Ever since she began her music career with Tosey Naina Laage in Anwar there has been no looking back for Shilpa Rao. The Jamshedpur girl, who went on to deliver several hits like Khuda Jaane ( Bachna Ae Haseeno ), Saiyaan Re ( Salaam-e-Ishq ) to the more recent Manmarziyan ( Lootera ), today has her hands full with movies, her band, television shows and collaborating with other prominent artistes. Set to perform in Hyderabad soon, Shilpa is excited to entertain — what she calls a cosmopolitan crowd.
“The city has diverse cultures and that makes it easier to cater to them with a wide variety of my songs. I’ve put together a set that will be revamped and a lot of fun. It will have a bit of reggae and jazz as well, while the basic content of the songs will be Indian,” says Shilpa, who had in the past crooned for the Telugu version of English Vinglish and is also singing the Telugu version of her song in Dhoom 3 .
“Language is not much of a barrier when it comes to music. Even without knowing the language you can understand what the music is trying to convey. I try and grasp the emotions and express myself through the music,” explains Shilpa, who has also sung for Tamil and Bengali films.
The singer, who first rose to fame with Khuda Jaane has since worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry. “I’ve been very fortunate to have worked with so many different people. It has been such a great learning experience,” she says. Quiz her on if there is any particular music director she’d like to work with in the future and she says, “Vishal Bharadwaj definitely. I’ve been such a huge fan of his work and talent and I hope I can be a part of his work some time.”
The singer, who first began training under her father, has her hands full these days with concerts, recordings, TV shows and collaborations with other artistes. But she’s not complaining. “It’s not like work at all. In fact, if you ask any musician they’ll tell you that their entire life is one big holiday. It’s so much fun. I love to prepare myself for newer things and meet new people. It’s nice to collaborate with different artistes and familiarise myself with their working style. All of this helps you become the kind of artiste you are,” she says.
