Singer Shaan had a troublesome time cracking the suitable vocals for “Chand Sifarish” in Fanaa (2006). That’s as a result of everytime he tried to document it, he would unconsciously find yourself copying Udit Narayan. “‘Chand Sifarish’ was my first song for Aamir Khan. I don’t know why I kept singing it like Udit ji, maybe because I’d always heard his voice on Aamir. I had to consciously make an attempt not to sing like him,” Shaan revealed in a candid chat with indianexpress.com.
The artiste, who’s now been an integral a part of India’s music trade for the previous three many years, has crooned almost 3000 songs throughout languages, with a few of his hottest numbers being for Saif Ali Khan and Abhishek Bachchan. According to Shaan, his voice matches lots with Saif. Also, he’s glad he acquired to document the remix of “Dus Bahane” for Baaghi 3 too, which he initially sang for Bachchan.
Infact Shaan’s profession began with remixes, however they have been nothing like what we see at the moment. Referring to albums like Oorja and Dance Masti, Shaan shared that they have been remixing the 70s and 80s tracks within the 90s. “We used to put some English original lines in Hindi songs with contemporary music. We even added a pinch of Punjabi or any languages in Hindi,” he stated, asserting that the method is all the time the identical, simply that the selection of songs make the distinction. “It’s all about the melody and good lyrics. If you recreate ‘Dil Kya Kare’ with all your heart even today, people will like it. But if you pick an ordinary song, it’ll stay in the charts just for a few days.”
Shaan started his singing profession alongside sister Sagarika. (Photo: Express Archives)
Shaan majorly caught to remixing Kishore Kumar’s basic numbers, additionally together with “Roop Tera Mastana”, “Hum Bewafa”, “Pyaar Maanga Hai Tumhi Se” and others.
Despite coming from a household of musicians, Shaan by no means aspired to turn out to be a singer. That’s as a result of he had seen his father Manas Mukherjee wrestle to get recognition. “The kind of success my father deserved, he never got. I lost him at a young age, so running the house was also a concern. A sense of responsibility came in early.”
Alongside doing small jobs and finishing his training, Shaan began performing in reside reveals along with his sister Sagarika. “That time, if you ask me, I’d say Sagarika was the singer. I accompanied her to her shows where she introduced me and asked if I could sing one or two songs too. People realised we were a package deal who managed to pull off the entire show. Soon we formed a group. We did ‘Naujawan’ with Biddu. Basically music chose me.”
By the time Shaan hit his 20s, he began getting traction. Recalling how Ken Ghosh offered him in a really totally different avatar in his first ever music video “Q Funk” the place he sang “Aaj Hum Jaise Jigarwale”, Shaan shared, “Ken told me to unbutton my shirt. I tried to convince him that I was a singer and can’t do these things. I had long hair too. Then someone threw water on my face. I realised if I wish to do pop music, I can’t try to be sober. Initially I was very scared to shoot it but then I just gave in.” Shaan claimed he would overact however his display presence improved finally.
The 90s Indie pop was when Shaan, alongside along with his contemporaries like Sonu Nigam, Shweta Shetty and Alisha Chinai featured of their music movies too. Shaan additionally acquired his two back-to-back chartbuster songs in the identical 12 months 1999 – “Tanha Dil” and “Musu Musu Hasi”.
“One of my landmark songs that redefined my image is ‘Tanha Dil’. Then ‘Musu Musu’ from a small film became a hit and pushed me into the next phase of my life. Things just changed overnight because of these two songs,” Shaan stated. Soon the singer was playback singing for Shah Rukh Khan in an AR Rahman composition quickly “O Re Kanchi” from Asoka (2001).
He, nevertheless, confessed that issues began getting “stagnant with same type of fun party songs until ‘Chand Sifarish’ happened that pushed me onto another pedestal of ‘award winning singer Shaan!’” he stated with a smile.
Today, Shaan’s discography boasts of dozens of chartbusters like “Jab Se Tere Naina”, “Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh”, “Chaar Kadam” and extra. “Jab Se Tere Naina” from Saawariya (2007) even went on to turn out to be Ranbir Kapoor‘s glowing entry into Bollywood. The singer feels “you’ll remember the songs because of some connection, maybe memories of your first love or someone special. That’s why the 90s kids, who were growing up at that time, love our phase. I’ve sung thousands of songs, but if you start counting, you’ll come down to the same 20-25 songs. Good creations stay. What era they belong to doesn’t matter.”
Shaan lived by means of the time when singers collectively recorded songs in a studio, with their camaraderie additionally reflecting of their vocals. Sharing one other incident, he stated, “When I recorded ‘Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai’ with Shreya Ghoshal, she kept giggling because it was a seductive song, and MM Keeravani recorded her giggles too which were used in the song.” He joked that if he has to document for Salman Khan “I would work out that day to get the feel. (laughs) I’m kidding!”
