23/09/2025
Zubeen da | sir art Arhaan
The year was 2006. Anurag Basu's 'Gangster', starring Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut and Shiney Ahuja, entered theatres with modest expectations. Reviews were mixed, the box office returns were ordinary. But what outlived the film was not its plot or performances, it was its music.
One track in particular, 'Ya Ali', struck a chord with an entire generation. Its melody travelled from college canteens to neighbourhood cassette stalls, from night buses to late-night hostel jam sessions. Behind that song was a voice that would become, for many, inseparable from their coming of age-Zubeen Garg.
Nearly two decades later, the singer's sudden death has paralysed his home state of Assam. In Guwahati, normal life froze. Shops closed, services stopped, crowds poured into the streets. The grief was not merely of losing an artist but also a cultural icon who took Assam around the globe.
