Sonu Nigam: Marriage needs to be time-bound

Sonu Nigam is one of the finest singers of our country and by far the finest live singer on stage today.
Excerpts from a quick conversation with him.
There was a time when you would sing most of the prime songs. Last one year, you have not sung as much.
I sang for a lot of songs, but they were finally dubbed in voices of other singers. There were songs coming to me where people were told categorically to not work with me.I am fine with it. You understand that you matter. Also, I was ready for it. I am not a child. I became more affirmed about myself and looked at the larger picture as I believe that no one is God over here. If somebody is trying to play God, I don’t let that hurt me as I know that uske upar bhi ek baap baitha hai.If a song was not meant for me, then I how can I get it? How can I say that someone has taken it from me? It’s not easy to break me down. I am not a newcomer and it’s not like I will miss something. It’s like sex. You will miss it if you have done it once and then you have not got it in your life. Music is like that too. I have done a lot, so it’s not that since I have not sung for six months, then life will come to an end. Also, while I did not sing prime songs, I was doing regional and private music. But yes, I have not done what I could have.
Did you feel bad that even some of your friends were not able to give you songs during this period?
There are no grudges against anybody as everyone is taking care of their own interests. There are times in your life when you have to go through this kind of resistance to sort your head out for a cause for which we took a stand. For instance, Sajid-Wajid and David Dhawan wanted to use my voice in Main Tera Hero, but I know that they could not and got my voice dubbed in Javed Ali's voice finally, but that they did not do it deliberately. We have to be rational. Sajid-Wajid have been my friends from pre-Deewana days. They were slaves to their circumstance. I know that there were people anti me. And who has not had foes in their life?
Despite having sung for so many years, you seemed so excited when your song Dildara from Tamanchey was released and appreciated. I actually felt exactly the same way I felt in 1990 when my first song released. I would sit close to the radio set and would record on the cassette and that happened to me last week again when back-to-back my three songs came. I realised that it was such a nice thing that I had not lost that child in me. I was happy in a way to meet the Sonu of 1990. For a long time, when you have everything going smooth, you stop getting that feeling. But I got to meet the same Sonu who was excited about being praised as I was then, on getting a song. It was lovely seeing everyone praising me and talking about my songs, as if I was the new voice in town.
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There is a complete change in the voices singing songs today. Does that make you feel insecure?
Past six years, the word ‘legend’ associated with me always scared me. I am a performer on stage and don’t want to be called a legend as it puts you in another category. By the grace of God, my head and feet have always been on the ground and remain so. I haven’t lost the 1990 Sonu in me. I felt the same way listening to my songs last week. I never felt arrogant. I felt excited that, ‘Oye! Gaana aaya.’ Just the way in which I would earlier call my dad when I had sung a song, I did the same thing last week. I used to sing over Kishoreda and Rafisahab’s voice earlier, listening to their songs when I started. Today, I try and sing on the voices of Arijit Singh, Benny Dayal or Javed Ali to see if I can hit their notes or not. I practise on everything and have no qualms about admitting it.
I have known you for many years and can comfortably vouch for your being a principled man. You love to take stands, right?
I sometimes feel that I am too correct to be in this industry. I have always been vocal about the correct things in life, be it my view on marriage, Pakistani singers performing in India, my stand on copyrights and contracts and an artistic stand of singing live in shows.
Talk about each of them?
There was always a lot of hue and cry about allowing Pakistani singers in India. My view was always, why not? I have never endorsed that thought and have openly said that tomorrow if I was to go to the US to perform and what if they were to say that Indians are not allowed to perform there, how would I feel? When it comes to marriage, I feel marriage is now a dated institution. It was made to suit a particular social era. Marriage creates so much familiarity that familiarity breeds contempt. Till the time, people are loving and courting each other, it is great fun as there is insecurity and you know that if you behave badly, the other person will leave you. But once you own that person as a wife or husband, you stop doing those little things you did for that person before and that is the crux of a relationship. Also, it’s not that I am an experienced married man. This is my first experience too. If you get a couple of chances, then you can say that, now I know. Basically, marriage needs to be tweaked. Marriage needs to be time-bound. For instance, if marriage was to be for two years, then for the first six months you will make love and go crazy. After some time, your love will go down but then you will remember only six months are remaining, she is going to leave me, and then if you like each other, you will do the best for that person to look after her. So, you will take care of each other. Jab takinsaankochootnekadarnahihota, uskikadarnahihoti. I have recently also taken a new artistic stand, where I have requested organisers who make me perform at award functions that they should please make me sing only live as against lip sync. There are many shows when other singers have done lip syncing, whereas I have sung live and I like it that way for myself. On the subject of copyright and contracts, the music companies and all the associations have reached a consensus. Mutually, they are now benefitting each other. I was never ever taking a stand alone. I was merely following what was told to me by my associations (be it Singers Association of India or ISRA) and even now I am doing that. I have never read those contracts and would sign when my association tells me and that is what I am doing. I am happy that the consensus is reached between all concerned and I am back to singing.
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What would you have done in a situation if you had been asked to dub on someone else’s voice, at a time when he had taken a stand just like you had done?
I would have died before singing his song, as I would not have been able to face myself in the mirror. Javed Ali dubbed my song in Main Tera Hero. I would not have. I got my first award in 1998 for SandeseAateHai... I was a nobody then. I had been nominated but Roop Kumar Rathodji, who sung the song with me was not. That particular award organiser told me that I was winning it and that I must come, but I didn’t go as I felt I was not entitled to that award alone. Right from the time I started singing, I have recorded the date, time, lyrics, music composer and who was sitting at the time when I was recording each of the songs that I have sung. And everybody would ask me why I was doing that. I would tell all my music composers, ‘Ektoh time aayegana jab mere paasgaanenahihonge, main yehidekhkarkhush ho jaooonga.’ Last year, I didn’t need to see those records, as I knew that I will get to sing again. It is actually only now that I understand achchesur and know that I have never been singing as well as I am singing now.
WATCH: Sonu Nigam Tribute To Kishore Kumar & Rajish Khana FULL PERFORMANCE