Shreya Ghoshal is all excited about Raavan and opens up to Shankaran Malini on the music industry, remixes, her biggest fears and much more
queen The undisputed of music Growing up with music I spent about 13 years of my childhood in Rawatbhata, a small village near Rajasthan near Kota. It was a township, which was cut off from the urban city life. I used to travel 10 kms up and down to Kota to learn music. I learnt classical Hindustani there. In fact, one of my initial achievements was at this place. I was nine years old then. I didn't get the opportunity to learn Carnatic. Then Sa Re Ga Ma gave me a lot of exposure. But my first big break was singing for Devdas.
Inspiration from family My mum is a housewife and my dad an engineer. We Bengalis simply love music. My mother has been my musical inspiration and even today I look up to her opinion -be it criticism or appreciation. And I need her guidance forever.
But my dad silently appreciates me and whatever I am today is because of him.
Reality shows -then and now?
When I won Sa Re Ga Ma, that platform could not be called a reality show. It wasn't that big or commercial. There wasn't an audience reaction like today . And even TV was not that big those days. Judges in such shows used to be big names from classical music such as Zakir Hussain, Girija Devi and the like. But now the format has changed a lot.
People from all over the world watch these shows, therefore the reach is bigger. Audiences make heroes out of their singers. I believe that the scope for classical music still exists, which I realised when I was doing Music Ka Maha Muqabla.
Your take on mobile auditions It is yet another platform which is commercially beneficiary to audiences. I feel it's a good move. And as we live in a fast paced world, innovation is the key to success. There was a time when audio cassettes were popular and then audio CDs were popular. But now it is the age of Internet downloads and mobile downloads.
Your take on remixes I haven't done a remix song as yet although some songs of mine have been remixed. And honestly I have liked the original versions better. I am ok with doing a remix as long as it enhances the song. And I feel music enthusiasts do a fantastic job with remixes.
Is the music industry's still a man's world?
I would not completely agree to it. It's a phase. Currently, it is Sufi music that is the trend and that is a male-dominated area.
But things will not be the same forever.
About being a versatile singer All that I can say is I pay close attention to the music director and lyricist when the concept and situation of a song is being explained. I write down the lyrics in Devanagri marking all the places with required accents. And I try my best to sing it as perfectly as possible. But there have been occasions when I have made mistakes and I read the reviews on the Internet. I only try to improve myself.
Current projects My next in Tamil will be Endhiran and I Hate Luv Storys in Hindi.
Role Model My role model has always been Lataji.
Music director you want to work with?
Harris Jeyaraj. I have sung for Anniyan, one of his projects. It so happened that whenever a possibility of a project would come up with him, it would not materialise owing to some reason or the other.
Would love to playback for?
Waheeda Rehman. How I wish I could sing for those B/W movies of hers.
AR Rahman For me he has always been iconic and always full of surprises. It was for Enakku 20 Unakku 18 when I sang Azhagiya Askava. That was my foray in Tamil. After that, it was only for Sillunu Oru Kadhal that I sang Munbe Vaa, which went on to become a hit. Following that Vinnaithadi Varuvaya and now Raavan.
He never repeats genres in his works and is the only music director whom I have seen working late till night. I have enjoyed working with him. I admire his patience. Thanks to him, I have experimented with so many genres.
Chennai I am in awe of the music, the singers and music directors of the city. That apart, whenever I am here, I visit Saravana Bhavan and eat idlis and chutneys from Murugan Idly . I love the Chettinadu cuisine here. RAPID FIRE: Can't live without: My phone, just switched loyalties with Blackberry Most prized possession: It's an old Harmonium that I first used when I started to learn music.
Favourite show: How I met Your Mother Style statement: A pair of jeans and white shirt Fitness mantra: Treadmill and cardio.
Love to dig into: Thai cuisine, followed by Bengali cuisine and Kongunadu What are you humming at the moment: Jo Dil Mein Kushi, a Lataji and Hemant Kumar composition -my all-time favourite Favourite book: Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake and The Unaccustomed Earth Unforgettable lesson at school: It used to be the little quarrels during my school days. I was both the noisemaker and the newsmaker Your biggest fear: Music should never become a burden Favourite singers: P Susheela and S Janaki Lyricists : Gen X lyricists are doing a great job If not a playback singer: A scientist.
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