From a childhood surrounded by ghazal s and Hindustani classical music to a career comprising much-loved Bollywood hits, Rekha Bhardwaj straddles different worlds with ease, and has carved a niche for herself with her distinctive voice. The playback singer chats with MetroPlus .
The long of it!
Tell us about your training in classical music.
I began studying classical music when I was a child, born and brought up Delhi. I initially began learning from my sister at home and when she got married — I was 12 at that time — I enrolled at the Gandharv Maha Vidyalaya and began to learn music more formally. I pursued music in college and went on to top my university in Hindustani Classical Music. My guru was Pandit Amarnathji of the Indore Gharana; he was the senior-most disciple of Ustad Amir Khan saheb . Even as a child, I was immensely fond of ghazal s. I was also a huge fan of the radio. Back in the day, and almost until I joined college, we didn’t have TV at home. So, radio was really our go-to medium for all kinds of music. I grew up listening to the music of Begum Akhtar sahiba , Farida Khanum, Mehdi Hassan saheb , Girja Devi, Rasoolan Bai... you get the picture, right?
How did playback cinema happen?
Well, I married Vishal (Bhardwaj) in 1991 and shifted base to Mumbai. While he composed music for cinema, I slowly began assisting him in the process. While doing that, sometimes he’d make me sing, just to see how a song sounded, the core of the composition, etc. It was as organic as that. And then one day, in one of the films that he was composing for, Jahan Tum le Chalo , after Maachis , I got to sing as a dummy for Lataji (Mangeshkar). It was a song called ‘Yeh kaisi chaap’. The film’s heroine Sonali Kulkarni, Gulzarji and the producer loved my singing and decided to keep the song in my voice. That’s how my tryst with cinema began. I always knew I had a distinct voice; you see, I don’t have a regular high pitch kind of voice which is considered romantic in cinema.
Do you think with the coming of young, experimental composers into the film industry, singers are getting to croon songs belonging to different genres?
I won’t say all the songs belong to different genres, because to me, most of the songs sound quite similar in terms of sound and their treatment. Sometimes, in fact, it’s difficult to differentiate between singers, because most singers today almost sound the same. I won’t call it different genres because we are taking a lot from the West and whatever is trending on the Internet, in a sense. But some songs have a distinct quality about them and those are really the kind that I appreciate.
How much do lyrics matter to you when you work on a song?
Lyrics are by far the most important component in music. The thing is to understand and appreciate the lyrics because if you don’t do that, you can never emote a song. I must say that I am really fortunate in this regard: I have often had the privilege of singing the poetry of Gulzar saheb. His lyrics are so powerful, and when they come together with the melody of Vishal’s composition, I think the overall outcome is amazing. In a sense, half my work is done.
As a singer, I also like to emphasise on diction. It helps that my Hindi is very good, as is my Urdu. My father studied in an Urdu medium school and my mother is a voracious reader of Hindi literature.
What’s keeping you busy these days?
I recently sang a song for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s film Mere Pyaare Prime Minister and I have sung a few more songs for other films that I don’t know the titles of. There’s one directed by Amitabh Verma and the music is also by him. I recently recorded for a Marathi film that is being produced by Priyanka Chopra’s production company and directed by Aruna Raje. I am also working on an album of FAS poems that were composed by Vishal Bharadwaj in 2011. I am also recording a poem by Amrita Pritam called Me tenu pher milangi and few of my own compositions in Bandish style.
Your thoughts on performing at The Hindu November Fest.
I am really excited and honoured by this opportunity to perform at The Hindu November Fest. It’s going to be my first performance in Chennai. I perform frequently in Hyderabad but it has also been a few years since I performed in Bengaluru, so I’m looking forward to that.
