You ' ve also done a couple of South Indian songs, right?
Yes, I have spoken in almost every major spoken Indian language. Southern languages like Telegu, Kannada, Malayalam, of course.
One Tamil song you did from Varalaru, right?
Two actually. One for A. R. Rahman sir, and anther for G. V. Prakash.
Nice. Any more new upcoming Tamil movies you ' ll be singing in?
Not at the moment. But, you know, I keep singing for different projects, and you never know which song will be released at what point of time. So, I ' m not sure if I ' ll be singing in Tamil again. So yes, I ' ve sung some songs, but I have no clue about release dates and so forth. I ' ve also sung in Bengali, Oriya, Rajasthani, Punjabi. I mean, I am Punjabi so of course I ' ve sung many songs in the language. Then there ' s also Haryanvi and Gujarati. I think I really have sung in all the major Indian tongues.
Wow, you ' re really good. By now, you ' ve also probably grasped quite a few languages also.
Yeah!( laughs)
How was it working with South Indian music directors? Because it’ s completely different from Bollywood, right? So, how have you managed with the diction and the language and all of that?
Initially it was very difficult because you have to pronounce the words correctly or their meaning changes. But eventually I got the hang of it. What I do is, I write in Hindi because its easier for me to express the words, pronunciations and meaning in Hindi. Its the same with English if it gets a little difficult. So, I write the songs first in Hindi, and then I sing them. So, that pronunciation stays exact. Of course, in the studio, the lyricist and music director always look out for mistakes, and let me know when a word needs to be pronounced differently. So, they are always there to help me, and that makes it easy.
If you ' re asking me about my experience with South Indian music directors, all I have to say is that they are amazing at their job. I think they work extremely hard and are very disciplined. This isn ' t just confined to music. I have to say South Indians are really disciplined people, very humble and absolutely wonderful.
If you could pick one music director with whom you would want to work in the future, who would it be? And why?
I ' ve always wanted to work with A. R Rahman sir. That happened. I ' ve always wanted to work with Illayaraja sir too, and even that happened. With Rahman sir, I ' ve sung the title song of Akshay Kumar ' s, Blue. First he called me for a Tamil song which I sang in a film, Godfather. The song is called Thottapuram. For that song he had called me first. And after that he made me sing Blue ' s title track as well. For Illayaraja sir, I ' ve sung a beautiful song, which hasn ' t been released yet. I have no clue when it will be released, but obviously since its Illayaraja sir, you can imagine that it will be magnificent. He ' s such a brilliant composer. I ' m not qualified to really comment on him, but everyone knows that he ' s amazing. As a person also, his personality is sublime.
And, among directors that I haven ' t worked with, it would be a dream for me to work with Vishal Bhardwajji. I truly love his music. His compositions are amazing.
Who are your favourite singers at the moment and who did you listen to when you were growing up? Who inspired you the most when you were growing up?
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sahab has been my inspiration since I was a child and still he is always there in my mind. His songs keep playing in my head. He is such a fantastic musician who I consider divine when it comes to music. I ' ve always been the biggest fan of him and he will always be my inspiration, I ' m sure. I ' m also really interested in the music of Ghulam Ali Khan sahab; I listen to his songs a lot. I also adore Noor Jahanji. Lataji and Ashaji, both who are goddesses of music. There are actually no adequate words to describe their musical prowess. They ' re so great.
Any singers from your generation?
I can ' t really mention a single name because they are all so talented. Shreya, Sunidhi … They ' re all so good. And I ' m sure that my contemporaries are extremely intelligent and careful about their work. Its not like they just finish up and go off. They devote a lot of their time to their craft, which is very good. So, I really like all of them.
Who has been your pillar of support till date and how have they been so?
My family. They ' ve always been there. Nothing would ever have been possible without them because not only did they move from Rishikesh to Delhi for me, but also from Delhi to Mumbai. They took really big steps for me. My family ' s support has been amazing.
How is life as an artist? To stay grounded, what is the mantra that you live by?
One thing that is always in my mind is that we have to stay attached to the ground because Mom and Dad have cultivated that in our personalities since childhood. You should never be arrogant about your achievements. If you do so, all your talent will fade away and mean nothing. This is what I keep reminding myself. No matter what field you are in, always respect your elders. If you’ re getting famous, don ' t let it go to your head. Be happy, of course. It feels wonderful when your work is appreciated and people praise you, but high-handedness is very bad and should never come into the picture. This is my fundamental mantra and it’ s what I would suggest to anyone. Take things positively, and don ' t let it twist your mind.
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