Article about Abhijeet
Arun Sampath
Abhijeet: Singing to
glory
Abhijeet, a perfect
case of a struggler who came to
Mumbai with a dream
to become a playback singer and
today over two
decades in the industry has proved that
he is one of the
best singers Hindi filmdom has ever
produced.
With hit films like
Baaghi, Sadak, Khiladi, Raja Babu,
Yeh Dillagi, Yes
Boss, Baadshah, Josh and Dhadkan
to name a few,
Abhijeet has now stepped in to do what
most playback
singers are trying these days -- cutting
pop albums. His
third album Aashiqui has been recently
released by
T-Series.
Belonging to a
middle class Bengali family, Abhijeet
came to Mumbai with
an intention to study CA,
something he gave up
to pursue playback. But it wasn't
all that easy for
him as his days of struggle showed him
the bitter part of
life.
So any regrets of
leaving a lucrative career to embrace
singing? "Today when
I look back I feel proud of
achieving this
position. But in those days of hard struggle,
yes, at one point I
was packing my bags and leaving this
city when I got a
call from R D Burman who called me
for a recording,"
says Abhijeet who made his debut in
Anand Aur Anand in
1982.
But lady luck was
not to shower her blessings on this
young man so easily.
Dejected with nothing substantial
happening to his
career, Abhijeet went on doing ghazal
shows and stage
shows all over to earn his bread and
butter. And finally
it was in 1990 that he reached the
podium where he
always wanted to be with his songs
from Baaghi topping
the charts. And since then, a little
over a decade,
Abhijeet has some of the finest songs to
his credit,
including Main Koi Asia Geet from the film
Yes Boss, which
fetched him a Filmfare Award.
With playback going
on smoothly in the latter part of his
career, Abhijeet
also decided to concentrate on singing
pop. He released two
albums -- Main Deewana Hoon
and Tapoori No.1
both through Venus. However while
the former did get a
decent response, the latter was a
disappointment for
his fans. "Personally I too was not in
favour of the album
but then when you are attached to a
company you need to
compromise on certain counts.
Well now I have
realised what went wrong and will
make sure the
mistakes are not repeated again".
Abhijeet's new album
Aashiqui in the words of the
naughty voiced
singer is a peppy, passionate, soft and
high romantic album.
"We have tried to add a nostalgic
European feel to the
album by way of its arrangements.
Nikhil- Vinay has
done a great job on the album and this
time I was involved
in every aspect of the making, be it
lyrics, music and
even the video," informs Abhijeet
adding that the
album has a video directed by Ratna
Sinha.
Commenting on the
fact that most playback singers are
cutting more and
more pop albums today, Abhijeet says
that music companies
have tried a whole lot of new
comers but
discovered only a pinch of talent. "Playback
singers have a huge
fan following, much more than a
so-called pop star
has. And music companies know that
playback singers are
definite money grossers as they are
relieved of their
duty of creating a brand, which they
have to do in case
of freshers. When a company can get
a ready-made brand
why won't they cash on them? And
there is no harm as
even for us we get an opportunity to
sing what we feel
like unlike in films where we are
situation bound".
The saying 'from
rags to riches' stands perfectly true in
the case of
Abhijeet. But the amount of hard work and
dedication he has
put in his singing makes all the riches
worth the effort for
him. But even today as the world
sings to the tunes
of his countless songs, Abhijeet claims
he is just a learner
and a beginner who has a long way to
go in the industry.
Nitin Kalra