Let Sonu bark; I will not react!

Babul Supriyo:
I have stopped reading newspapers: That's one reason that I haven't actually read what Sonu (Nigam) has said about me in his interviews. But yes, my inbox has been flooded with comments from well wishers who have taken an exception to him calling me a 'traitor'.
Frankly speaking, I don’t want to react to such ridiculous accusations. I feel sorry for him that he has had to stoop to such levels to malign me in public. Let Sonu bark; I will not react.

I believe that every person has the right to disagree with someone else's view: But I don't see myself sitting across the table and sorting out issues with Sonu. It’s been long since I said that singers are nothing but puppets in the hands of music composers.

But I disagree with singers if they want to complain about being puppets. We are all self-made puppets and have chosen to be that way.

I don't agree with the view of trying to make a collective statement about all artistes: At the end of the day, every artiste's struggle is very individualistic

But yes, I surely hope that artistes should come together to ensure that the clause in the Copyright Act that calls singers vocal instruments need to be amended. A Lata Mangeshkar can’t be called a 'vocal instrument’.

Having said that, I have no qualms in admitting that I'm still not No. 1 in the industry: I am just part of the playing six and on any given day I know I can score. It all depends on who gets the song.

I also know that every good song is not a hit and every hit is not always the best song sung by the singer. All that I can do is to deliver to the best of my ability. I am happy with my growth and am pretty much sure that right now I am close to being my very best.

Sometimes, people point at me singing with a nasal tone. It’s natural in me and I think it's the namak that’s required to spice up my song.

Over the years, I have evolved as an artiste: I have learnt from my mistakes. During the late 90s, I would feel every good song that I recorded would change my life. I would wait for an opportunity to rattle off the names of my forthcoming films at every interview that I was giving.

But today, I don't get a kick out of indulging in such acts. My maturity has taught me not to get affected by either the hype or the whimper. There are days when a good song of mine doesn’t even get promoted during a film's publicity, resulting in people not even hearing it before they can decide whether they like it or not.

People in far away Surinam have liked Aate aate so much that they have greeted me with candles while I have sung the number there. But back home, people haven’t been so forthcoming about this song. If I don't get flustered with such discrepancies in reactions, it's not because I've lost interest or become a stoic.

For me, it's far easier to just take it all in my stride and say: Chal hat! It’s all about accepting surprises with a sense of humour.

I agree with Kumar Sanu when he says that today's singers have few lasting numbers: Very recently, I was traveling along with Sanu da from Delhi to Mumbai. I consider it to be his greatness when he said that he felt that Sonu and I are lambi race ka ghoda.

Had it not been for Sanu da and Udit ji, I wouldn't have dreamt of quitting my job in Kolkata and going over to Mumbai. He was the one who made me believe that it's possible for an ordinary singer to reach extraordinary limits if he is focused and believes in his dreams.

That day Sanu da had told me that while it was possible for him to choose a compilation of 100 great compositions from his repertoire, singers from our generation will not be able to do that.I couldn’t disagree with him at all. After all, the only timeless song I’ve sung till date is Hum Tum.

But it's true that the old order changeth and we need to move ahead with times: After the huge success of Hum Tum, I was flooded with romantic songs. Even my daughter knows that daddy always sings mushy numbers.

But now when I see a six-year-old child enjoying a Kajra re, I feel I would want to sing numbers like that.

A mushy number doesn't feature in the dictionary of a child. But a Kajra re does. That's why when I was given the chance to record my own album, I have made it a point to sing a bhangra as well as a ghazal kind of a number composed by Pt Ajoy Chakraborty.

With my non-film album, I have sung my dreams and not just lent my voice to the dreams my music composers or my directors.


**Argh. The cheek of Babul Supriyo! This article is in connection to the Babul-Sonu issue regarding the Singers' Association of India(SAI), check the earlier posts for this article...
Sonu was only standing up for the rights of singers! I feel he and Alka Yagnik and the organisation are totaally in the right, and he so did NOT need a lash out by Babul Supriyo... "bark" indeed!