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The Viking! Neeraj Sridhar

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 Neeraj.He does consider himself lucky to have got the right breaks, but takes some credit for his success as well. 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.

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. 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.”

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