Gurdas Maan: A Living Legend
Gurdas Maan is a prominent Punjabi singer who is considered as a “Living Legend” by his fans. He has a separate fan-base among the youth since he started merging Punjabi folk songs with the POP music. He is a perfect example of a grounded, humble, and down to the earth celebrity.
A Social Messanger:
Gurdas Maan’s work is appreciated by people as his songs always talk about humanity, urges youth to walk on the right path, and drives motivation into the youth of the nation. One of his delightful characteristics is that he never sings vulgar songs, instead, his songs are always deeply rooted with thoughtful messages.
Gurdas Maan: A Saint Soul
The singer is a very religious person and is a devotee of Sai Laddi Shah Ji and Baba Murad Shah Ji. Hence every year, in the month of May, Gurdas Maan performs at Dera Murad Shah Ji. He is considered a saint person.
Early Life Of Gurdas Maan:
Gurdas was an enthusiastic child. He actively participated in various singing, dancing, acting, and sports championships during his school and college days and also bagged a number of awards. Maan began his career as a employee at Punjab State Electricity Board.
From Sports To Singing:
He had an avid love for sports since his childhood. He went on to get his name enrolled in the National Institute of Sports, Patiala and gained a degree in Masters in physical education. But it was Maan’s zest for singing that helped him becoming one of the ionic singers of Punjab.
A Life Changing Milestone:
It was during one of his stage performances, that Gurdas’s song ‘Ye Dil Da Mamla Hai’ caught the attention of a producer of a Jalandhar TV station. The producer approached Gurdas to work with him and on 31 December 1980, his song “Dil Da Mamla Hai” aired which gained him nation wide popularity. After the overwhelming success of his first song, there was no looking back for Gurdas Maan. He went on to work with HMV (UK based film and music retailer) and released his debut album song. Maan was a solo performer and took down many offers for duets as he wanted to rise and shine as a solo artist.
Personal Life: Two Narrow Escapes From Death
On 9 January 2001, Gurdas Maan met with an accident in which his driver-cum-friend, Tejpal lost his life, whereas, Gurdas escaped the accident with some minor injuries. Gurdas payed his tribute to his friend Tejpal by dedicating a song named, ‘Sawari’ to him. On 20 January 2007, Maan met with another accident in Haryana but again, was fortunate enough to escape the accident with some minor injuries on his hands, face and chest. In an interview, Gurdas confessed that if it was not for his driver, Tejpal, he would not have been alive as he worn the seat belt minutes before the accident on his advise.
Facts: Lesser Known About Gurdas Maan
- He also holds a black belt in Judo.
- It may take a few by surprise to know that Gurdas Maan is an ardent supporter of Manchester United football club.
- He has also directed TV shows such as POP Time for the Doordarshan.
- He is a blessed linguist having a good command over languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Haryanvi, Rajasthani, etc.
Accomplishments:
- In 2006, Maan went on to become the first Punjabi singer to win the National award for Best Male Playback Singer at 54th National Film Awards. The award was presented by Pratibha Patil (the then President of India.)
- Gurdas Maan’s starrer film, “Waris Shah” became the first Punjabi movie to get nominated for the Oscars in 2006.
- He took Punjabi Music industry to great heights. He won Best International Artist award for his song ‘Apna Punjab Hove’ and bagged best Song and Best Album awards as well for the song at the Asian Pop and Media Awards held in Birmingham.
- For his song, “Boot Polishan,” he was conferred with the Best International Album award at the UK Asian Music Awards in 2009.
- In 2010, Gurdas acquired a degree in Music from Wolverhampton University.
Rules The Hearts Of his Fans:
Although Gurdas Maan has a huge fan following but he has got some real die hard fans too. One such fan is Sonu Sethi who is the owner of the reowned Dhaba, ‘Sethi Dhaba’ on Chandigarh-Ambala Highway. Sonu Sethi has dedicated this Dhaba to Gurdas Maan. He has decorrated his dhaba with life size posters of him and the guy never misses out on celebrating Maan’s birthday, wedding anniversary, film promotions etc. Sonu Sethi also runs an ambulance service as a gesture of humanity and the thought was also inspired by Gurdas Maan.
Pictures:
Songs: 305+ Songs Released
His fans have always claimed that listening to Maan’s songs has always been a treat to the ears. Maan has writter around 305 songs and has recorded more than 34 albums.
- Chakkar (1984)
- Raat Suhani (1988)
- Teri Khair Hove (1993)
- Five Rivers (1999)
- Aaja Sajna (2001)
- Heer (2004)
- Dil Da Badshah (2004)
- Boot Polishan (2008)
- Jogiya (2011)
- Roti (2013)
- In 2015, he collaborated with Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh for the song, Ki Banu Duniya Da, which was featured on Coke Studio season 4.
Movies:
Gurdas Maan is not only born with a soothing voice but also is a refined actor. He made his debut through the film, Mamla Gadbad Hai in 1984. He has acted in dozen of movies which are critically acclaimed by both, the critics and public. In 2018, he appeared in the film, Manto, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Here is the list of his some renowned movies:
- Long Da Lishkara (1986)
- Shaheed-E-Mohabbat (1995)
- Sirf Tum (1999)
- Shaheed Udham Singh (2000)
- Zindagi Khoobsurat Hai (2002)
- Des Hoya Pardes (2004)
Family:
Gurdas Maan was born on 4 January 1957 to Late Sardar Gurdev Singh Mann and Late Bibi Tej Kaur in Giddarbaha, district Muktsar, Punjab. He has one brother named, Paramjit Bahia. Gurdas Maan is married to Manjeet Maan. She is a producer and director of Punjabi films. Together they have one son, Gurrick G Maan who is also a video director and producer of punjabi films.