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Singer Richa Sharma on her makeover and motto
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Tune in Richa Sharma
Playback singers spare no efforts to be seen these days. Richa Sharma too is one of those whose makeover is remarkable. The Faridabad girl, who started her career singing Mata ke bhajan and NCR with Sonu Nigam in Delhi, is grabbing eyeballs with her performance in NDTV Imagine’s Dhoom Macha De. She has an analogy for an answer. “The food remains the same. Earlier it was served in pattal. Today it is on a silver thali.”
She says, “Singing requires a bit of acting. And when you perform, the audience get to see this side of a playback singer. For instance, when I had to sing ‘Billo Rani’ for the show, it was imperative the costume matched the song. It also required some dance movements to keep the audience engrossed.”
Richa says she is picking up these skills from Baba Sehgal and Kamal Khan, who are also part of the show.
Wide range
Over the years, Richa has built up her repertoire from “Mahi Ve” to the recent thumri “Daras Bina Nahin Chain” in Saawariya. “Usually, what happens is, the industry remembers you with your last hit. So if ‘Billo Rani’ or ‘Show Me Your Jalwa’ is the latest craze, music composers will offer me similar numbers. Shows like Dhoom…help me remind the industry of my repertoire. Thankfully, this is happening. I am working with four different music composers — A.R. Rahman, Pritam, Adnan Sami and Monty Sharma — and singing in different genres.”
Going back in time, Richa, who is daughter of the late Pandit Shankar Upadhyay, remembers how sitting in the aisles of the pandal, Sonu Nigam and she would discuss their future. “The good thing is we both remained rooted in our values. My father spotted the singer in me when I was just three months old with the way I used to respond to his riyaaz. As I grew older, he used to tell me ‘Kam aisa kar chalo, tum hanso jag roye’. That remains my motto.”
Trained in semi-classical music, Richa’s favourite raga is Yaman. “I am so besotted with this raga that when my nephew was expected, I was praying he should be a boy so that I could name him Yaman.”
But what has she thought of for her son? “I am equally in love with Des!”
ANUJ KUMAR
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