Click to play videoHe is one of the finest male voices in the Indian film and music industry – a voice so youthful you will be fooled into believing it belongs to a teenager if you didn’t know better. He has given us some of the most memorable romantic ballads recently and has also won a Filmfare award for Best Male Playback Singer.
Excerpts from singer Shaan’s free-wheeling interview on To Catch a Star with CNN-IBN Entertainment Editor Rajeev Masand.
Rajeev Masand: Let’s start by congratulating you for winning the second consecutive Filmfare award, this time around for Jab Se Tere Naina from Saawariya.
Shaan: Right.
Rajeev Masand: Were you relieved that you did not have to dance around in a towel?
Shaan: Well, I have my six-packs too. But…(laughs)
Rajeev Masand: It’s the first time you were singing for a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. He is known to be very meticulous with his music. So was it a big deal for you? Did it feel special to be chosen for this song?
Shaan: Definitely. Not just that, while working on the song I realised that all said, it’s probably less that what it really is. He (Bhansali) is a wonderful singer and would explain to me certain lines that I wouldn’t get by singing them to me. Between him and Monty, I had the best guides and the best people to direct me with the song
Rajeev Masand: You won the Filmfare last year for Chand Sifarish from Fanaa. A wonderful song beautifully delivered by you and also wonderfully performed by Aamir on screen. Do you find that good songs go unrecognized or don’t achieve their potential sometimes because they are not interestingly filmed? Does that happen?
Shaan: Quite evidently and vice-versa too. A lot of average and mediocre songs get really popular because of the big screen. For me, I’ve had a 100 per cent record when it comes to the combination. If it’s a big star, whatever songs I have sung have really done well. And thank god for some not-so-big stars as well, whose songs have also done well. But yes, a song is a much bigger song if there’s a big star.
Rajeev Masand: Is there a song whose picturisation you are embarrassed by?
Shaan: Must be loads. I have done a lot of sleazy songs. (laughs) But nothing is coming to my mind. Some songs by themselves I have been embarrassed by, let alone picturisation.
Rajeev Masand: Is there an actor to who your voice suits best? You sang a lot for Abhishek Bachchan, didn’t you?
Shaan: Abhishek Bachchan is the only actor who recommended my voice to composers saying ‘I want him to sing for me’. That was the first and the last time.
Rajeev Masand: Over the years, you have sung for pretty much everybody, haven’t you?
Shaan: I sound a lot like Saif even when I speak. Now I don’t know about that. But I have seen some bad mimics do good mimics of him and I hope that’s not the way I sound. But I am told so, so may be I do. But he is fantastic and says I am his voice. That feels good.
Rajeev Masand: Do you modulate your voice to suit the actors you sing for?
Shaan: Not the tone of the voice but attitude, yes. If I am singing for Abhishek Bachchan, I know he is restrained and has got a subtle charm so I wouldn’t want to over-do the emotions or go over-the-top with enthusiasm because that’s not his style. But if its Saif, I like to keep it urban, metro-centric. I try to keep these things in mind.
Rajeev Masand: Tell us about your song One Love.
Shaan: This song was very interesting for me because I got a chance to collaborate with Blue which was at that time one of the biggest boy bands and One Love was a very popular song. I heard the lyrics and everything was about post-9/11 situation. So even when I did the Hindi lyric, I kept that in mind. It was like ‘you never know what’s going to happen in life’ sort of a thing. The song was recorded, we shot a little video where I mixed shots of me and Blue and then there was Abhishek Bachchan. Then the song was never the same again. It was supposed to be an item song for the man himself and everything else was sidelined. Forget 9/11, forget everything else, people thought it was a cool, hip-hop song. Doesn’t matter what the song was about, whether there was a social message or not - it was all brushed under the carpet. It became a huge song, I sing it in shows and people love it.
Rajeev Masand: Very few people know you took a shot at acting too, didn’t you? Do you cringe at the memory?
Shaan: Yes. Actually, I had no clue as to what I was doing. I was just having fun and got a wonderful offer to act. That time had anyone asked me if I wanted to play for the Indian cricket team, I would have gone ahead and played!
Rajeev Masand: There were lots of offers after that too. But you did not take them.
Shaan: I took my then fiancée for the dub. Before we got married she took just one vow from me. She said if you want this marriage to last and do not want divorce papers, do not ever act again.
Rajeev Masand: And she apparently didn’t want you to do romantic scenes. She was uncomfortable.
