JOIN USAs the singer who ruled for almost 15 years (the first to do so after the Mangeshkars), Alka Yagnik is still amused by the dichotomy that her kind of voice is not in demand but she is being missed too: “I still record a few songs every month, do shows, but my fans keep complaining, ‘Why don’t you sing? Why don’t they make melodious songs now?’ I have no answer to this puzzle!” she says, adding, “Hopefully, since life is a cycle, melody will return.”
Moving with times
Since, by her admission, Alka has not got anything memorable to sing of late, why then does she take up these songs? “I sing them because I enjoy work and there are always some nuances that I can enhance. All I mean is that I am not getting anything of the kind I have never done before. Having said that, I was very surprised by the huge response to my song in Tamasha last year, and I think that everything in it — the lyrics, composition, arrangements, Arijit Singh and me, the rap portions — made the complete package interesting. A R Rahman has called me for very few songs, but almost all of them are memorable.”
From ‘Ek do teen char’ in Tezaab 28 years ago to Tamasha, Alka’s bumper parade of chartbusters were led by ‘Choli ke peeche’ (Khalnayak), ‘Ghunghat ki adh se’ (Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke), the title tracks of Baazigar and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in the 90s, and ‘Bakhuda tumhi ho’ (Kismat Konnection) among many more in the millennium. Her discography is a matter of envy for every singer.
Where does she feel that the deviant shift away from melody happened? “I have no clue,” she admits. “The when, how and who is unknown. All I know is that in my concerts, the 1990s songs are becoming more and more popular. This proves that people value melody. In our times, in an entire album, there would be one song resembling today’s item numbers. Now it is the reverse — there is one melodious song hidden, and not even promoted!”
But what does she feel about the fact that singers of her generation are usually used as voices for older actors, like Udit Narayan for Rishi Kapoor in Student Of The Year, rather than for current big names.
“Fortunately, that is not true in my case,” says Alka. “I have sung for Katrina Kaif in Yuvvraaj and though it was not a lip-synch number, my song in Tamasha was filmed on Deepika Padukone. In any case, I think that it’s either by chance that this happens, and maybe in an ensemble number, it is natural that the elder voice is thought of for the elder actor.”
Alka is comfortable taking it easy after such a long phase when life was nothing other than a rollercoaster of many songs recorded every day. “For over 15 years, I was this crazy woman who had no idea when she was sleeping, eating or getting to spend time with family. Yes, I was enjoying that phase then, but looking back, all those years of my life just zoomed by!”
Today, Alka sees no reason to try and grab work and prove anything. “I am not in any rat race. I do not want to do a single, which is the trend nowadays, or even an album, just for the sake of doing it. My albums in the past, like Tum Yaad Aaye with Javed Akhtar-saab, have stood out too.”
Most singers are also composers. What about her? “I guess I can compose if I want to. I try sometimes. And though I have never told this to anyone before, I write Hindi poems too. But they are for my own unwinding and not for anyone else to read. The day I feel that they are good enough for the public, I will think of doing something!”
Diverse voices
What is her take on the plethora of voices today? “See, we were used to the concept that the huskier voices went on vamps, or for specific other kinds of songs. We were completely attuned to melodious voices like Lata (Mangeshkar)-ji for the heroines. There are no rules today. Even a thick and folksy voice can go on a star. The other day, my daughter and her friends were dancing to a major hit song of today. I asked her who the singer was, and she just said: ‘Mommy, I don’t know, but who cares?’ And that is how things work today, because you cannot differentiate one voice from the other!”
Recalling her past innings, Alka, having worked with legends like Chitragupta, Khayyam, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, R D Burman and Rajesh Roshan and those who came in later, recalls her generation of composers like Nadeem-Shravan, Anu Malik and Jatin-Lalit with special affection for a reason.
“They are of my age group and we are more like friends. We would even fight, but only in the interest of the song. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy were of my age too, but came in later. Himesh Reshammiya and Sajid-Wajid treated me with respect as a singer senior to them.”