While Padma Bhushan awardee Usha Uthup is quite famous for her powerful singing, not much is known about her late husband Jani Chacko. In fact, few people know that Jani Chacko was Usha Uthup’s second husband.
Born in 1946 in Kottayam, Jani Chacko belonged to a Syrian Christian family.After completing his schooling from Chennai, Jani moved to Kolkata for work where, interestingly, he also met Usha for the first time. Jani Chacko worked at J.Thomas & Co., which is one of the oldest and largest tea auctioneers in the world.
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Usha Uthup and Jani Chacko’s love story
It was in 1969, when Usha first met Jani Chacko while performing at Trincas– a nightclub in Kolkata. Usha was then married to Ramu, her first husband, who was accompanying her to Kolkata for the performance. According to her authorised biography titled ‘The Queen of Indian Pop: The Authorised Biography of Usha Uthup’ by Vikas Kumar Jha, Usha first noticed Jani sitting at a nearby table while she was singing ‘A Taste of Honey’ by Herp Albert. That day, Ramu and Jani happened to talk to each other and the next day, the two men met for a meal again. Interestingly, it was Jani who had invited Ramu to the meeting.
On the second day, Usha was again performing at Trincas where she noticed Jani; but her then-husband Ramu wasn’t present. After the show, Jani offered to drop Usha home– an offer which she agreed to. Jani and Usha didn’t speak much during this time, but when she reached home and her husband Ramu saw that she arrived with Jani, he was furious.
According to her biography, “Ramu told Jani, ‘That’s enough Mr. Uthup! You can go’ and Ramu shut the door”. On confronting Ramu for his behaviour, “He screamed and broke down. ‘Do you know what Jani Uthup told me this afternoon at the Chinese restaurant? Jani said, ‘I don’t know about Usha and her feelings, but I am in love with your wife.'” To this, Usha calmly replied saying that Jani hadn’t said this to her. When Ramu asked her if Usha too had feelings for Jani, the singer confessed saying ‘Yes’.
In the following days, Ramu slowly grew distant from Usha and their five years long marriage gradually came to an end. It was then that Usha decided to move on from Ramu and marry Jani Chacko for love.
Usha and Jani Chacko Uthup’s family
Jani Chacko is survived by his wife Usha, and their kids– daughter Anjali Uthup and son Sunny Uthup.
Remembering her father and paying a heartfelt tribute to him, Anjali took to social media and posted a picture of Jani Chacko Uthup. Her post read, “Appa…gone too soon…but as stylishly as you lived…most handsome man in the world…we love you a true gentleman and Lawrencian to the core and the finest Tea Taster.”
Our condolences to Usha Uthup and her family.