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When you listen to songs like “Salaame” from Dhoom, “O Humdum Soniyo Re” from Saathiya, “Tauba Tauba” from Kaal, “Dil Na Diya” from Krrish, or most memorably “Bheege Honth Tere” from Murder, one thread connects them all. Each track, a chartbuster in its own right, was sung by Kunal Ganjawala. Over the years, audiences have admired his powerful voice, but many have been just as curious about his unusual surname, “Ganjawala.” On social media today, it has become both a subject of jokes and genuine intrigue. Now, Kunal has finally revealed the true story behind his surname. Speaking to the Hindi Rush podcast, he explained in detail how it originated. He said, “During the British Raj, our family used to grow marijuana for medical purposes. It was a profession before 1942, before the Quit India Movement.”
He then added, “Hum ganje ki kheti karte the, aur uska produce hum government ko dete the. Mere father ne mujhe bataya ki humein lagaan maaf tha, humare ancestors ko lagaan nahi dena padta tha. Kyunki humse British ye cheez lete the aur humein ‘Rao Saheb’ ki takhti de rakhi thi. Hum medical purposes ke liye iski kheti kiya karte the, aur uss mein se woh afeem ke injections banaakar cancer patients ko diya karte the, jahan-jahan British Kingdom tha.”
(We cultivated cannabis and gave the produce to the government. My father told me that our family was exempted from paying land tax, because the British took this crop from us and had given us the title of ‘Rao Saheb.’ They used the crop to make opium-based injections that were given to cancer patients across the British Empire).
He further said that his ancestors continued this work in this business until the Quit India Movement. But when Mahatma Gandhi urged people to become self-sufficient, the family decided to abandon the trade. Kunal recalled, “After that, we started working in construction and making steel furniture.”
Speaking more about the baggage and curiosity attached to his surname, he said, “We were licensed druggists during the British Raj until 1942. Sometimes on social media people are intrigued by my surname, and sometimes they make fun of it. But this is the real history. And this surname actually helped me a lot in the jingle industry. People would joke, ‘Oh, ganjewala, do you have maal?’ And I would tell them that I neither smoke nor consume such things.”
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