Tell us about your new singles MureedIJ
The song Mureed, which means a disciple, speaks about your gratitude and love for a guru or the lord. It gives a neo-sufism kind of a feel. The album brought out the spiritual person within me. Manan (the song writer) and I have strong connect because we follow the same guru which I got to know later. It just happened like how a fish takes to water.
You started out with albums and then went on to do Bollywood numbers. This is the first time that you are doing singles...
Earlier, we were dependent on TV channels and the radio to make our song heard. Now it’s the YouTube revolution and singles is the new wave in the music industry. As a singer, I sometimes feel so helpless as there is no right channel. But seeing the trend of singles, I too decided to venture into it. And within a month of the release of Mureed, singers like Mithoon Sharma, Ankit Tiwari, Meet Brothers, Amaal Mallik and many others tweeted about it. I am taking baby steps. With the success of my debut movie Sahib Biwi aur Gangster, I’m going to strategise and plan my next song in a bigger way.
Any project which didn’t see the light of the dayIJ
I gave one of my best projects to a music company which didn’t see the light of the day as the company got shut down. I still have those beautiful songs with me which I’ll be launching soon as singles. I sang a love song for a film called Desi Magic by Ameesha Patel Production, but it is yet to be released.
You look very much like actor Ram Kapoor. Have you heard this beforeIJ
Yes it has happened to me many times over. Girls would swoon over me asking me for my autograph thinking I am him. I take it as complement as I really love Ram Kapoor’s acting. If I can be as famous as Ram Kapoor in Mumbai, then I’ll be very happy.
Would you like to act some dayIJ
No. But I would love to do something like Broadway musical shows which is coming up in India from October this year. It’s going to be next big thing. I would like to do live musical shows too.
What are the latest developments you have seen in Indian music sceneIJ
The new age directors and singers are doing great work. The biggest trend nowadays is of singer songwriters as most of the singers are composing for themselves, creating a bank and then giving it for films. Though there are separate music awards, talent hunt shows, Coke Studio, etc; there is still a long way to go for the non-film music scene. The Coke Studio and MTV Unplugged is a brilliant amalgamation of different genre of music and collaboration of some of the best singers.
There is a separate music industry in the West. What do you have to say about itIJ
Unfortunately, nothing gets bigger than Bollywood in India. I wish there is an alternate music industry. At least, there is a lot happening in Mumbai for people like us. But what happens in the other metros and tier 2 cities is not good. We need to give more importance to this kind of music too.
