Is it just coincidence that two of Asia’s most popular contemporary singers are born on the same day? India’s Shreya Ghosal who most agree is the finest female playback singer of the post-Mangeshkar/Bhosle generation, and Pakistan’s Atif Aslam,whose massive fan base in both India and Pakistan,proves music has no borders…Both born on the March 12.
This calls for a duet. Seriously. It’s time to end the unofficial embargo on Atif , for no better reason than the fact that the embargo is artificial, completely manufactured in the minds of jealous insecure singers in India who wanted Atif out after his songs for Ranbir Kapoor in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Salman Khan in the Tiger and Race series and Tiger Shroff in Baaghi became big hits, bigger than their counterparts in the canticle race.
The whole narrative of ‘Be Indian Sing Indian’ was as absurd as ‘If You Don’t Like My Film You Are Not Indian’. Firstly ,who defines Indianness? Secondly, if Lataji and Mohd Rafi Saab are so iconic in Pakistan why should we be so petty as to ‘ban’ singers from countries we don’t get along with?
Speaking of Lataji,my heart melted and most Indians lost their suspicion of Atif Aslam when at a concert in Dubai he paid Lataji a heartfelt tribute by singing Ek pyar ka naghma hai from the film 1972 film Shor.
Technically this was not just a tribute to Lataji but also to her co-singer Mukesh, the song’s composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, its lyricist Santosh Anand and filmmaker Manoj Kumar whose music sense is next only to Raj Kapoor.
With that one homage Atif informed the world that to him the world of Hindi film music is not hostile territory, so deal with it.
Singers who so desperately want to keep out Atif should know the method of combating competition is to stand up to it, not kill it. Let Atif come back. Don’t ban his songs on Indian channels . Don’t replace his singing. This is inexcusable pettiness.We didn’t ban Noorjehan when Lataji became India’s no.1 voice. No singer replaces another. Each comes with his or her own chord of conduct and vocal destiny.
Shreya Ghosal is Latabhakt Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s discovery. When he heard Ghosal for the first time, Bhansali’s first brief to her was to pronounce and mould her words like Lataji. This was not hard for Shreya to do as she was always a diehard Latabhakt herself.
“When Shreya sang for me for the first time in Devdas, I heard echoes of Lataji in her voice. This is not to say that she sounded anything close to the original. No one can come anywhere close to Lataji. But Shreya’s voice belongs to the Lata Mangeshkar school and that to me was enough reason to use her voice for Aishwarya Rai in Devdas and later for Sonam Kapoor in Saawariya.Shreya has shaped into very fine singer. I am very proud of her,” says Bhansali.
Shreya Ghosal is capable of breaking the artificial wall that keeps Atif Aslam out of the Indian entertainment industry.
Ghosal and Aslam have sung some pretty duets in the past for films like Ramaiyya Vastvaya(Jeene laga hoon, Rang jo lagyo, and Bairiya), Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya(Piya oh re piya) and Prince(Tere liye). It would be a cultural event far beyond the constrained precincts of film music, to bring them together again for a song.
Pritam?