Pankaj Udhas Passes Away: Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain Pay Last Respects, Attend Funeral

Pankaj Udhas passed away on February 26 in Mumbai. (Photos: Instant Bollywood and Voompla)

Pankaj Udhas’ funeral will take place on February 27, Tuesday evening. Ahead of the same, several of his industry colleagues including Zakir Hussain and Shankar Mahadevan visited his residence to pay their last respects to their ghazal maestro. The funeral is set to take place between 3 pm and 5 pm.

In a video that surfaced on social media, Shankar Mahadevan was seen interacting with the paparazzi as he paid his final tribute to Udhas. Shankar remembered Pankaj as the “most gentle soul” and went on to call him a “fantastic musician”. He further thanked Udhas for taking ghazal to the masses. Besides Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain was also seen arriving at Pankaj Udhas’ residence to offer his condolences to the family.

Pankaj Udhas passed away on February 26 in Mumbai after a ‘prolonged illness’. In a statement issued to the press, the family said, “With a very heavy heart, we are saddened to inform you of the sad demise of Padmashri Pankaj Udhar on February 26, 2024, due to a prolonged illness.”

Later, singer Anup Jalota revealed that Pankaj was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was battling in for the last two to three months. “The man who helped so many cancer patients, himself died of cancer. That is life. He had pancreatic cancer. I knew this for the last 5 to 6 months, and he stopped talking to me in the last 2-3 months, so I realized that his health was not okay. I feel very sad that this illness took his life,” he told The Indian Express.

Pankaj Udhas was born on May 17, 1951, in Jetpur, Gujarat. He began his career by releasing a ghazal album named Aahat in 1980. Soon, he became synonym with ghazal music in India. In Bollywood, the ghazal singer sang the iconic track Chitthi Aayee Hai, for Sanjay Dutt’s film Naam. Pankaj released several albums and hosted many live concerts over the years which amplified his popularity. Pankaj Udhas was honoured with India’s fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri.