3 min readNew DelhiMar 2, 2026 04:13 PM IST
Arijit Singh, a boy from a small town Jiaganj, in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, has always maintained a lowkey personal life. The singer, who recently announced his retirement from playback singing, is the most-followed singer on Spotify, with 17,46,05,324 followers. After Arijit’s big decision to move away from Bollywood and its limelight, actor Aamir Khan visited his hometown, to spend time with him. Now, in a recent interview, the singer’s father Surinder Singh opened up about his son’s musical journey since childhood, and revealed his beloved nickname ‘Shomu’.
‘What is your son doing?’
During an interaction with The Telegraph India, Arijit’s dad recalled their family’s journey, long before the musician’s success in the music industry. “Our ancestral home was near Lahore. After Partition, my father and his three brothers migrated to Lalgola,” he shared.
After Partition, the Singh family was also forced to leave everything behind, eventually moving to Jiaganj. The musician’s journey kickstarted right there, by visiting and singing in the local gurudwara, on special occasions with his late mother, Aditi Singh. “Moja lagey. I feel amused. People ask me ‘what is your son doing’, ‘what is his next project’,” his father expressed, opening up about the pride he feels everyday.
The publication’s reporters also visited a teashop near Arijit Singh‘s house, which used to be his evening ‘adda’ not long ago. Haridasi Das and her son Sanjoy Das, who run the shop, said, “I saw Shomu grow up. Shomu learnt to swim here, his father taught him.”
‘My son couldn’t live in Mumbai’
While speaking to one of the singer’s childhood friends, they got to know that the town of Jiaganj keeps drawing him towards it, despite professional commitments and becoming one of India’s most celebrated voices. “Shomu has apartments and offices in Mumbai but prefers to live here. His sons — Jul and Ali — study in a local CBSE school. Shomu wants to give more time to Tatwamasi-led projects,” he shared. “This is such a peaceful place. Even my son couldn’t live in Mumbai and had to return. Ei maatir emoni taan,” Surinder Singh said, emphasising on his connection to the town.
Arijit’s cousin, Raju Singh, who runs the cash counter at an eatery (Heshel) started by Arijit in the area, revealed that the family hardly comes to the restaurant now. “Shomu doesn’t get time to visit the restaurant. Uncle too rarely comes by,” he said.
Story continues below this ad
Even after announcing his retirement from playback singing, Arijit Singh has released a new song to explore independent music. The most recent track titled Raina, composed by Shekhar Ravjiani and written by Priya Saraiya, has already won many hearts on the internet. It is available on the Garuuda Music YouTube channel.
