “Those three months in SaReGaMaPa were a golden period for me. I was among the top five participants and was also awarded the title Shehzada-E-Ghazal. Vishal ji appreciated my style of singing and gave me Kya Hoga in Dedh Ishqiya. Then I did another song with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for the film Jugni. I even launched two solo albums of ghazals and a few singles.”

Punjabi turf

However, Jazim isn’t keen on working in Punjabi films. “I want to imbibe love for ghazals among youth. Unfortunately, youngsters find this genre boring. I am not in favour of the kind of Punjabi music that is selling these days. The level of poetry in them is poor; therefore I am keen on composing Punjabi ghazals that have contemporary music and good lyrics.”

Next in line for this upcoming singer is music direction. He already has a film in his kitty and is all set to don the new hat.