Extremely polite, friendly and courteous, Kunal has always been a delight to talk to. When I call up to congratulate on his success, soon our conversation turns into a detailed analytical review of his musical career so far. Here are the excerpts of the interview.
You must be feeling on top of the world right now.
Oh, yes! Winning two golden trophies in the Golden Jubilee year of Filmfare- it doesn’t get any better than this. The success has been sweet but it has also humbled me by showing me how much is expected of me as a singer and how difficult it is going to be to top this achievement.
Now looking back, how do you trace your growth as a singer?
It was a pure accident of fate that I became a singer. As a junior college student, I was ragged by the seniors and told to sing a song. Petrified, I nervously belted some number from the film Aashiqi. Somehow that first performance clicked and it made me realize that I had it in me as a singer. Later I got formally trained in Indian and Western classical music. After college- singing, the next stop was jingle-world.
How did the stint in jingle-world help you?
Talented composers like Ranjit Barot and Rajat Dholakia took me under their wings in jingle-world. Pop, rock, classical, folk- any kind of tune and the name they would suggest would be mine. This confidence rubbed off and I sang many popular jingles for almost every major brand and they were filmed on major stars like Shahrukh, Hrithik and Mr.Bachchan.
This led to my graduation to next level and that was singing one or two lines or an aalap in a film- song. Finally Anu Malik gave me my first film-song in Ab Ke Baras.
Tell us about your two most popular songs- Bheege Honth and Channa Vey.
Annu- ji (Anu Malik) explained to me the tune of Bheege Honth Tere and as a trial run, twice I sang it on microphone. When that was over, Annu-ji just said, "Okay, that’s enough. It’s the final take." I was really taken aback because in my mind, it was just a dress rehearsal but he as a composer, knew exactly what he wanted from that song. In the end, he was proved right.
Channa Vey was a non- film song which was composed by Santokh Singh and there too, till just before the take, I never knew what song I was going to sing. It was going to be just one of the songs in the album but it took the centre-stage.
Do you have any special feelings about winning the prestigious R.D.Burman- award?
Pancham da (R.D. Burman) was one of my idols. For hours, I used to stand outside his building to just watch him sit in his gallery but never mustered enough courage to go and speak to him. His sudden death was a sad blow to my secret wish of singing for him. When I went to take a final look at that great man, I touched his feet and told him in my mind, "How could you do this to me? You might have left me in the earthly sense, but your spirit will always continue to guide me."
R.D. Burman’s music for Gulzar- sahib has always inspired me and it was a momentous occasion for me when I managed to win this award. It was also destiny’s hand that my first
Kesariya Balam