Avinash Ramchandani
avinash@indolink.com

Ten years ago I barely knew who Amithabh Bachan is. My cousin had made a pillow for him and Michael Jackson, and from there I found out who he is. Today, Bollywood is my passion. I now know about almost every part of the complex structure, the structure being Bollywood. After so many years of waiting, I finally got to meet one of those parts, the winner of the 1995 Filmfare Award for best female singer, Kavita Krishnamurty. With the help of Mr. Amrit Singhal and the editor of IndZine Mrs. Meena Yeggina, I got the honor of interviewing Kavitaji in behalf of IndZine magazine on Sunday, June 23, 1996.

I arrived at the airport about an hour and a fifteen minutes before the singers (Kavitaji was with Udit Narayan, Deepa Naryan, and Nayan Rathod on a concert tour) were to depart to another stage to perform for another audience. They arrived at the airport in about fifteen minutes. In another fifteen minutes I finally got the chance to interview Kavitaji.

AR: Tell me one thing that you would like the public to know.
Kavita: That is a rather difficult question to answer. This is probably a very strange answer that you are getting from me. I don't know why I have always felt this. Even as a child when I used to listen to artists and singers, I felt this and I have maintained it mentally. Whatever a person sings, his personality comes through his singing. Somehow, however trained a person is, some part of one's personality comes through one's songs. I only hope that my singing will give off a positive personality in the mind of the people that listen to my music. I hope that they get to know me through my music.

AR: How did you get the opportunity to sing the song "Hawa Hawaii" from Mr. India?
Kavita: In those days I was dubbing for Laxmikant Pyarelal. Dubbing in the sense that I was dubbing for Lataji and then for the shooting Lataji would sing the song. This was actually a song that they wanted me to dub for Ashaji. They said that this was a big picture with Sridevi as the actress and Boney Kapoor the director, and there was no question of myself singing. I never thought I would get a big song like this, but I enjoyed the song thoroughly and recording it was great fun. After it got recorded, about a month later, the good news was broken to me that Ashaji was not going to record the song and my voice was going to be kept. It was one of God's many kindnesses to me.

AR: Do you think that Hindi Pop Music will become more popular in the near future and do you think that it will take over the Hindi playback music?
Kavita: No. I feel that Hindi Playback music has been a dominant factor for many years and will continue to be a dominant factor. Yes, when Hindi films weren't doing so well, ghazals came into the scene, but now film music has become popular again. As long as Hindi movies are successful, Hindi songs will be successful. It is kind of a part of our daily lives.

AR: Over your years as a playback singer, you have received much criticism, for example, a critic of the magazine Filmfare termed your singing as a shrill. How do you react to such negative criticism in wake of your success?
Kavita: One thing, when I come to sing professionally, I cannot expect everybody to clap their hands in applause when I sing; there will be some people that won't like my style of singing; there will be people that don't even like my basic voice structure. Now that is something that I will except with a lot of grace. At the same time I tried to question myself as to why I was sounding shrill and why this person thought I was sounding shrill. There was probably a shrill factor that I had to correct. I figured that some songs were very high pitched, and I shouldn't have been singing at such a high scale. Automatically when one's voice goes beyond a certain range, one's voice does sound shrill. That must be why he said this. This was said quite a many years ago and I was happy to learn that the same journalist has written well about me in 1942 A Love Story and some other albums that I have sung recently. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

AR: Any special memories of the great Pancham (late R.D. Burman) while recording the songs of 1942 A Love Story?
Kavita: Before 1942 A Love Story, I had sang many films for Panchamda, but they all flopped. Panchamda kept telling me "Wait Kavita there will be a day when you will sing all the songs in a film for me." Then came the banking of 1942 A Love Story. And he said, "Kavita I got a very good film and you are coming to a rehearsal in two days time and you are going to sing these songs." And then I sang was "Rhim Jim Rhim Jim" and then "Dil Ne Kaha". I really couldn't believe it! I told him, "Panchamda, why me?" I really felt they were the kind of songs that Lataji would sing. I was not sure of my caliber. I said "My gosh, I am such a lucky person!" Panchamda makes one feel like you were the best singer in the world. For the particular moment he makes one feel that the results one gives are terrific. But sometimes he says, "I think you can do a little better". And that is the way he pushes one into doing better and better. He is one person that I will miss all my life.

AR: Is it true that you sang "Kuch Na Kaho" before Lata Mangeshkar?
Kavita: Yes. When Panchamda was alive I had sung that song. A week after he passed away Vidhu Vinod Chopra met me and he said that he wanted Lataji to sing it. I didn't take an objection because it was Lataji. I told him that if it was my colleague, then I would have bawled and cried and gone to the press. Lataji is my guru, and therefore I told him that I had dubbed for her. Panchamda was not alive, and his passing away was too recent so there was a lot of grief inside me. I said that it didn't really matter.

AR: Is it true that Uditji didn't attend the party that Kumar Shanu threw for both of you in honor of your filmfare award?
Kavita: Uditji didn't come. There's a reason for that because we didn't know about the party very much in advance, in fact only about 48 hours in advance, and Uditji had to go to Madras to sing for Rahman. Rahman is a very big music director, one can't miss the chance to sing for him. His wife couldn't attend the party in behalf of him because Aditya (his son) had measles and there was no way that she could have left the child. So she couldn't attend the party on Udit's behalf either. It is just unfortunate that the press played it up. I don't think Udit meant to hurt Shanu, if he was in town he would have come.

