Sonu Niigaam goes, the road goes just one way — up

You have turned choosy as promised 18 months ago. So which are your films to come?
I am singing worthier songs, hopefully. I have sung some fabulous songs for Sajid-Wajid in God Tussi Great Ho and another film being directed by Ajay Chandok. A.R.Rahman’s given me some good songs in Subhash (Ghai)ji’s Yuvraaj and Salim-Sulaiman will spring a surprise with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. I am singing the song in which Shah Rukh Khan is paying tribute to five yesteryear superstars, including Shammi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna. It’s a very ingenious and complex song and for me it was a great challenge.

Do you find it easier to sing difficult songs now?
Yes, I am definitely getting better. But a singer’s growth cannot stop. One has to keep doing better and take up more challenges.

Such as Classically Mild and Rafi Resurrected, right?
Yes, it’s some kind of a record that one music company is making two completely different videos of totally diverse albums simultaneously with one artiste. Saregama-HMV has shot the second video, Sooratiya matwali, from my album Classically Mild and the first video Kya hua tera vaada for Rafi Resurrected.

How did today’s audience take to Classically Mild?
I think that the fact that Saregama is investing in a second video of such a different album speaks for itself. They obviously must be happy with the sales.

We attended your recordings of the first four tracks of Rafi Resurrected. But after you completed the songs we never spoke. How was the experience?
It was like a homecoming. All my earliest memories that have remain engraved were called upon. It was like touching them again, and going through everything that I had learned. It was also satisfying to know that singing the songs that I had found difficult to render in my teenage was a piece of cake now at 34.

Still, did you find some songs challenging, especially since the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) had sometimes modified the scale and beats?
Well, I did get stuck a bit on two tracks - Yeh chand sa roshan chehera (Kashmir Ki Kali) and Main jat yamla pagla deewana (Pratiggya) since the songs were pitched one note and half-note higher to the originals. The latter song was a real challenge since the original itself is high-pitched. But I think I struck the right note finally.
For me, it would have been easy enough to get carried away and try and do something that was Rafisaab se alag. But I maintained the sanctity of a tribute and stayed very close to the originals. But though I did not try to be smart, I did not leave out any important nuance. For me, for example, it was so heartening to know that my parents admired the original subtle harkat in Mujhe teri mohabbat ka from Aap Aye Bahaar Ayee.

From the tracks I heard being recorded, I found that the CBSO had not been able to completely replicate the orchestration of Shankar Jaikishan’s Baharon phool barsao from Suraj and Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s Aane se usski aaye bahaar from Jeene Ki Raah. You had to approach the tracks very cerebrally. Does not that speak a lot for the genius of these men at Western music?
True, but CBSO’s approach has been very mature overall and that has led to a much more classier result. We never treated this album as a secondary one or a cover-version, but on the level of how Lata (Mangeshkar)-ji had done her Shraddhanjali in the ‘90s. The CBSO team has made all the right decisions.

What is the idea behind releasing the album late in India?
It is part of the strategy by both the music company and the CBSO. From UK where we had an extremely successful launch and show we will tour to the rest of Europe, then USA and then make it here. The show was telecast in London on the Sony channel.

You did an excellent job of interviewing Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia live on his birthday. How much of that was rehearsed?
Well, I was approached by Panditji’s wife Anuradhaji and Geeta Balsara. I had one week to prepare, and unlike in a song I knew there would be no retake. I did meet Panditji and his family before so that I could prepare myself and prompt Panditji in case he forgot something on stage, but frankly even I did not expect Panditji to be so voluble. It was a fulfilling experience.

Don’t you think that every living legend deserves a tribute and exposure like this?
Absolutely.

What happened to your proposed project on Manna Dey?
I am working on the concept. If carried out, it should be done in the perfect way.

So will all these activities balance the reduction in your playback work?
Yes, because I am now batting on a back-foot. I am well-prepared for anything else that I might do. I am not being aggressive. I want to enjoy and relish my son Nevaan, who turned one on July 25. I would like a balance between work and personal life and have a lot of friends who are my support system, so that I do not miss the frantic pace.
And frankly, I do not have the time too. I have been even persuaded to come back to acting, but I am genuinely unable to get the time to read scripts. I have also turned down two television reality shows.

Are you happy with the way film music is going?
Should I tell you the truth? I don’t really care. I guess there is place for everyone who is singing now, including the good, bad and indifferent singers. Let me just say that the challenge is tougher because the line of demarcation between good and bad is at its thinnest today. It’s now each individual’s prerogative to decide what he should do or what he should not. And I will follow my choices.