Thursday October 19, 10:45 PM
Sonu Nigam: End of An Era
For the extra-popular Sonu Nigam, an era has come to an end. A month ago, the charismatic TV host announced that he had quit TVS Sa Re Ga Ma, because he couldn't cope with so much stress. "The show was affecting my other commitments. So I decided to stop anchoring it," he said.
Though Sonu is feeling sad about not continuing the show, he's got other priorities on hand. "Now, I've decided to concentrate on singing. I keep getting offers to sing in films and pop albums, but because of numerous commitments, I cannot spare time for them. I hope all that will change now," he points out.
Interestingly, Sonu is one of those who's been successful both as a film playback singer and as a pop artiste. He's also released a Spiritually inclined album called Sanskar, which was liked by connoisseurs.
On the film front, he's boasted of songs like Sandese aate hai in Border, What is mobile number in Haseena Maan Jaayegi, Satrangi re in Dil Se, Zindagi maut na ban jaaye in Sarfarosh and, more recently, Banke tera jogi in Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.
Though some critics describe him as a Rafi clone, he denies it by saying:
"Do 'Satrangi re' and 'What is mobile number' sound like Rafi?"
On the pop front, Sonu has released albums like Sapne Ki Baat, Kismat, Deewana, Mausam and Jaan. Though he's had hit songs like 'Tu' and 'Bijuria', Deewana remains his most successful album. By selling about 35 lakh units, it comes second after Altaf Raja's Tum To Thehre Pardesi - beating even Alisha Chinai's Made In India.
"People want melody, and Deewana had a fresh feel. The music and lyrics were nice. On top of that, T-Series did a fabulous job at marketing it," he explains.
How did Sonu get into singing? He points out that as a child, he wanted to do various things like become a scientist, astronomer and IFS officer. However, since his parents Agam Kumar Nigam and Shobha Nigam sang, he decided to learn some singing. "As I won contests at school in Delhi, a lot of people encouraged me to sing. Since I got used to that environment, I began to take singing seriously," he recalls.
After getting a break with the song 'Achha sila diya' in Bewaffa Sanam, he appeared in a playback singer's special of Antakshri. "The programme's producer Gajendra Singh asked me whether I wanted to anchor Antakshri, but I wanted to do a show which was completely new. That's how Sa Re Ga Ma was conceptualized," he says.
The host insists that he never imagined Sa Re Ga Ma would be so popular. "It became so popular that viewers started comparing it with the Ramayan and Mahabharat TV serials. Kids are diehard fans of the show," he says.
Sonu says that since a lot of the songs played on the show are classical in nature, it has attracted foreigners to classical music. "Indian audiences tend to take classical music for granted. But foreigners are very keen on knowing about the nuances," he says.
On his current priorities, Sonu says that he's gearing up to find out about the response to his latest album Jaan. "I've sung a lot of clean songs, composed by Nikhil-Vinay and written by Faaiz Anwaar. The company, T-Series, expects it to do as well as Deewana," he says.
Sonu is also happy with the five songs he's sung in David Dhawan's Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge. Currently, he's recording for J P Dutta's Refugee and Mahesh Bhatt's next film.
Won't he miss Sa Re Ga Ma? Pat comes the reply: "Of course I will. For me, Sa Re Ga Ma was a dream. But life has to move on."
While that's definitely true, there's no doubt that Sa Re Ga Ma viewers will also miss him.
