Fenil and Bollywood: Jiaganj

'Ab aayega maza': Arijit Singh turns his retirement FAQ into hilarious fan banter session

Retirement from Bollywood is just the first step in Arijit Singh's new journey, as he builds an indie life from small-town Bengal

Shamayita Chakraborty (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 1, 2026)

Heshel—a small restaurant serving fish-chicken-dal-rice meals at budget-friendly prices—is an unlikely place to come looking for Arijit Singh. The eatery sits bang on the side of a busy road in Jiaganj, a sleepy riverside town about 240 km from Kolkata, that’s stitched together by narrow, winding lanes, old houses and tea stalls. Jiaganj is far, far away from the glitter of Bollywood parties, where gossip mingles over tinkling glasses of Chardonnay.

But earlier this week, as the world woke up to one of India's most prolific playback singers announcing his sudden retirement, and social media chatter filled with laments and why-nows, the only place to look for the reclusive, enigmatic Arijit was here, in Jiaganj.

Far away from the madding, maddening crowd of Hindi cinema. Heshel is an eatery run by Arijit’s father, Kakkar Singh. The regular clients, mostly students and local workers quietly enjoying their midday meals on a sleepy Saturday afternoon, seem oblivious to Kakkar’s famous progeny, who can often be seen riding around Jiaganj on his scooty. Kakkar, his brother and his son can be found at the eatery at any time, running the business without any fuss.

“His father just took a ferry to cross the river to go to Azimganj,” says Premnath Chowdhury, a sailor of Shibtala Ghat by the Bhagirathi river.

Jiaganj’s most famous “ordinary man”

“Arijit and his family walk around the town just like we do. His sons go to local schools. He rides his scooty, enjoys tea from roadside shacks and smiles, nods and talks when he sees known faces. Isn’t that normal?” asks Premnath, who plays football at a local field that is maintained by Arijit and his friends.

Evidently, Arijit takes his gigantic fame really lightly. His four-storey house is located in the middle of a narrow alley. This is his new house. He grew up in another house just behind the new one.

“He bought another house between his old and new house and joined all the houses to have a free and private passageway—just like his mother wanted it to be,” said Shampa Kundu, his mother’s childhood friend.

Arijit runs errands on his scooty. He runs an NGO, Tatwamasi Foundation, under which he has established an arts residency space, ‘Aditi Sur Sadanalaya’, named after his mother. He is also building a hospital. He is always there for the local people—his neighbours and friends. And he makes music from the not-so-spacious lanes of this town. Mumbai musicians who want to work with him must visit him in this town in Murshidabad, the town where it all began. But there is no hotel here. That means anyone who wants a glimpse of the musician has to stay overnight some 30 km away.

Where the music began

Arijit was a four-year-old when his mother took him to his Gurukul—the Hazari-bari of Debipur. He started his music training under Rajendra Prasad Hazari and his brothers Dhirendra Prasad Hazari and Birendra Prasad Hazari.

Dhirendra taught him tabla, while the other two brothers trained him in vocals. The house that taught music to hundreds of children now stands still on a field. The gurus are all gone but Arijit never forgets to pay tribute to his gurumas, Kalpana and Swagata—wives of Rajendra and Dhirendra, who welcome us with a broad smile.

“He calls us dida (grandmother). Before Shomu (almost everyone in Jiaganj refers to Arijit as Shomu), it was his mother Aditi and her sister Papri who used to learn music here and in the school, Murchhana. When he joined, he was the cutest,” recalls Swagata, adding, “He was calm and polite, without an iota of mischief. My husband always pointed out that he had an outstanding ability to capture music. Arijit is gifted.” Recently, at a classical concert hosted by the musician, Arijit felicitated his gurumas. Humble is that one word that defines Shomu largely,” says Kalpana.

“He is an extraordinarily talented human being and yet lives a humble life. His clothes, house, vehicle—everything is like ordinary people. His quirks are, perhaps, less ordinary: he has christened each guitar he owns. One is named Jhora, then there are Jhuma and Sanjbhati and so on. He visits us like he used to. Maybe not as often, but the warmth is still there.”

His gurus have a deep influence in Arijit’s life. Rajendra passed away when Arijit was performing in Fame Gurukul. “My husband saw his success. It was like seeing his son conquering the world. His pride was enormous,” remembers Swagata.

Shampa’s sister and Arijit went to Murchhana together. “He was so small then that he could not reach the harmonium blower. My sister used to help,” remembers Shampa fondly. “Aditi and I went to the same school, literally grew up together. Shomu grew up around us. But I am not sure if Shomu will be happy to see me talking about him. He is a private man and doesn’t like to talk about himself,” she says.

