Mika Singh: I am super mental and a super singer

Mika, 37, considers himself a singer, performer and a businessman. He is the first singer to have lent one voice to five actors in a song and feels happy when another singer becomes a hit. Over an hour-long conversation, he talks to Bombay Times about his self-respecting father, guru Daler Mehndi and why he would never ask anyone for a song. Excerpts:
ALSO READ: Big B, SRK’s remarks leave Mika Singh humbled
How did you become a singer?
I was born in Durgapur, but brought up in Patiala.I am the youngest of six brothers and we were all into music. I actually wanted to become a music director and thought that to become that, you need to learn instruments, so I learnt how to play the guitar, tabla and drum set. My oldest brother had moved to the US and was driving a taxi there. Dalerji, who is nine years older to me, also moved there and started driving our Khalsa cabs that we owned. But he did not like it, he fought and came back to Delhi in 1991 to become a singer.
I too shifted along with him. I was just 15 and got a band together for Dalerji by teaching them instruments. The band obviously, had Dalerji as its lead singer. In 1995, Bolo Ta Ra Ra Ra became a huge hit. I then composed Dardi Rab Rab for him that too became a hit. In 1998, one of his managers told me, ‘You can become a big star if you sing yourself.’ I told him, ‘I don’t want to become a singer, I only want to become a music director.’ He said, ‘No one will give you a chance, till you compose and sing as that is the way you can make people hear your work.’ That’s the time I composed Saawan Mein Lag Gayi Aag in Hindi, as I had to distinguish my work from Daler paaji. I never knew that it would become a hit. If I made `1,000 being a part of Dalerji’s band, I started making `50,000, so khoon lag gaya mujhe. Even though I was not a good singer, people had made me one. For three years, I did riyaaz for singing and I released Gabru in 2001 that became a big thing within the Punjabi circuit. By this time, I had become a full-fledged singer.
ALSO READ: Mika Singh donates Rs 21 lakhs for Aam Aadmi Party
Talk about your brother Daler Mehndi?
Today, reality shows make you a star first and then you start struggling. But he first struggled and then became a star and built his image of India’s first pop star. He always supports his family a lot. He bought each of his brothers, minus me, a flat. Whatever I am today, I have learnt from him. He is my guru and I learnt to become a pop star from him. I follow him in all my shows. It was his idea that you make your own identity.
But he got upset with me that I had left him because he would say, ‘Ek toh you don’t know how to sing’ and second, that I was his laadla. When I separated from him, he had cried a lot saying, ‘Don’t leave my band.’ I had said to him, ‘Paaji, I will go for six months. If I become something, it’s fine, otherwise I will come back.’ I had left him when he was on the top in 1998. Even though I separated, I would meet him every Sunday over lunch and he would insult me every time. He has hit me many times and till today he can slap me. Once in 2000, we had a show in the USA, where the organiser had called Daler Mehndi, Mika and Karisma Kapoor.
ALSO READ: Mika Singh compliments Shahid Kapoor for his London performance
Daler paaji had all the big songs and it was not easy for me to manage. He did not like the idea of sharing the stage with me and said to me, ‘I won’t give you my band.’ So I made a very punchy track and somehow managed. While he knows that I am honest, he also thinks that I am a very chalak, oversmart and rich boy. He feels that if I am giving someone a gift, I have some work to take from him. In 2003, when he got into that big panga, everyone left him and he was angry, but I stood by him and stayed with him for those two months when the police were searching for him and he couldn’t understand what to do, even though he was innocent. He is a very bhola and shareef person, who has nothing to take from the world and for him, it was a big thing to go to the thana. For him, a singer has work with a lawyer only for royalty and for nothing else. I was always naughty and loved to take pangas and solving pangas. Today, Dalerji will call me after hearing my song and feel proud of me and he now tells me, ‘Tu paagal hai aur paagal hi rahe.’ Recently, his daughter got married and I did everything. After Lata and Ashaji, we are the only two famous siblings.
How did Bollywood happen?
