If you’re a fan of Shah Rukh Khan, you’ll be familiar with Nakash Aziz. He’s the singer who’s been echoing your sentiments over the sound waves the past few months with the pulsating ‘Jabra Fan’ from Fan , which released on Friday.
Even otherwise, he’s been a popular name for a while now, with number such as ‘Sari Ke Fall Sa’ and ‘Gandi Baat’ from R... Rajkumar , and ‘Selfie Le Le Re’ from Bajrangi Bhaijaan , among others.
And, to think that all these numbers came to Nakash when he’d stopped actively looking for singing offers. Some years ago, after reaching the top 28 at Indian Idol , Nakash was voted out, and deeply crushed. He decided to take a break from music and regroup. That was when he started composing for TV serials such as Chandragupta Maurya, Aasmaan Ke Aage and Saavdhaan India .
This was also the time when his life was set for a dramatic change — Nakash got a chance to meet A.R. Rahman, and play snatches of his music. The rest is history.
He became Rahman’s music arranger, and has worked with him on films such as Highway, Raanjhanaa, Rockstar, Delhi-6 and I . At around the same time, composer Pritam saw the spark in the boy who was born in Moodbidri in Karnataka and raised in Aurangabad and Mumbai, and kept giving him opportunities as singer and arranger.
Meanwhile, the songs kept coming in. “Pritamji always remembered me and kept giving me good songs,” says Nakash, who’s also sung in Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada and Tamil (Tamil version of ‘Jabra Fan’).
At a time when chances were hard to come by, being on Indian Idol helped, says Nakash. “It gave many of us a platform and an opportunity to earn our bread, butter, even biryani and chicken,” smiles Nakash, who’s also composed for two Marathi films — Raaada Rox and No Entry Pudhe Dhoka Aahey .
Finally, all talk veers towards the mammoth success of ‘Jabra Fan’. “Vishal and Shekhar are cool composers. They took all the stress off me and allowed me to concentrate on the feel of the songs. It worked well,” he says.
And though he’s sung a mix of songs, what Nakash loves most is rendering numbers that touch the heart. “Daruwala songs are not for me,” he laughs. “I’m very old-world and while songs can be fun, they can’t stoop low.”
Among the numbers closest to his heart are ‘Phata Phati’ from Barfi !, ‘Sari Ke Fall Sa’ and ‘Aafreen’ from The Hundred-Foot Journey .
And yes, he’s in love with Tamil too. Because, he grew up listening to A.R. Rahman from childhood. “I started off with Duet and Kaadhalan … and never stopped loving the language and his music. Of course, I never imagined I’d be working with Rahman one day,” signs off the 31-year-old singer.
