Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

In fine fettle

Akriti Kakar hits the right note with `Chup Chup Ke'

DREAM BIG Akriti Kakar is coming up with another album

`Food' is her single-word answer to the question, what is music to you. The answer comes from the teenager who had a whiff of fame with her debut album `A-Teen Sensation.' Now Akriti Kakar is looking for a bigger canvas to paint her dreams. She touched Delhi for the promotion of her song `Dil Vich Lagaya Veh' for Priyadarshan's film Chup Chup Ke this past week. Himesh Reshammiya has composed the music. Akriti, a second year college student, has so far recorded eight songs for Reshammiya.

She wants to establish herself as a "versatile playback singer". Singers whom she values for their versatility include Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan. To her Alka Yagnik is the "queen of melody" and "Asha and Lata are goddesses." According to her, playback singers get their due during live shows. Having performed at the Wimberley stage in London at the age of 10, with Kalyanji of Kalyanji-Anandji fame, no stage can intimidate her today. From Kalyanji she has learnt survival techniques for the stage. "A singer who performs live must be presentable, must have a vast repertoire of songs and must be impromptu," is what she learnt from the legend.

Shades of solitude

She is excited about her next album from HMV called `Akriti: the Solitaire.' The album deals with different shades of solitude through different genres. The album includes a Latin track, a ballad and even a semi-classical piece. She says the highlight of the album is the song `Dhoonde Mann Banwra,' which she has sung with Ustad Sultan Khan. Guru Sharma has composed the music.

Akriti stresses the importance of `riyaz', which ensures that deep notes arise from the navel and not throat. But she also believes, "The more music you hear, the more you absorb."

She is yet to write her own songs but recently the Kerala backwaters inspired her to pen down a stanza. Having sung since the age of five she is at present not keen to enter Bollywood. She says, "Plain-Jane acting roles are for me but not the jhatka, matkas.When my throat is not good, I feel paralysed."

NANDINI NAIR

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail