He shares his name with the ‘tragedy king’ of Indian cinema but this Yusuf Khan is very different in terms of attitude.

Yusuf Khan, a Canadian citizen with Pakistani parents, claims his heritage is from Jaipur, his mother’s home before partition. He is in India for his album Jaanejana which he says has only three messages – love, peace and humanity.

‘I don’t believe in the divisions of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, to me these are all one – the subcontinent for which I am working’.

Having lived in North America, and being a second generation immigrant, he has faith in the people from this subcontinent and the value they hold to their homeland when they go abroad. He explains it this way – ‘when a person goes abroad, he sends a part of his earnings at home, that gives the country foreign exchange, that money is used to build his family home for which the labour and the raw material comes from local sources only, getting them their earnings. Our goal is to create more such people, with the right attitude to go outside. We don’t want aim to create large numbers, just a 100 tigers are enough.’

And how does music come into the picture here?

There are many organisations in the US and other countries who have agreed to match up the amount generated by this album. He is also trying to get a foot into Bollywood music to further up the brand value.

I have been told that being a Pakistani voice holds some importance here, he shrugs.

... contd.