Soul Talk - Shreya Ghoshal

Eight years of growing popularity in the music industry of Bollywood have not changed this diva, who remains every bit as congenial and warm as her soulful voice leads us to believe she is. Shreya Ghoshal is a delight to talk to and her voice is as sweet in person, as it is when played in a cinema hall to thousands of her fans. With her singles from Singh Is King and Bachna Ae Haseeno topping charts and her upcoming releases from God Tussi Great Ho being eagerly anticipated, we caught up with the talented artiste to talk to her about her latest hit songs, about being stereotyped and about being compared to Sunidhi Chauhan.

“For the last few films I have worked on, I have been paired with artistes I haven’t worked with in the past. For Singh is King, I have sung a subtle, romantic song with a slight Punjabi folk flavour along with Rahat Fateh Ali khan and I have sung a song with Mohit Chauhan in Kismat Konnection,” says Shreya who enjoys the experience of trying out new avenues to reinvent herself. Her versatility reveals itself through her work. She has sung songs for two animated films (Ghatothkach and Dashavatar) and is as big a sensation in the Tamil film industry as she is in the Hindi industry. She renders songs in languages unknown to her with just as much soul and emotion as she does in her other songs. However, often audiences feel that her soothing and sweet voice would not suit a fast paced, racy song. Has she become stereotyped? Smiling to hear her voice be described in this way, Shreya says, “I like the fact that audiences find my voice soothing. Personally speaking, I love singing soulful songs so I don’t mind being stereotyped. However, I think people often get confused between the tempo and texture of a song. Yeh Ishq Hai from Jab We Met and the recently released Aahista Aahista from Bachna Ae haseeno are both fast paced songs that I have sung.” A valiant defence, undoubtedly, but it still does not answer the question why songs like Beedi Jalaile have greater mass appeal? Are raunchy and overtly sexual songs sung with a raw voice more popular? “I don’t think that songs that are harshly sung are necessarily sensual. They do have mass appeal. However, there is an audience for every kind of music. It’s a different rasa of sorts,” says the frank, mellifluous crooner who has quite a substantial fan following of her own.

Does Shreya feel that the evolving character of heroines who are increasingly being portrayed as sexually and physically confident women has led to an evolution in the kind of voices being chosen for songs in films? Are deeper contraltos being preferred to coy sopranos? “It’s true that the character of the heroine in Indian cinema is evolving. However, we don’t have character specific or actor specific voices anymore. Music is being used to create an ambience or convey the predominant emotion in the movie. As we saw in Tare Zameen Par, Shankar Mahadevan’s voice was used to convey the character’s emotion in the song Ma instead of a child’s voice,” is Shreya’s response.

Although its true that voices aren’t character specific anymore, does Sunidhi Chauhan have an upper hand over Shreya when it comes to the evolution of the role of heroines in movies? The two music stars reign supreme in Bollywood at the moment. Both command loyal fan bases that often compare the two and argue over the Internet over who is better. Shreya is very amused over the thought of her fans defending her on the Internet. She sportingly replies, “ I am very happy that I have such loyal fans. About being compared with Sunidhi, I love the challenge of trying to win over fans loyal to her. This is the sort of healthy competition that keeps me going.”

As a parting shot, we asked Shreya a question that amused her quite a bit. After Himesh Reshamiya’s transformation and debut in films would she consider taking up acting any time in the future? “I don’t think so. I have been asked a couple of times by some well known directors but I declined their offer. It’s difficult to take a decision about such a thing. I can’t set aside a whole month of my schedule like a composer might be able to,” says the star who sounded a bit unsure about her decision. With her elegant looks and sweet voice we are sure her fans can’t wait to see her in a movie soon.

by Shivani Bail