‘I WANTED TO SHARE A BURST OF EMOTIONS’

Actor Shekhar Suman tells why he chose Delhi for his first ever music concert

Henna Rakheja

Shekhar Suman is not just an actor but a versatile artist, too, with a penchant for trying something new. This time, he has explored an old love: music. At his maiden concert in the Capital last evening, Suman delighted Delhiites by singing retro hits of Hindi cinema, and paying a musical tribute to legends like Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi, and Manna Dey.

“I’m so musically obsessed that I needed an outlet,” says the 55-year-old actor and TV host — he was also, briefly, a politician — on his decision to take up live-singing at this stage in his career. “My mother was a fairly good singer,” says Suman. “She used to sing Lataji’s song, Dheere se aaja ankhiyan mein, as a lullaby to me. My sister is a very good singer, and my wife is a fantastic singer.”

Surrounded by talent, Suman’s passion for music thrived. “I realised,” he says, “that I had a bit of a gift for singing, and thought I must pursue it, as part of my creative journey when I was acting. I trained in Indian classical music and, around 2007-2008, I cut an album, Kuch Khwaab Aise, introduced by composer Adesh Shrivastava. The title of the album was almost like a tagline of my life, where I said that there are so many things you dream of doing and you must pursue them with great passion and it eventually happens... So, [singing live] is a dreams that I pursued.” The concert was the fulfilment of that dream.”

“I felt it’s very important to go out and perform in front of people,” says Suman. “There are singers who can sing very well when they’re [by] themselves, but it takes a lot of courage to be out there singing in right pitch and sur in front of an audience, and I thought let’s take this challenge.”

Suman was born in Patna and has lived in Mumbai for years now, but he chose Delhi for his maiden stage concert because he has roots here, too. “I grew up in Delhi, studied in Delhi, learnt my craft as an actor in Delhi,” says Suman, an alumnus of Ramjas College. “I was with Shri Ram Centre’s Repertory Company, where I was taught how to sing, do make-up, stitch costumes, everything... So, an essential part of my growing up as an actor was in Delhi. That’s why I wanted to share this burst of emotions with Delhiites.”

Suman performed some iconic numbers. “I’m very emotionally attached to these songs,” he says, “because of the films, the characters played by Dilip Kumar saab, Dev [Anand] sahab, and all the songs [I listened to] while I was growing up watching Amitabh Bachchan or Rajesh Khanna.”

About the craft of singing, he says, “It’s not that I’m trying to show people my prowess as a singer, but I want to tell them that if you feel the song, then you can sing the song. It’s very simple. It’s not all about being pitch perfect, but if you stay in sur, what matters is that singing happens from your heart.”

It’s not that I’m trying to show people my prowess as a singer, but I want to tell them that if you feel the song, then you can sing the song. It’s very simple

SHEKHAR SUMAN ACTOR