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Stars by his side
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Singer Neeraj Sridhar is enjoying his stint in Bollywood, says MANGALA RAMAMOORTHY
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Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
The Viking! Neeraj Sridhar in New Delhi
He believes in making hay while the sun shines. But it is not just the sun that’s shining bright; the stars too are by his side. Neeraj Sridhar of Bombay Vikings is the man of the moment. If you hummed your way through his “Woh Chali”, “Kya Surat Hai” and “Hawa Mein Udta Jaye” then you are sure to love his new avatar as the Bollywood playback singer.
If you feel there is an overdose of Neeraj, you aren’t entirely wrong. Pyar Ke Side Effects, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Bhool Bhulaiya, Goal, Heyy Baby, Krazzy 4
, Race…phew! And the list goes on.
“The going has been good, considering that Bollywood was not on my radar,” says Neeraj.
“Not that I had anything against singing in films but I didn’t think the industry had a place for my kind of a voice. People felt I didn’t have a macho voice,” reasons the Jalandhar boy, in town to perform at a fund-raiser organised by the Lions Club of Delhi, Greater Kailash.
He does consider himself lucky to have got the right breaks, but takes some credit for his success as well. “I have worked really hard. So there is bound to be result. It is not easy to sustain yourself amid tough competition. And to think of it I have been in the music industry since 1999,” he says candidly.
The influx of new talent doesn’t hassle him, for his philosophy of life is clear. “I believe everybody has their period. Today is mine, tomorrow it will be someone else’s,” is how Neeraj sees it. He adds, “There’s more to me than just a singer. I have other skills to fall back on. I am a complete musician. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeves.”
He continues to talk about his Bollywood venture, and suddenly comes a confession. “I know I am not a great singer. I am okay. I was a better singer three years ago, when I used to practise everyday. There are many singers much better than me.”
First you wonder whether these are just some random thoughts, but you believe him when he says, “more than my voice what I lend to a song is an attitude and a character, which I feel only I can give. And that’s what brings music directors to me. I think I am a title track guy.” You can hear his “Hare Krishna Hare Ram” running in your mind as he says that. “Whatever anyone may think, I have taken music as a business. I will do whatever I can to make it succeed. But that doesn’t mean I am recording four songs in a day. I am only doing as much as I can handle,” explains Neeraj.
Has he forgotten his band from Sweden, Bombay Vikings, in all this rush? He assures not.
“We are working on our next album, which should be out by August. But I am not able to give it time. I should finish it when I visit Stockholm in July. We have worked with a lot of international artistes in this one.”
ON A ROLL
Neeraj has just recorded a track for the Shahid Kapur-Vidya Balan starrer Kismet Connection, which has music by Pritam. He has
also sung the title track of Chandni Chowk to China for Shankar Mahadevan. There’s God Tussi Great Ho,
Banda Yeh Bindass Hai
and Singh is King.
Neeraj has also recorded his first regional song, in Telugu, for
music director Devi Sri Prasad.
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