A singing officer

An artiste who can easily imitate the voices of India’s playback greats, GHMC official Pawan Kumar has kept his passion for music alive.

Pawan Kumar

Most Hyderabadis view the GHMC as a sluggish civic body with a take-it-easy attitude, certainly not a place where one would expect talent to bloom.

Yet, GHMC official Pawan Kumar changes that perception and how. Pawan, who works in the public relations wing of the Corporation, has been making waves with his flair for singing. Not surprisingly, he has performed at all the cultural programmes of the department, much to the surprise and delight of his fellow officials. Most recently, at the end of the Assembly session, Pawan regaled the stressed employees of Jal Vihar with his songs, drawing the appreciation of the GHMC Commissioner Dana Kishore and Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar.

And while he is retiring at the end of this month, it will not be the end of his singing career for sure. With his penchant to easily imitate the voices of well known Bollywood singers like Mohd Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Mahender Kapoor, Talat Mehmood and Hemant Kumar, Pawan has emerged as a close clone of these singers.

The similarity is striking when he mimics Rafi singing Main Kahin Kavi Na Ban Jaoon or Mukesh’s Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan. And one would simply not know the difference when he yodels a la Kishore Kumar style in Ye Shaam Mastani. From soft romantic numbers to ghazals, qawwalis and Westernised rock and roll, Pawan sings everything down to the tee.

Recalling how his tryst with music began, Pawan says that he started off in childhood as a bathroom singer, but that his talent came to the fore at college where he became a permanent fixture at all the fests. Later, he joined a musical troupe and performed with popular stage artists like Jessy, Sampson Mukesh, Prem Kumar and Sajjad Kishore. As part of the Cine Musicians Association, he has also sung with Telugu playback singers Vijayalakshmi and Deepa Dhar. “I used to sing at get-togethers and corporate functions,” recalls Pawan, who credits his uncle Dr Amba Pershad Naidu, a renowned harmonist, as his inspiration.

Even after joining the MCH in 1983, Pawan’s passion for music continued, earning him the praise of several IAS officers like Jannat Husain, D.K. Panwar and R. H. Khwaja, who headed the civic body. Singing to recorded film music, Pawan has a huge number of songs of different shades in his album, while his songs can be accessed on the StarMaker and SoundCloud apps.

Pawan’s passion for music has proved to be his greatest advantage as he doesn’t feel the pressure of work at all, choosing instead to simply sing away the blues!

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in Deccan Chronicle

Dated February 22, 2019