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Daler to release indie songs soon
Before making his debut as a Bollywood playback artist, singer-songwriter Daler Mehndi started off as an independent musician with back-to-back hit singles. Two decades on, with huge Bollywood hits to his name, this pioneer of indie music still retains that spirit and says that he’s likely to begin releasing songs from his music bank, starting this December.
He says, “Film music always has to work on a hit formula or has to follow a trend. So that way, being a musician, you cannot experiment much with the tunes, melodies. You have to compose a hit song, and you’re catering to a film script, so you don’t have that freedom of creativity.” This is why, he believes, independent music is regaining ground in the popular music culture.
The singer shot to fame with Bolo Ta Ra Ra (1995) and Dardi Rab Rab (1996). Then came the song Na Na Na Na Na Re in the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Mrityudaata (1997), and he became a Bollywood regular. More huge hits followed — songs in films ranging from Rang De Basanti (2005) and Singh is Kinng (2008) to Dangal (2016) and Gold and Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi.
While he appreciates the recognition that Bollywood has brought him, Daler says, “Today, the audience doesn’t want to listen to only hit [film] music. They want to listen to different kinds of songs, and that’s why they’ve started listening to non-film music again. When you’re creating a film song, there are many other factors — for instance, the stars that the song is picturised on.
“Sometimes, a song becomes popular because of the stars in it; there you don’t hear the complete contribution of a musician. In an independent song, the musician gives his everything; when you listen to it, you want to listen to music.”
The singer reveals that he has dozens of songs still to offer as an independent artist. “We have a bank of 95 songs, and if all goes well, we’ll be able to start releasing them one by one, from December,” he says.
About his prolific work in Bollywood, Daler says that he feels “humbled” and “lucky” that people from the film industry still ask him to sing for their films. And he’s a perfectionist when recording.
“A lot of singers don’t like it when the director or the producer tells them to sing again, after they’ve already recorded. I’m not like that,” he says. “I’ll give the makers as many takes as they want, until they’re happy with it. It’s their film, and you have to respect their expectations.
“That’s why people still come to me and they want me to sing in their films. It’s one of the most humbling things to know that despite so many great singers available in the industry, people still want me to sing. I’m lucky if nothing else, to be honest.”