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Beyond a supper song
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Popular singer Kailash Kher likes very little oil in his food
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Photo: Sandeep Saxena
Rustic beat Kailash Kher enjoys his meal
His voice evokes a hundred emotions, but when it comes to food Kailash Kher has just one condition. “The food should have very little oil. Somehow, in North India, we have this tendency that we equate rich food with oily food. Sometimes you are
offered so much oil that you can virtually take bath in it,” quips Kailash settling for a quick lunch at Golden Phoenix restaurant at Le Meridien.
The restaurant offers authentic Chinese cuisine in blasé surroundings. Somebody who prefers home food, Kailash settles for the Chinese simply because here oil would be in control. “Food is very important for me for after all it is what separates a god from a demon. I believe the kind of food you eat reflects in your behaviour.”
Kailash has recently come up with an album “Jhoomo Re”, where in the opening track “Bam Lahiri”, he pays tribute to Lord Shiva. Kailash says though he believes in Sufi and nirgun bhakti, he is also inspired by Lord Shiva. Starting with vegetable salt and pepper soup, Kailash explains, “For most he is the God of destruction, to me he is a symbol of love. ”
Tasting hakka vegetable chowmein, Kailash goes down memory lane when he started from Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi to learn music. “Nobody in my family was even remotely connected to music. My father thought it is just a hobby and he will return soon but that was not to be. In Delhi, I learnt under more than a dozen gurus and one day on the invitation of a satsang mandali, I went to Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, I realised that the invitation was only for a day and I could not make it as my base for the struggle ahead. I spent one night at the station (which he says some sections of the media turned into months) and the next day I rented a room which I shared with six people.”
Media’s ignorance
Kailash is peeved with the media’s ignorance. “They don’t ask about what you do, but what you don’t do. Most of the times I am asked why don’t you sing ghazals? Then recently somebody came to me and said I like two of your songs ‘Allah Ke Bande’ and ‘Toota Toota Ek Parinda’!”
His struggle, including how his first song from the film Chalte Chalte, was re-recorded in Sukhwinder Singh’s voice, is now part of the folklore, but Kailash says that’s part of the game. “I am no longer bitter about such things. One thing that I really missed in those days was home food. So whenever I am in Delhi, I ask my sister Gudiya to cook and bring my favourite food, even if I am staying in a five-star hotel. And then, away from the public glare, we enjoy gobhi-matar and rice pulao,” shares Kailash trying vegetable fried rice.
Munching sautéed vegetables, Kailash says his struggle turned him a non-vegetarian too. “When I went to Singapore for the first time for a show, I was not paid much money.
When I went out to eat, I found non-vegetarian food is cheaper than vegetarian, so I decided to go for the non-vegetarian.”
Kailash now wants to compose music in films and already has an international project Made in China in his hands, where he has been asked to compose and sing the title track.
“I don’t take much time in singing my songs so I have ample time.
But I don’t want to offer some ready-made tunes or compose some hey-hey songs describing the beauty of the girl in obvious ways.”
ANUJ KUMAR
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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