Sonu Niigaam Is Glad That He Can Now Make His Choices !!

Golden notes

After years of struggle, the mellifluous Sonu Nigam is
glad that he can now make his choices

Defining lines Sonu Nigam: ’I’m not an aggressive swimmer, I flow’
He really is a busy man. There he was posing for a photograph with the security guard, two minutes later he was on the stairs beaming a “Hello, how are you?” to a stranger gentleman who looked pleasantly surprised to bump into a celebrity. Next minute he smiled generously at the dithering jack of a waiter who didn’t know which was the right moment to take coffee to the man who gave him the “haage summane” hangover. Apart from hectic singing schedules, concerts, interviews and tours if there is someone, at every step, dying to soak in your grace, busy is perhaps an understatement. If you are willing to oblige, it only complicates matters. Sonu Nigam, the inspired singer, who has his hands really full travelling across continents, wears his celebrity status lightly. The charming and affable musician holds his hands out to everyone – not just literally.

It’s not unidirectional: Sonu Nigam hasn’t just stolen the true-blue Kannadiga’s heart with his romantic, starry-eyed numbers. He has lost his heart to Kannada as well. “Ever since I sang Anisutide…haage summane has become a part of my lingo. I have infected all my friends also with it,” he laughs. “I sing so many Kannada songs these days, that in spirit I have become a Kannadiga. In fact, real good music gets made here,” he acknowledges, as he hums the beautiful “Neene Bari Neene” gently waltzing to it. “I think we should not listen to people who are not serious about the music they make. It is nothing less than cheating!” Of course you know he is referring to the entire brigade of one-song wonders who have stormed in the recent years.

In Bangalore for a concert organised by Live Tree Entertainment and later at a function which proclaimed him brand ambassador for BIG 92.7 FM, Sonu Nigam was a picture of grace. “If you have to be a good musician, you have to be a good human being as well. Otherwise, your nastiness will tear through your work,” said Sonu, expunging the dichotomy between an individual and his art. “Your art is what you are,” he says emphatically.

For someone who seems extremely fun-loving and jovial, Sonu Nigam is amazingly profound in his stances. As far as his work is concerned, there is no room for any compromise. “Things can be simplified, but I don’t believe in such an approach. I raise the bar for myself, make things difficult and work very hard to achieve it,” he tells you in great detail about how he personally writes down the Kannada songs he sings, writes down the meaning of every word, checks if his emotional understanding is right and only then proceeds towards recording. “With all that sometimes my pronunciation is wrong…,” he smiles.

Even in these times of enormous belligerence, with people busy edging out one another, Sonu believes in going slow. “I’m not an aggressive swimmer, I flow.” After the two decades of struggle, Sonu is now spiritually tanked up. “I have realised that one has to pause and look inwards. I have had enough of looking outside of me,” says the man, who worries about retaining his emotional and spiritual poise. “It’s okay to be physically imbalanced, like I’m now after travelling continuously,” he adds jokingly.

Mohammed Rafi was an imposing influence on Sonu. “That’s true. But now I’m mature enough to just take his ideology, the narrative is mine,” he insists.