PRAMITA BOSE
the producer music company’s chagrin. However, many artistes
are also utilizing this cyberspace as their launchpad and even
promoting their singles or EPs/LPs on the social media. Besides,
concerts of overseas singers are being frequently hosted in public.
Youngsters, who vie for pop or rock gigs now smoothly get their
fill from international markets, thereby confining the saleability
scope for home-grown independent music only to corporate
events and college shows. I mean, it’s no small pie on the revenue-
earning chart as corporate dos and college functions do draw a
voluminous chunk of music enthusiasts as well as fan groups. we have some really fantastic untapped talent amidst our Gen-Y.
And yes, if guided and imparted with proper taalim, they can
catapult music to greater heights from the soil of India. But sadly
enough, there are countable few with true knowledge of music
and its subtle nuances. Unlike earlier, when every musician was
a brilliant composer or a lyricist or a singer in the closet, today
technologies have helped converting non-singers into singers
and people with scanty command over music into bankable
composers. So we really need to cull true talent to maintain the
bonafide class and purity of music.
You have composed for so many movies. Are you
planning another in near future? Tell us something about your forthcoming national/
international concerts?
Well, composing for films is very time-consuming but an
entertaining process for sure. I have enjoyed each of the ventures
I have composed for but currently my focus is more on singing
and doing justice to that commitment. However, my composers
are very generous in nature. While recording, they always permit
me to improvise and flirt with their songs, that gives an ecstatic
pleasure to the composer in me. Concerts keep happening all the time and every month my
schedule gets jam-packed with so many soirees to tackle with.
We recently did a tour of Canada and the US. Plus we went to
Singapore and Australia. But I always yearn to traverse across
my motherland India. My country is my preferred haven and I
enjoy the surrounding milieu prior to a live performance. My
outward façade may be stylish and that may also echo in my vocal
chords.Par phir bhi mera dil hai Hindustani. At heart, I am a pure
desi (smiles!).
Many scorers are turning singers and songwriters
and vice versa in Bollywood nowadays. Do you
find this multi-tasking a healthy habit and a nice
progression for the music industry wherein the
younger talented lot can hone their prolific skills as
well as keep their appetite for music alive?
Personally, I am all for multitasking and recommend it largely to
our next-gen budding aspirants, provided one has the caliber to
execute it. I write songs, compose music and with the blessings of
Maa Saraswati, I also sing. But creative pursuit is something that
you can neither force nor pretend to have. So don’t use technology
to showcase a talent that you do not have. Do it only if you have it
in you. Otherwise I would advise an amateur to do one thing at a
time. My suggestion will be to first concentrate on the job at hand
and then move on to something else if more opportunities knock
at your doorstep.
At this stage of your career where you have attained
a celebrity status and stability after hitting a long
purple patch, which appears more precious to you —
awards or audience appreciation?
Audience, audience, audience and their unconditional love.
Period. That’s the Gospel for me. You see, awards have their own
estimated value but nothing counts on your way, unless you are
felicitated with love, respect and appreciation of your admirers
and discreet listeners.
How was it like winning the National Award for
a difficult composition such as ‘Bismil’ in Haider?
What do you have to say about the versatile
composer-filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj?
Genius is the only word that can describe the multifaceted Vishal
Bharadwaj. He is a natural composer and his repertoire in Haider
was opera styled and its lyrics were a sure shot tongue-twister.
But the end result was so unique. Obviously I was overly happy
to receive the prestigious National Award for such a mind-
blowing composition as‘Bismil’. With each film, I know the man
is proficiently capable of bringing out something novel and more
interestingly with newer elements to the table.
You have judged the Gen-Y in musical talent-hunts.
How do you see India’s future in music? Is it in safe
hands?
I have been a judge on only two talent shows till now. Although
I haven’t mentored anybody on any talent-hunt, but I know that
Your upcoming Bollywood projects?
Well, a lot is lined up on that front. I have sung a couple of
numbers in Vishal Bharadwaj’s much-anticipated film, Rangoon.
Orchestration of the songs is superlative and like Haider,
Rangoon’s recordings too are rendered in an operatic, musical
style. I have a gut-feeling that these theatrical gems would further
take the Hindi film industry and its musical goldmine forward
from the point of milestone, planted by Rahman only a few years
ago in the international market. So a benchmark was already set
by the Mozart of Madras and now a new feather will be added in
the cap to raise the bar even higher. This apart, I have sung for
Sultan and also crooned a celebratory track for Sarbjit. Another
film’s music to be mentioned is Pranam and the music director
Vishal Mishra is a very passionate scorer. Then there are two
films of Mahesh Manjrekar. So, plenty of good work on the cards
is happening all around, where some are romantic and some
situational in context.
Tell us in detail about the twin unique concepts
you’ve adapted for your stage shows.
Yes, it is in two parts actually — ‘Sukhwinder Singh Unplugged’
and ‘DJ Night with Sukhwinder Singh’. In ‘Unplugged’, my
throat dances while in ‘DJ Night’, my style dances on stage. One
is about passion and the other for fashion. Basically, when I am
singing inside a studio, we are given a composition. To get into the
groove and catch the precise mood, we experiment with strains of
classical, jazz and pop music flavours. Slowly we build a warm-
up session before going for the final take behind the mike. Many
a time, my composers retain some nuggets from these scratch
versions into the final product. So the naughty dalliance that I
do with my songs within the four walls of a recording studio is
what gets best reflected in my unplugged avatar on the dais. In
the second half, we conjure up the ambient noise and effects of a
night club with music-band, drums, other acoustics and a DJ. The
entire arrangement is a spectacle of dances and props, suitably
mirroring a musical circus.
You come across as a die-hard romantic but you are
still single! Why this contradiction?
Problem is that I am strictly passionate about music. Whenever
the mood strikes, I start singing or immerse myself in riyaaz. So
often I end up savouring my own company and don’t much feel the
inclination to mingle with people or let them intrude my privacy.
Although Rahman always jests that he wants to see the Sukhi
junior but I personally don’t see myself as a marriage material. I
am only attracted towards glamour and fashion.
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