In this Walk the Talk on NDTV 24x7 with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta,singer Kailash Kher talks about his struggle in Delhi,the light he found in Mumbai,and his music ad jingles,film songs,and why Allah ke bandey is like a Nirma ad for him Hello and welcome to Walk the Talk. My guest today is Kailash Kher singer,entertainer,spiritualist,performer,and a rockstar. When I came to Mumbai from Delhi nine years ago,I didnt know that Id have such an enriching journey and experience. People have been here for 30-35 years and Ive been around for just nine years.this experience and realisation,its from God. This city has loved you from the dayyou came. Yeah,in the beginning,the city didnt accept me but within a year,some miracle happened and this city just embraced me and today here I am. And India embraced you. The whole world. Yes,with the one number that announced your arrival. Yes,Allah ke bandey. That was a film song. Before that,many jingles happened,and later random film tracks started happening,and then one day,I read my name along with Sunidhi Chauhan. Playback singer Sunidhi Chauhan comma Kailash Kher. So I was quite overwhelmed,and very excited,like a kid. I kept the CD and went to Delhi to show it to my younger sister and my brother,and said,Look,Ive become a playback singer So,do you hum Allah ke bandey ofteneven now? Yeah,I still do. It is like a Nirma ad for me. It is like any washing powder ad which comes in the day,night,100 times a day. Tell us about your life before the fame. I did my first job with some CA for a salary of Rs 600. I used to take a bus from one corner of Delhi to another corner; it would take almost two-and-a-half hours to reach there. So only going and coming from there would suck up the entire day. By the time I used to be back at my so-called den,there was no energy physically,and no time to learn anything else. And you also realised that if music was to be a career,you had to leave Delhi. Yeah,100 per cent. In Delhi,I could never dream of music as a career,because I observed the music scene in Delhi those days it used to be either very classical,elite,or like people who are singing in restaurants. It used to confuse me should I get into this? If I am going to be a musician,what am I going to do? Neither do I want to sing in the restaurant nor will I be able to become a pandit or ustad who will sing For a tiny audience? A limited audience. Old audience,old in the thought process,and old in many ways. Not old in a wrong way but I could not connect with both. Now you are connecting with both. Yes. That is what is called a miracle,because had I been learning formally,I would have also been in the same league where many people are already doing music and then people are following them. But you do that. For your own band (Kailasa),you do things that are quite spiritual and Sufi,but you also do Love,Sex aur Dhokha. When I get tagged as a Sufi singer,I get excited. I never thought that I will be known as some singer but today I am known as a Sufi singer,which is a good thing,though I dont know what Sufi is. But whenever I write,I write what is inside me and what I feel,what my sensibilities are and because of that,there is a spiritual connect which comes from within. I dont use my intelligence,because I dont have one. I am a completely unintelligent and illiterate musician that way. Which means an undoctored musician? Yeah,that is the correct word actually. Do you have any favourite composition which can be described as Sufi or which people have described as Sufi? I know you dont like the description. Rang deeni,which I sang in in the film Dev for Aadesh Shrivastava. That has very Sufi-influenced poetry. And do you still do jingles? I recently did many brands. Which is your favourite jingle? The most happening one is Dermi Cool.the other is Castrol and then there is the HDFC ad,and recently I sang for Binani Cement. The remarkable thing about you is that I see the same joy on your face when you talk about a jingle and when you are talking of an original composition. Because singing in itself is a thing which is created by Almighty and is part of nature. Your life had hit a real low in Rishikesh,how low did it go? Oh,it was actually. see,there was a history behind that,and it was a crescendo of all that pathos and hardship. You thought you had come to an end. Yes. I was not hopeful at all because the problem with me happened.I think I am oversensitive. At times,I took things so deeply that I used to have many complexes about my failures and I could not pursue learning Indian classical which I so passionately wanted to,and many failures used to disturb me,and at times,I thought of finishing this life,so that was the extreme in Rishikesh. Did you feel like running from it all? Yeah,I felt like killing myself. In fact,I tried once,but somebody from my group held my hand and the next day,some spark,some light came. And brought you to Bombay? Yes,and something happened and the entire mindset changed. You are an unusual singer who can do very well even if he did not sing for Hindi cinema. Yeah. Many people are surprised at how I am surviving,how I dont have dates because,see,music for me is not only my career,it is part of my being. When you finish with your career. suppose you are in the IAS and you serve the nation till a certain age. After that,you start an NGO or do something else,so there is a purpose,you know,larger than life. I think my purpose is already being fulfilled by my profession. The other thing about you is that because you are such an original,you can almost not do a playback for a star. Your singing usually tells the story of a film. In Paan Singh Tomar,your voice in the background provides a thread to the film. It was,you know,natures way to show that there is one singer who can be part of a film as a part of a film,not as part of one particular character. So what is your favourite of all time from,say,cinema? From cinema,of course,Allah ke bandey,and then Rang deeni,and then Yun hi chala chal and recently I sang Prasoon Joshis track which is called Arziyan and Maula maula,which is typical Sufi-influenced poetry. And from my album Rangeele,which we have released recently,my favourite is a song called Babaji,which is a gift to my two-year-old son Kabir. I was searching for a description for you but I think the right description for you is something that has come to my mind now after this conversation,it is one word: original. So does that fit? Yes,of course. That is why it is so brilliant to have this conversation with you early in the morning. Oh,I am really honoured and privileged. I am a little bit nervous and overwhelmed,and I am going to write about it,I am going to tweet about it. n Transcribed by Mehraj D Lone. For the full transcript,log on to www.indianexpress.com
