A screenshot of an old testimonial shared on social media has been attracting attention. The testimonial is from none other than the greatest name in bhajan singing – Bhajan Samrat Anup Jalota. In it, he is praising Bollywood publicist Dale Bhagwagar who handled the media publicity for the renowned singer in the late 90s and early 2000s.
The testimonial from Anup Jalota says: “Can never forget you writing about me when no one knew about me. Thanks so much.” To which Dale has replied: “Thank you so much Anupji, for remembering and appreciating my work. Feel really proud. (Folding hands emoticon). You were a music superstar even when I was in school. You give me much more credit than I deserve. (Hugging emoticon)”
When asked about it, Dale comments that “Anupji’s words are extremely flattering. But to be honest, he is being very gracious.”
“Anupji was the greatest icon in bhajans even when I was in school,” he reiterates. “His iconic bhajan ‘Aisi Laagi Lagan, Meera Ho Gai Magan’ was a rage even then. By the time I became an entertainment publicist and began handling music artists, singers and musicians, he was already legendary,” says the PR professional.
Dale adds that he is not only grateful to have had a chance to handle the music PR for a name like Anup Jalota, but extremely humbled to have got a testimonial with such glowing words from him.
“Anupji is not only one of the most known and respected persons in the music industry, but he is a fantastic human being too,” remarks the public relations expert. “He is humble, caring, a stickler for time, intelligent, jovial, extremely professional, well-read, generous and has a great sense of humour. There is never a dull moment in his company,” exclaims the publicist.
For the record, over the years, Dale has also handled the PR for most of the top names in the music industry. Apart from Bhajan Samrat Anup Jalota, his list of PR clients have included some of the best names like Ghazal King Pankaj Udhas, Princess of Pop Anaida, Ghazal Queen Penaz Masani, Melody Kings Nadeem-Shravan, Indie-pop rap star Style Bhai, Santoor Maestro Rahul Sharma and Bhangra King Daler Mehndi.
In fact, Dale has been credited in the media for having practically invented the music PR segment in India for independent PR agencies to follow. He has looked after the media publicity of singers, music composers, music companies, singles, music videos, film songs and musicians, and publicised around 80 music albums, which is a record of sorts in music PR.
The publicist has also handled PR for around 300 personalities including names such as Hrithik Roshan, Shilpa Shetty and Priyanka Chopra. He has handled the media for films such as the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Don and the Farhan Akhtar-starrer Rock On, apart from post-release PR for the Hrithik Roshan-starrer Koi… Mil Gaya.
Currently, though the publicist focuses on entertainment and business PR clients, he does agree to handle music promotions once in a while. His Mumbai-based PR agency Dale Bhagwagar Media Group is a market leader in entertainment PR.