A fiercely private person

That is the general feeling you get from his friends. Everyone talks about him proudly but no one wants to be quoted in a newspaper article. “He does not like to talk about himself,” says Shampa. “We all love him so fondly that we cannot stop talking about him,” she adds.

Ever since Arijit announced his retirement from playback music, the town has filled up with journalists and photographers. Like Arijit, Jiaganj also takes fame lightly. Earlier, locals played badminton with Salim Merchant, silently welcomed Badshah sans the fanaticism, and waved politely at Grammy-winning Ed Sheeran when he travels with Arijit on his scooty. Perhaps because of this chilled out attitude of the town, Arijit could manage to live the life he wanted to.

Singer Ujjaini Mukherjee is a friend of Arijit. Both of them began their journey in Mumbai decades ago. “We, the Bengali musicians, used to live together and jam together whenever possible. We were teenagers then. He first taught me that one can sing, arrange and produce their own music,” she recalls.

“One day he made me sing a Rabindrasangeet, recorded it and within hours made a fabulous piece,” she remembers. According to Ujjaini, Arijit has never been an extroverted person.

“He used to take time to open up. But he had a very strong sense of boundaries. I remember I visited him in Jiaganj once. A local lad came forward to take a selfie. He stopped him and firmly said, ‘Some other time. You see me all the time’. And the boy stopped. I think it is because of his clear sense of boundaries, he could actually manage to live a sane, normal life despite his insane stardom,” she says.

Enormous fandom

Arijit experiences stardom that very few people do. A fan, under the condition of anonymity, said, “Initially, he discouraged any fan club. Till today, we don’t have any registered fan club. But there are fans across India and abroad. We often travel to his concerts. No one from Arijit’s team gets involved in it. We did a reunion once at an Ahmedabad concert. If Arijit sees any of us from the stage he acknowledges.”

Is it normal for a celebrity of Arijit’s stature to live a life of a plebeian? Well, is it even normal for an artiste to retire from playback – the most lucrative performance for a musician—in their prime? That’s Arijit Singh for us. He could give up the comfort of Mumbai at his peak then and settle down in Jiagunj. He could bid adieu to playback singing in Bollywood now and invest in independent music. And it is equally effortless for him to live an ‘uncelebrity-like’ life in Jiaganj—away from the glitz of the film industry.

People who know Arijit closely say such decisions are well thought out. He is very sure of what he wants to do. Arijit is a through-and-through artiste. His music will flow as it always has. ‘A lot is in store,’ he promises. But what does it really mean to retire from playback music? For a musician, especially a singer, a lot depends on live shows. More hit numbers mean more popularity and hence, demand for shows. Bollywood playback ensures a few nationwide hit numbers every year. When one stops doing playback, the number of hits may just dip. But numbers don’t seem to define him.

According to composer Joy Sarkar, Arijit will have a lot more to offer than a few playback songs. “One of the problems in the Indian music scene is that it is largely defined by film music. Let’s not forget, the history of Indian music is thousands of years old, while the journey of film music started less than a century ago. I know Arijit as a musician, not just a singer. He will create magic,” adds Joy.

Ruman Ganguly (BOMBAY TIMES; April 22, 2022)

Arijit Singh seems to be slowly shifting base to his birthplace — Jiaganj, a small town in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. Recently, pictures of Arijit dropping off his sons, Jul and Ali, at a local school surfaced on social media. His close friend and composer Indraadip Das Gupta said Arijit has set up an advanced home studio there.

The famously reclusive singer, who continues to maintain a flat in suburban Mumbai, has been spending more time in Murshidabad ever since the pandemic began. As per reports, he travels to Mumbai only for specific professional assignments. “Arijit once told me, ‘Indraadip da, Mumbai is part of my journey. I work there and it has made me who I am today. But my heart and soul lies in Jiaganj, my birthplace’,” Indraadip said, adding that Arijit is deeply connected to his roots and believes in nurturing them. When asked about the reason behind Arijit’s decision to enrol his sons in a local school, Indraadip said, “He keeps telling me that he doesn’t want his sons to lead a cushioned life.”

“I’ve seen Arijit Singh, one of the most successful singers in India as the guy next door, who mingles with everyone,” Indraadip added.

Other than sharing his news and his songs on social media, Arijit doesn’t believe in telling the world what he does outside the world of music, shared Indraadip.

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