My friends told me, ‘Mika, don’t go to Bollywood as it’s very difficult’. But I said the day I come, I will hit a sixer, I won’t struggle. I am a born star and they thought I was mad. In 2006, I came to Mumbai just to prove my friends wrong. Someone told me that Shah Rukh Khan owned a Prado. So I bought a Hummer. My friend Shaan, the singer, told me, ‘Are you mad? You have come in a Hummer and you think anyone is going to give you a song. Go and buy a Santro or get off an auto, so that music directors taras kha ke give you work’. I said, ‘I can’t do that as with so much difficulty, I have created this image, that too, with just singing three songs.’ Hummer ka plus point was that everyone came to know there is a Mika. Luckily, Sanjay Gupta met me and he liked my work. I went to Sanjay’s house and he made me hear a song. I did not like it and I told him it should be sung differently. He must have thought that ek toh I am giving him a chance and on top of that, he has the cheek to tell me that he doesn’t like it. But he called me after six months and Ae Ganpat happened. And then the Rakhi Sawant controversy happened and people thought that maybe Mika wants to become famous only through controversies. In 2007, one, my song had become a hit and two, I had become famous.
Who are you most attached to?
My parents. My mother died in 1997 and my father in 2011. My father was a farmer, who used to do kirtan in a gurudwara. He was a trained classical singer. He lived on the farm house bought by Dalerji. Can you imagine I could have gifted him four Mercedes if he wanted, but even though he was the father of Daler Mehndi and Mika Singh, he would go around on a cycle in Delhi. He would say, ‘Remember that I am your father and don’t forget that.’ You roam around in your Hummer, my aukad is of a cycle and that is the way I will stay.’ Till his last day, he would teach music to his six students making `4,000 a month and was very happy. My mom always wanted to help others. Looking at her, I started my NGO called Divine Touch. Even today, if I go to a hotel and if the AC is not working, I don’t create a fuss as I always remember that we come from an ordinary background. I would tell my father so many times that it is very embarrassing that you travel on a cycle. But he would say, ‘I am your father and when I am not embarrassed, why are you? You should feel proud that I am spending my own hard-earned money.’ Now the farm house, where he lived has been turned into a gurudwara, where there is a 24-hour langar. Initially, Dalerji had bought this place to live in himself. My father loved me the most, as probably he felt that I am the most responsible and all my brothers would fight with him for that. I have some 200-300 cousins, who I will support and I am very emotional when it comes to my family. It’s so surprising that 20 years back, my father would say to me, ‘Iski aawaz badi ustaadon wali aawaz hai’ even though I was besura then. He would say, ‘Aane waale waqt mein sirf tone chalegi.’ People thought he was saying that because he was biased towards me, but he would always say that as he found my tone different. Today, 20 years later, it has come to becoming true.
Do you miss your father?
He always told me, ‘You are not calculative, don’t ever change yourself. Don’t forget your roots.’ When my mom died, I cried a lot, but when dad died, I was strong. In his last few years, he stayed with me and I did a lot of seva. I spent beautiful time with him, bahut seva ki, aur raajon ki tarah rakha. I was lucky that I got to look after him. I got a lot of his blessings and duas. I miss him a lot, especially when I sing a song on stage and koi sur lag jaata hai that makes me cry, but I manage to control it and not show it to my audience.
Any plans for marriage?
I fell in love seriously three times and have landed going to all their weddings. I cried a lot when I broke up with my last girlfriend in 2007. I have always been a goonda and if I wanted, I could have picked her up, but somehow I have a lot of respect for a girl’s parents and since they did not want to get her married to me, I did not want to embarrass them. She then tells me that you must come for my wedding and organise a good DJ, so I landed up doing that. But I love children and will get married in 2-3 years. Right now, I have to work.
What are you like?
My biggest plus and minus is my attitude. So if I meet a star, even though I like him, I will not tell him, as I feel that he will think that I am asking for work. So, I became friends with Shah Rukh Khan and Salman bhai, but I will never butter them. People will meet them and just before leaving say, ‘Bhai, meri tamanaah hai aapke saath gaane ki.’ I don’t care whether I am singing for a big or a small star. I just want to sing a good song. Even if I am five pegs down, I will never say, ‘Shah Rukh bhai, please give me a song.’ I feel that if my work is good, songs will come to me on their own. I will not sing if you don’t want to use my voice. I have a target of only having two hit songs in a year. I only chase shows and am mad about them. I do 200 shows a year. I take a bath every evening at 6, thinking that I have a show even if I don’t. I believe that you need to have an image and style. Once I wear my sunglasses, then I can’t see any superstar in front of me. I am very egoistic when it comes to my work. I am both super mental and a super singer.
Watch: Mika Singh's Shake That Booty