Interview : Versatile singer Sonu’s take on nationalism

He has a natural bent for news, which follows him like some persistent shadow. Just a week ago, his decision to quit (at his peak as a playback singer) made headlines. But there is some heart-warming news as well. Sonu Nigam, after making his individualistic mark as a playback singer, music show host, actor, talent hunt judge, performer and finally a composer, now creates history by coming out with a song that will be the first-ever Indian track not to be sold to a music company. The patriotic song brimming with nationalistic fervour, ‘Yeh rashtra prem ki bhavana, bas maatra ek hai kaamna...’ has been composed by Deepak Pandit and sung and written by Sonu Nigam, marking also this multi-faceted artiste’s truly remarkable debut as a lyricist. It is also probably Sonu’s first crusade for the upliftment of popular Hindi music as well as national sentiment, both of which seem to have reached its nadir in the last few years.

Excerpts:

What is the motivation behind ‘Yeh rashtra prem ki bhavana...’ and how did it happen? Was the song already written by you?

Deepak Pandit, who is the son of Shambhuji of the famous Shankar-Shambhu team and I are working on my next album, which I would term as a little more than just semi-classical. One day he mooted the idea to me and played out his composition. It was extremely inspiring, because a sense of nationalism is the need of the times and this was not the standard kind of deshbhakti song. Deepak told me that the lyrics had not been written. And then something unusual happened - that night I got inspired and started writing to the composition. When I called him up and narrated my lyrics he was thrilled. It was as if the whole thing was pre-ordained. We began to work on the song with the intention of coming out with it on Independence Day. While we were working on the track the Mumbai bomb blasts happened on July 11. This gave our song an added relevance. Someone suggested that we hurry up with the track and release it, but Deepak and I found that too gimmicky and in reprehensible taste. Our original intention was to release it on August 15 and that’s what we are following. However Radio Mirchi has started airing the song. When they heard it, they actually gave me a standing ovation!

Why are you not selling this song to any music company?


Firstly, I have not made this song with the intention of doing business and earning from it. I have funded everything from the recording to the video, which is shamelessly different from anything you have seen, and is conceived by me and directed by Vikram Razdan. The idea is to present something very good and socially relevant to the people. A music company would have made unreasonable demands on both the audio-visual fronts, and we wanted no compromise at all in any aspect. The song will also be available on the Internet, on mobile phones and after a certain date with other radio channels. It will also be aired on several TV channels. Frankly, I am completely amazed at the response we have got for this song. It just proves that that the people are hungry and starved of good products. They crave for them, and we are not giving it to them. Since the song began airing on Radio Mirchi I have got some 15,000 SMS raving about it. This song will destroy myths that today’s GenerationX is not receptive to substantial lyrics and music.

What is the message that you wish to give them?

I have been reading a lot of late, and according to the great spiritual healers the post-1980s generation will be the harbingers of Satyug. This is a cool, chilled-out and open generation that is not stuck-up. Within them however there are two kinds - the Crystalline, who are the emotional lot who will bring in this change through persuasion, and the Indigos, who will achieve it with rebellion. I see a lot of hope in this generation and have a lot of trust in them. We are entering the 60th year of Independence. There is so much more to be done.

Your recent announcement about retiring from singing - does it also have a base in the kind of caliber of songs you are singing?


Definitely. With sporadic exceptions, job satisfaction has been completely missing. I have, for example, recorded some 300 film songs in the last two years alone, but the really popular ones are a dozen or less! So I asked myself, “What am I doing? Why am I singing what I don’t need to?” Those remaining songs have just added to my bank-balance and my numerical record. I am not after that now. How many of my recent songs have had any gaayaki (art) needed? Just the handful that I have sung in Fanaa, Krrish, Kabvhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Lage Raho Munnabhai. Last year it was Parineeta, Paheli and a few others. Among my forthcoming films too there are very few, like Jaan-E-Mann and some others.

But why not remain choosy rather than quitting?

That’s exactly what I am doing - cutting off the chaff that accounts for 90% of my songs. I want to come down from a 100 songs to 10. I want to sit in with classical maestros and explore areas of music that I have never tapped. If possible I would love to teach others whatever I can from what I pick up from them.

You have recently become a radio host. How has the experience been, especially that of interviewing Lata Mangeshkar live?

When they approached me, instinct made me accept the assignment. As for Lata-ji, she liked my show and told me so. So one day I casually asked her whether she would like to be on the show, and she casually replied, “Theek hai, main aati hoon!” It was as simple as that. We saw to it that she got regal treatment, but she was game to carry on even after three-and-a-half hours! We discussed everything from her riyaaz in childhood to her terror of cockroaches!


© Copyright 2006 by MusicIndiaOnLine.com


I still haven't heard the song. I hope they release it on the internet fast. I;m really not happy about him cutting down on his songs; nowadays there are hardly any movies with his songs, and I've always said to others; "Can you imagine a movie without having at least one Sonu Nigam song???"

Now I can't say that. Because they can. =(