Shaan: That again, yeah. She still tells me, ‘If I see..’ and I say it’s just a movie, it was a scene . That was it. I was not even doing anything, not even holding hands I think (with Raima Sen). She (Raima) hated me through the film anyway. She said ‘you have a face full of pimples’. Those were the ‘words of endearment’ that we had. That was the ‘love’ that we had. That was the closest love scene. But anyway, my wife loved me, so. I live my romances through my songs.
Rajeev Masand:You have two lovely sons – Shubh and Soham. Are they musically inclined too?
Shaan: Lovely is one of the words you could use for them. Then, monkeys (laughs). But yes, they are absolutely my mere do anmol rattans. Soham, the elder one, has a very strong inclination towards music. He is fantastic. He hears a song and then he doesn’t want any noise and keeps listening to it again and again. Then he won’t sing it to you. And then may be after two-three months or years, he will sing that song. He has been doing this from the age of two. But I haven’t pushed him too much into music. At the moment, he is learning piano and I also sent him to my Guruji Ghulam Mustafa Khan Sahab but he went for just two days and didn’t want to go again. I want him to take to things naturally. Like father, like son.
Rajeev Masand: Do the boys have a favourite song of yours?
Shaan: Not necessarily mine. But yes Soham can sing Main Hoon Naa - the full song.
Rajeev Masand: What about your favourite song?
Shaan: One of my favourite songs currently is Dekho Dekho from Taare Zameen Par. (sings) It’s a fantastic song for children. Most of our children are singing songs that are not meant for them. Or anyone (laughs).
Rajeev Masand: A couple of years ago, I remember calling Sonu Nigam for an interview and there was this very interesting ringtone he had. It was that of a young child singing Kal Ho Na Ho. And I told him, ‘Sonu this is not your voice.’ He said this is Shaan’s son.
Shaan: Yeah, that was very sweet of him.
Rajeev Masand: So your son is not biased towards you?
Shaan: Not at all. In fact when we did the Don soundtrack, the younger one was very enthralled. But Soham learned the entire Tumka Ka Batayi Bhaiyaa bit. That was the song he took to. And he would con the younger one into listening to it, saying ‘it’s also baba’s song’. The younger one only wants to hear baba’s (Shaan) songs. Sohan tells me, ‘I can’t sing your songs because you have already sung them.’
Rajeev Masand: Youngsters really liked the song Wo ladki hai kahan from Dil Chahta Hai.
Shaan: That was my first hit song from a film that was a hit. That was a time when my songs were working but films weren’t. With that song I decided I was not jinxed. When I sang Koi Kahe, I sang the lines that were to be picturised on Akshay Khanna. But when they heard the voice, they said it sounded totally like Saif. So that’s how I lost Kaisi Hai Ye Rut and got the more exuberant Wo Ladki.
Rajeev Masand: This is the rapid fire round where I ask you some quick questions and you give me quick answers. The one song you always sing in shower.
Shaan: I don’t sing in shower, honestly. I don’t sing unless I am paid for it or unless it’s a show with Rajeev Masand. (laughs).
Rajeev Masand: The last time you sang a song for your wife.
Shaan: Really long ago. Fourteen years ago. It was Tumse Mil Ke, Aisa Lagaa. That time I used to sing to impress her but now I really mean it.
Rajeev Masand: The one song by another singer you wish you had sung.
Shaan: Almost all songs (laughs). Maa From Taare Zameen Par Though I don’t think I could have come close to how it was sung. It’s something you never get to tell your mother but something you always mean to.
Rajeev Masand: Who is the best singer out of the three: a) Sonu Nigam b) Kay Kay c) Shaan.
Shaan: Umm…the best singer is Chanu with a silent K in the beginning. (laughs). Put all three together.
Rajeev Masand: The one thing Himesh Reshammiyya has that you don’t.
Shaan: Great hook lines. I can’t get those one lines you can repeat six times.
Rajeev Masand: The one thing you have that Himesh doesn’t
Shaan: Good looks, hair. Oh God! I can go on. Let me stop! (laughs) But I love him. He is one of the most genuine, sweetest persons and I mean it very honestly that whatever he has achieved has been without choosing anyone in any which way, which is fantastic.
Rajeev Masand: You perform at stage shows and concerts. You also do playback singing. What’s the more exciting part of being a singer?
Shaan: For me singing is exciting. It doesn’t matter. Last night I was in Nagpur, today here I am, I have an audience, I have the wonderful Rajeev Masand. So I want to sing as much as I can and want to enjoy it. If the voice is good, it doesn’t matter where I am. But if the voice is bad, existence is bad.
Rajeev Masand: Hoping you will continue to entertain us the way you have. Thank you for being with us.
Shaan: Thanks.
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