Playback singer, actor and TV host Khushboo Grewal speaks with Shalini Saksena about her journey and how she is still the lead vocalist for Meet Brothers

You don’t have a professional training as a singer. How tough has it been?

I had a long gap professionally — from the time I was VJing and acting. I lacked the discipline that is required to do riyaz. I had got used to a relaxed life where I was getting up when I wanted to. Music requires a lot of dedication. This was something that I had not realised till I started singing for Bollywood. I still have a long way to go before I have that kind of drive. I am still a big cheater. Once I started training and understanding my weakness, I finally realised how flawed I was. Earlier, I would just land in at a party and start singing when I was asked. That’s when I had a new found respect for all the singers out there. The more you learn, the more you realise, it requires a lot of years before one can master it. Hence, my status is that of a performer.

Are you still the lead singer for Meet Brothers? Doing playback, live performances, singing and acting, is your plate full now?

Yes, I am still the lead vocalist. I am also a workaholic so I don’t think that my plate is full. I am the kind of person who can work 24x7 for 30 days and not complaint. I never turn down work. At present, I have picked up a Punjabi show— Hasdeyan De, Ghar Vasde — which is on the lines of Comedy Nights with Kapil Sharma. I am doing this with Gurpreet Ghuggi. It is a show about husband and and wife where Ghuggi and I play the characters and we have different guests on the show.

Does being a performer makes it easy to do such diverse things at the same time?

Acting, singing, being a host or doing live performances are a different aspect of a performer. If you see an actor, they must have basic skills to dance and basic knowledge of taal which means that they have basic sense of music. When I am in front of the mic and it is a sad song, I have to have that in my voice. If I have to sing a dance song, my expressions are different. We are somewhere using all these traits but are lying dormant and don’t bring it at the forefront. It’s not difficult to switch.

You belong to family of doctors. What was their reaction?

I always consider myself as the black sheep of the family. My father is a anaesthetic, my mother is gynaecologist, my sister is a dentist and my jiju is an accident and trauma specialist. My sister-in-law is a clinical psychologist and here I am— what do I do? I entertain them. Somebody has to do it, they are all very serious. But while nobody was from the performing arts background but mother would sing and my sister was a great dancer. I would try and do what she did. I took to stage at a young age to get exposure. Whatever opportunity that came, I would take it up and it laid the foundation to me being a professional many years later.

Is there is a lot of competition for women playback singers?

Not just for women, for men too. There is competition everywhere. There is so much access to music, there is YouTube and other platforms. People living in smaller cities can make it big which is great. It is good that youngsters are getting a channel to showcase their talent.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I listen to all kinds of music. I have playlist — a combination of punjabi songs or acoustic or the latest dance numbers. I love dancing, a lot of songs on the list are peppy numbers. But when I am driving I listen to acoustics.

What next?

I have a dialogue from one of my films — when one makes plans, someone up there is laughing. This makes so much sense. When I came to Mumbai, the first year I made so many plans but none materialised. So I stopped planing. I live in the moment. I don’t make long term unrealistic plans but I do make short term goals. For all I know I could be picking strawberries in a London countryside in a small little farm growing organic stuff and running a small little cafe. I do plan to do some great music this year. I am happy to get back to the Punjabi space — doing films and songs.