Aditya Narayan doesn’t know where to start speaking on his father. “He is everybody’s favourite Dad ever since he sang Papa kehte hain bada naam karega. I’ve tried to live up to his expectations.”
This Father’s day was a double celebration for the Narayans. “It was my parent’s anniversary on the day before Father’s Day. We went for a fourteen-course meal and I was so glad to see him enjoying himself eating…Papa gives a hundred percent of himself to everything. They don’t make them like him anymore.What a unique individual! That uniqueness spreads from his voice to his entire personality.Everything about him is unique. I have been observing him for 35 years. With every passing year he feels more unique.”
Aditya dotes on his dad. “I love him. I have immense respect for him.I want him to be my father in every life.I am faintly confident that he too wants me as his son in every life. We’ve a lot of mutual love. And respect…It’s been a journey with ups and downs like any father-son relationship.”
Remembering his childhood Aditya recalls, “He was very loving and protective when I was a child. Then when he realized I want to pursue the arts and singing, he became a full-on taskmaster . He made my life miserable(laughs uproariously).At least, it felt like it. But it was all for the greater good. He was tough on me during my budding years. But as I’ve grown older, the more I have come to understand and love him. I worked really hard, put myself out there, to impress him.”
Aditya says he has inherited many qualities from his father. “I’ve learnt to work hard from my father. He made me understand that nothing comes easy. He is an extremely hardworking man.I’ve seen his perseverance and all the changes that it brought in our lives. He is a typical Sagittariun. When he sets his mind to something, he is a horse with blinkers, he is unstoppable. You can throw stones at him , hurl abuse,but his eyes are on his target.He is very patient and determined with his work. That’s what has gotten him where he is, the adoration of millions didn’t happen overnight…He is very humble. But when it comes to his music he knows what he is worth. He doesn’t have to say it. But he knows he is the best.”
The birth of Aditya’s daughter has changed Udit into a doting grandpa. “He absolutely adores her and talks about her non-stop. The way he looks at her melts my heart. He never loved me so much! I now realize he is a softie at heart with a hard shell. He also has a peculiar sense of humour. His laughter can be heard from here to the moon. Even if he cracks bad joke he laughs the hardest and you laugh because he is amused. People wonder why I am so funny. Well,wonder no more! It all comes from my father. Maybe I am not as funny he is. But I hope to get there one day.”
Speaking on Udit’s other qualities Aditya says, “He is a good husband. During the 1990s when he was at his peak he had very little time for us. Today he is living the life of a family man. I am happy to see him content.To see me working hard and getting love and respect gives him immense joy. For me to see him being proud of me is my greatest joy…Papa kehte hain bada naam karega indeed! I wish to see him live to a 100.That’s quite probable because my grandfather died at 102 and my grandmother is 105 and alive and kicking. Yeah, I love my father.”
