PRAMITA BOSE
Has life changed after the ‘Rang de tu mohe
gerua’ rage? Are you now getting more noticed in
the music industry?
Well, the rage is still on I guess (smiles)! But seriously
whenever any piece of work gets wide attention, then
automatically the team of people associated with it earns a
fillip in their respective departments. Same goes for me. I’m
flooded with multiple congratulatory calls, mails, messages,
tweets, comments, bla bla bla. The song has as if, attained a
toast-of-the-town status and this overwhelms me all the more.
Listeners are just loving it with frequent requests for airplay
and TV telecasts. Now, whether or not this positive feedback
would snowball my song assignments in future, only time will
tell. At the moment, am just happy with its resounding success.
How did music inspire you while growing up in
Maslandapur?
Music has always been an integral part of my formative years.
Baba (father Debabrata Mitra) being a music teacher at home,
would conduct regular classes in front of my eyes. I have been
hearing all the ragas, tunes, beats and rhythm, ever since I was
born. So it was naturally transformed into me through blood
and genes. Later on I gradually started listening to all of baba’s
old cassette collection. They really helped me brace up my
basics. Today when I look back, I feel thoroughly blessed to be
born in a musical family.
How has been your initial training in the vocals
under your respected dad’s able guidance?
As far as I can rewind my memory, I remember my baba to
be my first guru. But as you can obviously gauge, it became
too casual with him that I never sat down quietly and paid
attention to his lessons, unless Ma had come in with a stick like
a strict disciplinarian. I was still so naïve to comprehend the
importance of learning the essential ropes of music. However
till I was eight, I was picking up the classical sargams and bols
from baba. I used to also memorise things that he would teach
the other senior students in his class. So in a way yeah, I had
learnt a lot indirectly and unknowingly.
Years ago, you broke into the national music scene
and became a household name participating in
Indian Idol 2. How difficult was that journey till
you reached the popular talent-hunt’s finale?
I don’t know how it all happened. I still feel very strange
about it. There were too many people in that season of Idol as
prior to that, Abhijit Sawant had become a huge name as the
first champion of the competition. Supposedly, every single
person who sings had taken part in that season, considering
the massive turn out of candidates it had attracted at the
auditions. Luckily, I kept winning the preliminary rounds and
only sang whatever I knew, keeping my focus intact. Today if
you ask me to enroll for the same show yet again, I don’t think
I can manage that kind of a pressure-test any more. You know
when you are 18, you don’t really hesitate to take the plunge
headlong, no matter how challenging the task appears to be
at the outset. And that probably had helped me in my case to
go with the flow, because I was less nervous and circumspect
then.
You started as a teenager and then almost grew up
in the music industry. Has your maturity taught
you the art of diplomacy to tide over the hurdles
in this professional sector which aggressively
breeds stiff competition?
Frankly speaking, I did not learn anything... Hahaha!! I’m still
as gullible as I was in my salad days, continuing to commit the
same mistakes over and over again. I feel am the worst of the
bunch when it comes to professional rivalry! I think am too
blunt for this sa rcastic world and fail to sugarcoat things when
it is most expected. I call a spade a spade and blurt out things
quite matter-of-factly.
Your songlist shows a bulk of hits with the
happening composer Pritam Chakraborty. Do you
share a special bonding with him?
Very much indeed! In fact, he offered me my debut break
with a song called ‘Loving You’ for the film, Speed. I sang the
duet with Sonu Nigamji. In a lighter vein, I’d like to fathom
that it’s Bong connection which is doing the trick (laughs)!
Pritamda too is a Bengali and so are half of his studio people.
So he always looks for an opportunity to converse and express
himself in his Bangla mothertongue with someone he feels at a
complete comfort zone. My equation with him also got warmer
for this simple reason beyond music (smiles)!
You also travelled with him for several stage
concerts. What was the exposure like from these
live performances?
I travelled for a few gigs with dada alongwith current-day
singing sensations like Nakash Aziz, Shalmali Kholgade, Aditi
Singh Sharma, et al. The madness I see surrounding Pritamda
for his brand of music is something extremely infectious and
inspiring to us! I have actually witnessed people go crazy
in colleges over his tracks from Metro, Yeh Jawani Hai
Deewani, Barfi! etc. Touring with him has always been fun and
energising.
Would you not want to work with other composers?
Of course I would love to. I had already recorded for the
acclaimed scorer-duo Sajid Wajid for the movie Ajab Gazabb
Love. The track was a romantic melody with talented male
vocalist Mohammed Irfan and was called ‘Sun Soniye’. Of late,
I have worked with a few more composers but as I’m contract
bound, I can’t divulge much about the songs until they get
formally released. Please bear with my silence on this (smiles)!
Any musical collaboration in the making?
Well, I have many musician friends in mind to collaborate in
times ahead. But at present, I can only talk about our girlie
gang coming up with a single soon. Good news is that Prajakta
Shukre, Mauli Dave, Meenal Jain and myself will be heard
together in a number to be shortly out. It’s a cover version of a
well-known pop song of the 90s and am super excited about it.
Yo, girl power rules!
Are you also planning to release your own single
as a soloist?
I’m actually trying to put up a digital channel of my own where
I can keep posting my musical updates and contents. It’s not
yet titled.
Tell us something about your upcoming stage
shows.
I’m doing a host of shows in the next couple of months across
many cities in India but am amply elated about two back to
back concerts scheduled in London come this February. After
that, a small holiday is on my wish-list. Phew, that’s long
overdue!
The
Score Magazine
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