“There is one major difference between A. R. Rahman and all other music directors…†–Madhushree (an interview)

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How did you decide to pursue a career in music?

My family pursued me from my childhood to be a singer, a classical singer. In fact, my father, Shri Amarendra Nath Bhattacharya was a very good singer. After completing my college, I applied for a job at ICCR (Indian Council For Cultural Relations) and I got selected for Surinam/ South America to teach classical music. I was totally unaware of my future line. In Surinam I became popular by singing for the first time film music and I started enjoying it very much. After completing my terms in Surinam, I was thinking to settle in Holland, but Holland is a very cold country (laughs).

It is said that you got your entry into Bollywood playback singing through Kumar Sanu’s recommendation. Tell us a bit about this.

I was still doing my teaching in Surinam, when I landed in Kolkata to record a ghazal album, where I met Kumar Sanu in the same studio…he was rocking at that time. He heard my voice, praised me a lot and suggested that I give a try in Bollywood. He also told me that my voice is very much suitable for playback. So, I took his advice and without telling anybody I took my tanpura and a small bag with some cloths and left for Mumbai Nagariya.

You’ve lent your voice to a lot of A. R. Rahman’s compositions. Tell us about how you initially got your first song with Rahman. That must have been a really exciting moment!

That’s true. It was exciting! I was fighting to get a break in Bollywood and let me tell you it is not easy to get that, because when things are going on their way, nobody bothers to experiment and take a chance for anybody. But, there is one man who always in each and every project gives chances to newcomers: A. R. Rahman! When I heard this, I then made my goal to reach A. R. And, luckily I was recording a jingle at 4D Studio and I heard that A. R. is coming to some recording for Lagaan in the same studio. So, I waited for him from noon and finally meri intezar phal laya! I waited for 10 hours to meet him through Mr. Brij Bhushan and finally got introduced to him. He made me sing lots of things and I sang for more than a hour a mix of things…classical...light and filmy, and he called me after 1 year for "Naina Milayke” in Saathiya.

In addition to Hindi you also sing really well in Telgu and Tamil. Is it difficult to sing in another language?

I am a Bengali, so all other languages are unknown to me. Tamil singing for me was the most difficult and challenging singing. In the beginning I was fighting against the language, but slowly I started enjoying and loving the language and more because of my fans all across the world.

You come from a musical family. Since childhood you have been trained in classical sangeet. Tell us a little bit about your training. Also, do you still do riyaaz on a regular basis?

Yes, everybody in my family sings and as I can remember, I performed at the age of 5. Initially, I took classical training form my father and after that he sent me to Shri Amiya Ranjan Bannerjee from whom I learned classical sangeet for 9 years. After that, I took thumri training from Pandit A. T. Kanan. All riyazi voices have to practice daily for at least 1 hour to be in form. So, I do riyaaz daily for some time, but days when I have too many recordings then I do not do riyaaz.

While there are a lot of people who have a great voice and want to sing, not every voice is suited for playback. What do you think is the differentiating factor between a good voice and a voice appropriate for playback singing?

Which voice is suitable for playback which one is not is not an issue these days. Every kind of voice is used for playback singing. Previously, there was an image that only Lata, Asha, Rafi Sahib, Mukesh, Kishore type of voices were suitable. As you see, today there are so many types of voices doing playback. Yes, there is one thing very important about playback voice: it should have a screen presence in the voice, which I call "khanak."

There are so many music reality shows and you also took part in one, Jhoom India, which you won along with Sachin Tyagi. Tell us your views regarding reality shows.

Reality shows are all major adaptations of foreign shows. There are pluses and minuses of these shows for the artists. The plus point is that they get a platform to show their talent, from where they get fame and finally shows. The minus point is that most of them do not have any basic music training and they get hyped by the channel and the media. After the show nobody takes care of them the way it happens during the reality shows. So they get a lot of frustration. After all, it is a corporate money-making business.

You’ve sung quite a few memorable songs for various music directors including Rajesh Roshan, A.R. Rahman, Vishal-Shekhar, Shantanu Moitra, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, M M Kreem, Himesh Reshammiya, etc. Have you observed that all of these music directors have a different approach to music composition and working with singers? If yes, please tell us a bit about your observations.

What matters during a playback singing is: 1- There is a situation which has to be expressed by a song. 2-You have the music director with his way to compose that situation with particular lyrics and he at that time keeps in mind which singer will sing this composition. At moment he has already incorporated the ability of the singer. And, every composer has a different approach to a composition. There is one major difference between A. R. Rahman and all other music directors. A. R. always tries to utilize all the qualities of the artists. He gives them the opportunity to express their own capabilities to the compositions, where the others stick to their final version.

While I’m sure all of the songs you’ve sung must be dear to you, is there any song in particular which is your overall favorite?

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