But issues haven’t all the time been clean for Shaan. He let go of a music as a result of he simply couldn’t get its sound correct. The music was the title monitor of Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). And the rationale was one other singer, Vinod Rathod!
Vinod Rathod was a daily voice for Sanjay Dutt, together with the earlier movie’s signature “Munna Bhai MBBS” tone. Hence, it grew to become tough for Shaan to strike the observe. “While recording ‘Bole Toh Bole’, I tried to keep my voice bit heavy in Sanjay Dutt’s style. But Vidhu Vinod Chopra kept telling me to try it differently. “Sanju ka chehra nahi aa raha hai jab tu gaa raha hai.” I believed doing his mimicry would look odd. I attempted actually laborious to crack it however lastly I gave up.” Shaan misplaced out on that music, that was finally sung by Rathod.
This additionally brings us to the purpose how earlier, composers have been adamant about their necessities. Shaan picked music administrators like Anu Malik, Jatin-Lalit, Ravindra Jain, Nadeem-Shravan and Ilayaraja who had their very own type and singers wanted to do what they wished. “They knew once the singer is gone, they can’t do any correction and have to produce the song with whatever we’ve delivered.”
Though issues eased out with Vishal-Shekhar and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy coming into the scene. “Even AR Rahman is very flexible. After recording it first time, he’ll ask you to sing it again your way with some variation. ‘Just surprise me,’ he’ll say. Then he’ll pick something from here and there. Because of technology, there’s a lot of post production today. Pritam will let you choose your scale for a song and allow you to sing that way. Among Sajid-Wajid, Wajid used to work with a lot of planning. He wanted the right feel on every note. I miss working with him,” Shaan recalled.
He says it turns into simpler for singers to get the precise emotion if filmmakers reveal the actor or the scenario. This occurred in early 2000s after they acquired a narration. “Like Sooraj Barjatya explains the visuals of the song. Though I had just two songs in Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, he narrated the entire story and Abhishek Bachchan’s character to me.”
But this stopped within the current years, forcing singers to fallback on their creativeness. “Sometimes I sang keeping any big star in mind. Sometimes I asked the makers whether the actor has a heavy or a boyish voice or what’s his energy. Luckily my voice matches with almost everyone. Unique voices might face issue. But nobody cares about that today. All they want is playback to happen.” Shaan added.
Shaan hosted Star Voice of India too. (Photo: Express Archives)
Does that imply singers of at the moment are shedding floor, and dependency on expertise is killing the honesty in music? Shaan agrees, “Not just auto-tune, every note is corrected on Melodyne. So the singer becomes lazy. There are a lot of singers who shouldn’t be getting this much work, while a lot of deserving ones aren’t getting enough. A good voice is subjective today, melodious or not doesn’t matter. If a music company or composer isn’t liking your voice, you won’t get work. In all honesty, it is affecting the kind of music being produced. Today, if you’re able to garner around 20 million views, the companies will automatically take you thinking you’ll get their song a certain amount of views as well. So you become more of an influencer than a singer. I do feel bad for the new singers who aren’t getting a fair chance.” Today, the singer makes music below his personal label – Shaan music.
Shaan, who’s additionally hosted varied editions of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa between 2002-2006, aside from judging different singing actuality reveals like The Voice India and Super Singer, stated internet hosting improved his Hindi. “Initially, my Hindi was disgusting, you can’t even call it Hindi! I’m a Bengali and spoke more of English. Today it’s a much improved version of what I spoke. Hosting really helped.”
Shaan, who additionally tried his hand at dancing in Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 6 said, “We have just one life. You might fall, but at least you tried. I’ve enjoyed the whole process.”
Shaan together with spouse Radhika Mukherji and sons Shubh and Soham. (Photo: Instagram/singer_shaan)
And what about appearing, contemplating he had a pleasing display presence? He joked, “When I was getting good offers, I was hell-bent that I want to only sing. Also one film needs your dedicated time for 3-4 months. I used to have continuous shows so the schedule never really fell into place. I was even offered to do Shayan Munshi’s role in Jhankaar Beats. When I finally decided to give it a shot, I did such an ‘incredible’ film titled Balwinder Singh Famous Ho Gaya with Mika Singh that offers stopped coming in (laughs).”
Shaan is an inspiration at the moment. Acknowledging it emotionally, he stated, “If I’m looked as an inspiration, I must’ve done something right in my life. I don’t want to live in the past and start taking note of what all I’ve done. I want to do something new everyday, be in the present enjoying every moment.”
Shaan revealed that he wrote “Gumsum Ho Kyun” for his then girlfriend and now spouse Radhika. Today, “Tumse Milke” is among the particular songs between the couple. “My career ranges from live recording in big studios to the digital age of today when we even record on iPhone. I’ve seen it all,” he signed off.
Happy birthday, Shaan! Thank you for all of the melodies.
