MUSIC INTERVIEW: SUNIDHI CHAUHAN
Music Fans in Bollywood and around the World Respect Her for Who She Is
Kid sensation-turned-award-winning Bollywood playback singer Sunidhi Chauhan has one of the most profound voices in all the world. It is a voice that has graced more than 2,000 tracks in several Indian languages and has earned her seven Best Playback Singer awards. Her vocals have been featured in A-list Bollywood films such as Mission:Kashmir, Bunty Aur Babli, Chameli, Fiza, Dhoom, Dhoom 2, Omkara, and Love Aaj Kaal, among several others. Even more, Sunidhi is considered by many, including Buzzine Bollywood, as the heir apparent of Bollywood legends Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar.
Visiting the Los Angeles area earlier this week to perform at an Indian cultural program in Pasadena, Sunidhi graced the nearly 1,000 fans who attended her show on September 6th with some of her greatest hits in both Hindi and Bengali. The versatile and multilingual musician performed some of her more memorable tracks, such as “Dhoom Machale,” “Crazy Kiya Re,” and “Bumbro,” in addition to a few Bengali songs (very rare for a Bollywood artist).
In her late-twenties, Sunidhi has come quite a long way from her days as a child musician. Back in 1996, then just 12 years old, Sunidhi wowed judges and audiences at the “Meri Awaaz Suno” music competition. The acclaimed playback singer was able to showcase her talents to the right people and then use her experiences and connections to launch what is now quite the successful career as one of Bollywood’s top musicians.
Since then, she has become one of the greatest Indian musicians of her generation. Despite reaching the upper echelons of fame in front of one of the world’s largest audiences, amidst suffering through some personal setbacks with her parents and a tough divorce, Sunidhi manages to keep her priorities simple, and it is characters such as Marty McFly and Shrek the Ogre who collectively help her maintain proper perspective on life.
“Whenever I am here (in Los Angeles), I make sure I go to Universal Studios. My favorite ride there was Back to the Future, which is not there anymore. Now I love the Shrek ride,” Sunidhi pleasantly told Buzzine during an exclusive poolside chat at a local Southern California hotel just before sunset.
Maintaining her sense of humor about 30 minutes prior to performing in front of 1,000 anxious fans, the 27-year-old Bollywood playback singer talked about her love of Bengali culture and her popularity as a Hindi vocal artist.
“I love the language. It is very sweet,” Sunidhi confessed to Buzzine about her love of Bengal, the region’s idiom, and the ultimate reason why she is headlining a Bengali culture show despite not being Bengali. “I've been singing a lot of songs … for Bengali films since I was a little kid. There is some connection, I don’t know what, but I somehow end up doing a lot of Bengali songs.”
She added that she enjoyed performing for Bengalis at a recent concert in Kolkata which, in turn, inspired her to consider a Bengali-themed album.
“Recently in Kolkata, I was also part of the Panchakanya concert, which was dedicated to Rabindra Tagore. I performed there and people loved it. Now the connection is even deeper,” she recalled. “I am looking forward to cutting an album in Rabindra’s honor.”
Whether it be devoting her time to a Bengali album dedicated to one of the region’s most acclaimed artists, or staying true to her Hindi roots with a series of Bollywood tracks, the Delhi native is ultimately game for anything, so long as it involves music and singing.
“I’m a singer, so I am always ready for any song or any sort of music. When it comes to Bollywood, that’s my area. I enjoy singing those songs, especially on stage, because most of the songs I have sung are fast-paced,” she enthusiastically shared with Buzzine. “At the same time, I have a few soft romantic numbers. I’ve been blessed to have so many different styles of music to sing, and people have loved me in each and every genre.”
As much as she loves music and singing, Sunidhi made quite the interesting observation about Bollywood music as a genre. While audiences in the United States may still enjoy and yearn for the more traditional elements of mainstream Indian music, audiences within India seem to be rather influenced by Western sounds.
To Sunidhi, though, that is more of a phase and a sign of the times than a serious, long-lasting problem.
“I think the music is the same, just the sound has changed. We must accept that even people over there, in India especially, have changed from before and they love to hear new sounds -- simpler sounds, I would say. But these times will change again; it just has to be like that,” Sunidhi observed to Buzzine, adding that part of the reason for the draw to Western-themed sounds in Indian music is the result of people on both sides of the recording studio trying to do something at least perceived as special.
“Even if it’s a simple composition, people want it to sound big, sound grand. So that’s what (the artist) works on. It’s all about the arrangements and to make it sound different and international.”
Still, on the positive side of things, Sunidhi does think there is great potential for Hollywood and Bollywood to be partners instead of rivals. For her, both sides seem to love and respect each other, so it is only a matter of time before a happy medium is discovered.
“They are coming together, music-wise especially. Hollywood loves our music, and I noticed there are a lot of foreigners who love our Hindi songs. They really love dancing along, singing along... Two or three years ago, when I performed in Australia, I remember seeing a few white guys in front of me who were really cheering for me, they were singing along, and I was singing a Hindi song,” she joyfully remembered.
“Same with Bollywood people in the film and music industry -- they are adapting a lot of R&B styles, and hip-hop especially. Hip-hop is really big right now. In each and every Hindi song, they have to put rap in between. I think it’s getting too much now. They have to get out of it, and they will, I am sure.”
Accordingly, she shared with Buzzine some uniquely wise insights about how Bollywood, and Indian music as a whole, can be positively influenced by the West without losing its identity.
“Trying to sound different is alright, but I would really like our music industry to stick to our cultural music, our old style, because that’s beautiful -- that’s what we are born with, that’s what we are best at. So why not stick to it?” Sunidhi professed. “Yes, try new stuff and welcome everything around you, but do stick to your roots. People respect us for what we are.”
It is by uttering such words that music fans across India and the world alike respect Sunidhi for who she is, for she has always stayed true to her roots.
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