Zubeen Garg - Background

Background

Garg hails from Jorhat, a city in upper Assam. His birth name is Zubeen Borthakur. He was named after the great composer Zubin Mehta and uses his gotra name, Garg, as his surname. Garg was born to Mohini Mohan Borthakur, a famous lyricist, poet and a magistrate (who uses the pseudonym Kapil Thakur), and the late Ily Borthakur. He is also very fluent in speaking and understanding Bengali.

The Borthakur family has its roots in Janji, Sivasagar. Mohan Borthakur was a magistrate and he and his family moved often during Garg's early years. Ily Borthakur was a dancer, actress and singer, but she never turned these talents into a professional career. Instead, she decided to teach her son at home. Garg's younger sister Jongki Borthakur was a well-known singer and actress who died in a car accident in 2002 near Tezpur while they were going to perform stage show. There after Zubeen made an album known as SHISHU in memory of his late sister. Zubeen's other sister Palme, a bharatanatyam dancer, runs a dance academy in Guwahati.

Feeling indebted to his fans from Assam, Garg became involved in various charitable organizations dealing with AIDS and cancer. He is also president of societies including Destination (for autistic children), the All-Assam Cultural Organisation, and Vande.

Garg lives with his wife Garima, a fashion designer, in his Mumbai flat, which is a part of his music studio called Sound & Silence. Zubeen is also a prominent actor in Assamese films. His films have won national awards.