Like Aamir Khan, you don’t attend award ceremonies.
Ha ha ha! But my reasons are different from his. Over the years, not just at the Screen Awards but elsewhere too, I have been used to getting so many nominations that my thinking pattern has become “Abhi award kya karna hai?” For me, nominations have been no less than awards.
But it’s not that I have never given importance or thought on a condescending note about them. Nor do I have any khatte angoor feelings about them because till now I had received only nominations.
How much of a difference do awards make professionally and personally?
Professionally, it does not make a difference at all. The next day you approach a song recording in the same way. My own perception does not change, but yes, my family, friends and relatives are thrilled, though I do not let it affect me. When the award was declared, my wife Jyoti hugged me and said that I finally had won an award. That truly mattered because she is the one person who knows me in and out and has seen the wrong side of me. My children Nakul and Tamara were extremely happy. And that was very gratifying.
This was a rare case where all four departments of the same song, Khuda jaane, were nominated and three of them even won the trophies in their respective departments.
Yes, that’s admittedly very rare. Shilpa Rao, Anvita and Vishal-Shekhar have a role in this success too along with Aditya Chopra and director Siddharth Anand. But it was more important that people liked the song. I think that destiny plays a very important role in a song’s success. When we were recording it we could all feel that some energy was making it sound magical. But as for the nominatons, they are like the last 100 metres dash in a marathon - all of them deserve it and who wins is just the final outcome.
Besides Hindi, which are the languages in which you have recorded to date?
Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, that’s all. I have recorded a song in Assamese, but it is not for a film. And I have told my fans in Kolkata that I love Bengali as a very sweet language. Agar mujhe bulaayenge to zaroor gaaonga.
There is a general impression that you tend to give more importance to your family than to work and that is supposed to have reduced the amount of songs you get.
I do not see anything wrong in giving importance to my family and personal life, because that is the fulcrum around which everything revolves, right? I work with everyone. But I cannot sing a song a day. A daily fixed routine is not acceptable to me. And after performing on a show, wherein I sing continuously for 150 minutes, I have to rest my voice for a day. If I have this delusion that my voice would be in peak form on the next day I will be fooling myself and the composer. I have to give my 100 per cent to every song.
How do you approach each song after the brief given?
I like to approach each song with a free mind, devoid of preconceived notions or hangover. When I take a small gap between songs, it also contributes to the freshness.
You tend to have a lot of fierce loyalists, like Pritam, who said that he only approaches you when he thinks that a song needs your calibre.
Pritamda is very sweet and I cannot thank him enough for making such a statement! But that’s what carries to the people’s minds and finally makes a song get nominated or awarded - a vibe that is so positive. Yes, Vishal-Shekhar and Mithoon and also Himesh Reshammiya and Anu Malik also make me feel special.
And the Bhatts - Mukesh and Mahesh - swear by you irrespective of who composes their music.
I am proud that they consider me worthy of such trust.
Like the older KK - Kishore Kumar - you have not been formally trained in music.
I do not think that classical music training is vital for playback and as you rightly said, Kishore Kumar is the ultimate proof of that. I get by because I listen to and absorb the points of view of the music director and filmmaker. It is very important to approach a song minus hang-ups, personal or professional. You have to let more inputs in and refresh yourself all the while. Thankfully, no song has stumped me so far! But that’s probably because I have never been miscast - classical songs do not come to me.
On the other hand, as one grows, one absorbs things on a subconscious level too. Ilayaraja once liked the way I sang his composition so much that as a compliment he gave me a raag-based song that he had made for someone else. Even my breakthrough Tadap tadap ke iss dil from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was a very difficult, high-pitched song by Ismail Darbar. A lot depends on the confidence a composer has in you - like Anu Malik has given me so much variety in songs.
How do you as a singer relate to the volte-face in trend where males are singing in high pitch and females in lower?
It’s a bad time for us guys! (Laughs) On a serious level, at least a part of this trend is because there are so many young people who sing very high - like Shankar Mahadevan, Sukhwinder Singh and myself. And yet I agree that things do get out of hand sometimes and I have to tell music makers not to forcibly give the song a higher pitch and make us sound unnatural. Over the years I have realised that a good song will go nowhere if it is poorly sung.
Today, most young singers today have had at least some recording experience with our legendary film composers, on albums, serials or at least on “live” shows. What about you?
I have not sung for the really senior names, though I wish I could have sung for S.D.Burman and R.D. Burman. In my younger days I was more into rock. But I have recorded for Bappi Lahiri and Rajesh Roshan. For Rajesh Roshan I have recently sung in Kites but what I cannot forget is a song that I recorded ‘live’ for him during my struggle days - I knew that some senior singer was to dub the part but I was taught the song and we recorded it ‘live’ at Mehboob Studios. It was my first-ever ‘live’ experience and was simply incredible - I felt that I was singing on stage before a live audience! I wish I could have more such experiences.
What trends do you see happening in music?
Trends are set by a specific song or artiste. Like bhangra has always been there, but it took a Daler Mehndi to make it a trend by the magnitude of success. Today we are in an era where mindsets are receptive to new things, so let’s not restrict the inflow just because excessive pandering to trends lead to mediocrity. Like in the case of Rock On!!, even my elderly relatives have liked the songs for their melody and words, even though rock is something that is not exactly their cup of tea.