As I enter the conference room, the MMI media meet is almost coming to its end. Sitting as a backbencher, I watch admiringly as Shaan literally orchestrates the press conference with his cool and witty remarks and while doing that this Saregamapa anchor himself admits, “I have got so much used to the hosting part that I sometimes forget that I am the guest!” From a struggler on the side-lines to a sought-after singer-performer, Shaan has come a long way in his career. As the press-meet winds up, I wait patiently for my turn to interview him. Finally the wait is over and as I walk up to him, his face lights up with that typically boyish smile of recognition.
Having interviewed him twice over last one year, one thing I can surely vouch for him. No doubt, he is a wonderful singer but more importantly he is a wonderful person- warm and fun-loving. Here are the excerpts of our conversation.
As the anchor of Saregamapa- one of the most prestigious musical talent- hunt TV programs, what do you feel about importance of such contests?
Such programs obviously provide the launching pad for many talented singers but I feel that what you do after getting that breakthrough is entirely up to you. Apart from talent, it also requires a lot of hard work, patience and sincerity to succeed at the top level. Singers like Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal have made big through such platform thanks to these qualities but not every singer succeeding at the TV-contest level has carried forward that success.
Then there are musical contests which rely on popular polls instead the judges’ choice and that sometimes may leave the real talents out by unnecessarily focusing more on non-musical things like looks, personality and public response.
Tell us something about the newly formed playback singers’ association.
IPRS – (Indian Performance Rights Society) is a constitutional body, which is supposed to keep proper records about copyrights and manage the related money matters. Unfortunately it has been mismanaged- harming many an artist financially by unjustly favouring music companies. We, playback singers have formed our association to show our solidarity with music directors and present our case to music companies.
Kesariya Balam