AR: Congratulations on winning your filmfare award. How does it feel to receive your second filmfare in a row?
Kavita: For the first one I was ecstatic. The first one came after twelve years of work and after being nominated four times. Finally, I got nominated and got the award. I can't express the delirious happiness that I had. But the next time, this year, I was really skeptical. I was not sure if I would get it. So when I got it, it was really a bonus.

AR: Who or what do you attribute most to your success?
Kavita: First and foremost to my aunt, who I call my badimaa, she is my first mother. She is the one who has always had the belief that I would be a singer. She was determined that I would be a singer and initially she pushed me into music. She pushed me into going for shows even though I wasn't really sure that I wanted to do it. And I thank her for it. She is the one that has really been with me every moment of my ups and downs. Then there are many more, Mrs. Jaya Chakraborty, she was in Bombay and we were good friends. Therefore my aunt took the courage of coming to a strange city where we had no friends. There is Hemant Kumar, who first gave me my break on stage and in films. And Manna Dey Uncle who has been a father to me and has guided me. He guided me in the sense that he is my idol as far as how an artist should be. And finally Laxmikant Pyarelal, the people who gave me my break when I was a total nonidentity.

AR: What male singer do you like to sing with most?
Kavita: I basically enjoy singing with all of them. Each one has their own style and I get along with all of them, with Udit, Shanu, all of them. But personally I would say that I like, as far as voice quality is concerned, Hariharan, Udit Narayan, and Suresh Wadkar. Hariharan and Suresh Wadkar because they are very well trained in Hindi Classical music, and Udit because he is natural singer.

AR: What song(s) challenged you the most?
Kavita: Depends on the stage of my life. When I first sang "Hawa Hawaii", it was a big challenge because it was the first of the kind of naughty songs that I had sung. I was a very straight person then, very nervous and kind of shy. This was the first song that was kind of different. And now, one of the recent albums that I have really enjoyed is Bhairavi, because it is all semi-classical. Bhairavi and Khamoshi also. Khamoshi is different, because in this film, I had to sing for Helen who is a grandmother and Manisha Koirala who is a granddaughter.

AR: If you had a chance to sing any song, which song would it be?
Kavita: I am very fond of semi-classical songs. If somebody gave me the chance to sing a semi-classical song and I could sing it well, I would feel proudly about myself.

AR: Which singer do you most admire?
Kavita: In films, definitely Lata Mangeshkar. She heads the list as far as I am concerned. But otherwise in the field of classical music, there is a lady called Kishoria Mankar, she is mind-boggling. She is one in a century. There is an artist who is excellent in ghazals. She is probably not as well known as many other people, but her name is Madhurani. She is simply brilliant. Those three singers, Kishoria Mankar, Madhurani and Lataji.

AR: Do you think that the music of the older generation is better or the music of today?
Kavita: The older generation definitely. The 50s and 60s, I would call it a renaissance period, was brilliant. Probably because they had more time to record. Songs weren't just dished out and churned out like today. Things have changed, now there is violence and too many dances. The whole atmosphere has changed, so you can't blame the music directors for it. And those days, music directors had more time to work on the songs. Not only that, but they knew much more about music. They would do a pop song, a western song, but they still knew much about Indian classical music. They were very knowledgeable people. That knowledge I miss today. I feel that the music directors today are instinctively talented. The music directors now have God gifted talent and they are using it, but very few have really deep knowledge.

AR: Why do you think that the knowledge is lacking?
Kavita: Well, its I suppose change of time, because now, the motive and the encouragement of doing those songs is not there. The producer's motive is to sell the movie. Cassettes have to sell. Companies come and demand that the compositions are made so that they sell. Everything is made towards selling. In the olden days it was up to a point; commitment was also very important. A music director would say, "Muje to karna hi nahin yeh gana, aap kaun hote batane liye kaun singer hai?" (I don't want to do this song if you are bossing me around, telling me who the singer is supposed to be.) You bring in the money, you tell me the situation and I'll make the song for you. Another factor is the kind of films. In those days, we had makers like Raj Kapoor, Vijay Anand, dedicated people to their work. Today films are being made with the producers saying, "Chale yaan na challe... char masale wale gane dal do... item dal do." (I don't know if this is going to do well in the box office. Put in some masala songs! Put in a couple items!) Attitudes have changed. Electronic music has come in. Music has become very synthetic. But I must say that I now find that there is a change, I do feel that the songs have improved in the recent years. For about four to five years there was a lot of copied songs, and although some are still copied, there is a change towards good songs. Its catchy for youngsters, still.

AR: What recent songs have you enjoyed singing?
Kavita: As I told you, Bhairavi and Khamoshi are two albums that I enjoyed singing a lot. And now I have sung for a film called Saaz. There are two or three music directors, one is Zakhir Hussain, and Raj Kamal. It the life of a playback singer and I am singing for Shabana Azmi in it. I love the songs in that movie.

AR: Do you have a tally of your songs?
Kavita: Really I should keep it. For Hindi songs it is at least two to three thousand songs including the ones that don't get released, and probably the equal amount of regional film songs.

AR: How many songs do you sing on an average day?
Kavita: Normally one. Sometimes it could be three, but usually one. Very rarely is it four or five.

AR: How do you like singing for the audience here in the United States?
Kavita: Excellent. And this particular trip I am enjoying. I don't usually enjoy when I come for a star show. I feel like one small cog in the wheel. People are usually more interested in glamour than singing. I usually sing two songs and then when I come out I am disspointed. But this time I have been enjoying it because Udit is a fine singer and the show predominantly musical. The audience here is wonderful. They listen to every kind of song. They are very positive towards an artist.