SONU NIGAM
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He's steadily risen to become the
most
sought-after and reliable singer of
today. Sonu
Nigam first caught the listener's
attention with
his soulful rendition of Achcha sila
diya, and later
captivated the viewers with his
poised compering
of Sa Re Ga Ma. The musical show won
him an
unprecedented fan-following, which
grew by leaps
and bounds with the success of his
albums
Deewana and Jaan, not to forget his
film songs.
The singer soon became a teen
heart-throb, and
needless to say acting offers came
his way. Sonu's
new album Yaad was released recently
by
T-Series, and the singer's confident
it will add to
his hit-list...
"I am mentally not prepared for
acting, and I am
sceptical whether I'll be able to
match the high
standards set by Shah Rukh Aamir and
Hrithik "
"Amaan and Ayaan are doing a real good job in Sa Re
Ga Ma. They
are more knowledgeable about classical music. And
they are quite
cute too"
Sonu Nigam's success story can be gauged from the new
house he has just
moved into, in Versova, Mumbai. Beautifully designed,
with Sonu himself
giving a lot of inputs to his interior designer, it
strikes you as different. What
immediately catches the eye is a huge framed photo of
the legendary
Mohammed Rafi, who Sonu idolises. "My parents gifted
it to my on my
birthday, and it's priceless," he says.
Sonu's as busy as a bee these days. He's just cut his
new private album
Yaad, and has recorded a song till the wee hours of
morning, and after another
recording, he's all set to leave for New York,
performing there for a
month-and-a-half. Life's on a fast track for the
singer, but he's his usual calm
and poised self, which we had got so used to seeing
in Sa Re Ga Ma. The
only difference is that the teen-hearthrob is
sporting a new hairdo - long wavy
locks. We met him prior to his departure for the
States to talk about his new
album, his acting debut and his life after success.
Excerpts:
Your new house reflects your mind frame.
Oh, I worked hard on doing it up with my interior
decorator. I had always
wanted a house with different themes for different
rooms. My music room,
where I do my riyaaz, is designed like an Indian
village, complete with a
temple and a hut. I feel refreshed there. And my
office looks straight out of a
Phantom comic. There is a mini-forest, and a tiny
bridge over a stream. Now I
don't need to go anywhere out to get a feel of
nature. (Smiles).
So how does it feel to be successful?
Well, I have slogged for it and I am enjoying the
fruits of my labour. I am 27
now, and I started singing when I was just
three-and-a-half. So I have been
singing for 23 years. I have progressed gradually in
life. I started singing for
stage shows while in school, and it was a tough life,
mananging the school,
homework and work. But I enjoyed it, and my family
has always been
encouraging.
Would you say Sa Re Ga Ma was the beginning of an
upward graph?
I think it was. At that time, though some of my songs
had clicked, people
didn't really know me. My first hit number was Achcha
sila diya for Bewaffa
Sanam, but still I had to register my identity. I was
just another good singer.
After Sa Re Ga Ma however, my career as a singer
started looking up. In
1997, my first major pop album Kismet was released.
Then came Deewana by
T-Series, which was a break-through album on the pop
music scene. The
album broke records in sales figures after which I
never looked back. Last year
Jaan with T-Series was released and it did even
better business than
Deewana.
Is Yaad in the same romantic mould as Deewana and
Jaan?
Yes, my music company won't allow me to work on any
other concept
because Bhooshan Kumar, MD of T-Series, feels that
any other image doesn't
suit me. I would like to experiment with different
concepts, like a Sufi album or
a semi-classical album. But commercial viability is
important too.
Yaad is different from Deewana and Jaan because we
have given some new
sound, not the typical filmi sound. Composers
Nikhil-Vinay and Ravi Pawar
have worked on the songs which will appeal to all.
There are some groovy
tracks too, one being the Latino dance type. The
speciality of Yaad is the
excellent sound arrangement and vocals, and it is
compataible with the
overseas market. We have slogged on the album, and
ended up re-recording
so many songs.
Your playback singing career is going great guns too.
So how does it
feel to be in demand?
Very tiring actually. (Smiles). I have worked with
almost all music directors,
from Anu Malik to A.R. Rahman to Jatin-Lalit to
Sandeep Chowtha. I have got
so many playback singing offers that I have no time
for myself. I think I'll hike
my price, so the offers will reduce a bit. Just
joking. (Smiles).
In the last couple of years, I have been lucky to get
such beautiful
compositions to sing, most of which have turned out
to be hits, be it the
classical-based numbers in Refugee and Tera Jadoo
Chal Gayaa, or the zingy
numbers in Jungle and Mast. My latest hit number is
Khamoshiyan
gungunane lageen for Rahman from One Two Ka Four.
This song is my first
with Lataji (Mangeshkar), which is a big honour.
Do you prefer cutting pop albums or singing for
films?
Now that's like choosing between the devil and the
deep sea. As a singer I like
both, but yes, you do have more of a say in the
album. The involvement while
making a private album is total since it's the
singer's album all the way. Not
that the composers or lyricists don't matter. They
do, but then the album is
recognised by the singer, so one has to see it
through from the concept to
recording. In film songs, the composer has the last
word.
That you are a versatile singer is your strength as
well as your
weakness. Don't you think you need a trademark to be
easily
identified?
I think it's because of my varied singing style and
my ability to sound different
as per the requirement of the song that music
directors want me. Times have
changed and today one has to be versatile. You can't
have a fixed style of
singing like in the past. Agreed that Rafi Saab
sounded only like Rafi Saab if
he sang Chahe koi mujhe junglee kahe from Junglee, or
Man tarpat Hari
darshan ko from Baiju Bawra which is what made him
the legend he was.
Though he did variate his style according to the
song. But today I don't think
having one style will work, especially with
Westernised style of singing coming
into India. Obviously I can't sing the frivolous What
is mobile number or
Ankhiyon se goli maare or Dil dhapaak in the same
serious style as Satrangi
re or Zindagi maut na ban jaaye. I need to sound
different.
So how much are you inspired by Mohammed Rafi?
Rafi Saab is God to me. I have grown up listening to
him and imitating him in
my early years. But later I started variating my
voice as I kept progressing in
my career. Many ridiculed me for this, but gradually
accepted me. They
accepted that Sonu Nigam has his own identity. And I
have retained their faith
in me by working hard. It was God's will that I was
successful.
These days you are doing a lot of opera style of
singing?
Yeah (Smiles). It started with the Pardes song Yeh
dil deewana, which opened
with a long Ye ye ye. After that I have used it in
some other songs too. I think I
am the only singer in India who can sing in Western
opera style. At the same
time my Indian classical foundation is equally
strong.
Salma
Khatib