JEDDAH, 11 November 2002 — Hindi pop and playback singer Lucky Ali is here. He arrived here over the weekend to perform Umrah. “I’ve been performing Umrah in the past few years. This is my eighth visit for the minor pilgrimage,” Ali told Arab News here yesterday.

“You’re all lucky people to be so close to the two holy cities. It’s not that everyone gets such an opportunity,” said Ali, son of comedian Mehmood. He performed Haj last year.

Ali said: “I’m quite busy and enjoy doing farming in Yellehanka, near southern Indian city of Bangalore. Music is only my spare time hobby. I don’t compose songs as a matter of business or routine. I do them whenever I hit upon something good and record them wherever I am at that moment.” Ali, born Maqsood Mehmood Ali, who got rave reviews for his character role in Hindi feature film “Sur”, is awaiting the release of Sanjay Gupta’s “Kaante” in which he has composed music with some other music directors.

The multistarrer has some big names from Bollywood including Amitabh Bachchan. “Children especially liked “Sur” (a movie in which he as the music teacher gets jealous of his female student who excels as a singer), he said. The movie, refreshingly different from Bollywood, was devoid of the usual blockbuster ingredients of sex and violence.

Ali has already cut five albums. “Each of them touch my heart so I like all of them,” said the light-eyed singer when asked for the album he considers best. “I’ve seen my father’s success. Bollywood has not seen a better comedian than my dad,” Ali said when asked to comment on his father Mehmood.

The legendary comedian, who is currently convalescing in the United States, is remembered for a number of Hindi movies, including his own “Padosan”.

Asked how he was inspired into the music world, Ali said: “At the age of 13, I used to play guitar and started composing my own songs. May be, partly it was due to the film environment in which I grew up.”

Ali said he divided his time between New Zealand, from where his wife hails, and Bangalore.

“I love farming and India,” said Ali who is expecting his third child in April. He has a son and a daughter.