Unlikely songbird

In conversation

Aditi Singh Sharma, the vivacious rockstar, is a complete entertainer. The 29-year-old singer has slowly but steadily caught the collective imagination of the country as a new-age songbird in Bollywood. Currently, her dance number “Saturday Night” from the film Bangistan has topped the music charts.

Overnight popularity

Blessed with an unconventional voice which is far from sweet and velvety, Aditi’s timbre has an unusual power to catch the contemporary style and flavours. To the uninitiated, her sonorous tone made an entry into the industry with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D. But, how did she grab the plum project? “It so happened that ace composer Amit Trivedi once spotted me at a gig in Mumbai and asked me to meet him at his studio soon after my performance was over. He asked me to try and sing the scratch version of “Yahi Meri Zindagi”. Much to my amazement, the recording was retained as a final take on the playlist. Obviously, I was jubilant at getting a wonderful launch-pad,” she recalls. And with that memorable song, Aditi arrived.

The last couple of years have been special for the singer as she has received recognition, name and fame with back-to-back hits from Agent Vinod (“Raabta”), Heroine (“Main Heroine Hoon”), Gori Tere Pyaar Mein (“Dhat Teri Ki”), Dhoom 3 (“Dhoom Machale Dhoom”), Holiday (“Blame The Night”), 2 States (“Offo”) Roar (“Rubaru”) and so on. But 2015 has been sensational with well-sung numbers like “Sooraj Dooba Hain” (from Ranbir Kapoor-Jacqueline Fernandez starrer Roy) and “Touch My Body” (Alone featuring Bipasha Basu).

Did she always want to be a singer or just stumbled across the opportunity? “I’ve been singing since I was a baby. They say I never cried when I woke up, I just sang. Later, I learnt from my mom that she would delay feeding me, as everyone at home would eagerly wait to hear me sing. I guess I was destined to be on stage and in the studio,” Aditi says with a smile.

As to her formal taalim in music, she shares that her mother got her trained in Hindustani classical music when she was just four. But that was short-lived since she shifted base with her family to Moscow. “But I am convinced that whatever I had learnt at that time has remained with me somewhere deep inside,” she says.

The band story

While she never looked back from the time she joined the world of showbiz, Aditi, however, has a backstory as a bandster. “I was part of two bands in the Delhi rock circuit before starting out my Bollywood set-up, Groove Adda. The first outfit was called Crimson, which I had formed with my best friend and talented bassist, Gaurav Balani. Next, I forayed into an already existing troupe titled Level 9, where I hung around for a year after their vocalist left.” The band excelled across the genres of rock, pop and blues.

Aditi has also doubled up as an occasional keyboardist for a few tracks at Crimson. However, piano is her favourite instrument. “I still remember when my mom hired a piano instructor for me while we were in Moscow, I preferred learning by the ear.” She feels that teaching everything by the book often curbs your freedom and natural flair to explore and experiment.

She agrees that girl bands in India often fritter away. “Despite loads of talent and inherent passion, most girl bands have remained in the shadows because of various factors. Perhaps safety is a big concern.” She recollects being an active member of Delhi’s rockscape but someone would always escort and drop her back home post the late-night gigs.

In a country where gender-specific roles and stereotypes still dominate the general psyche, Aditi feels that even parents often do not provide the much-expected support and encouragement to their daughters who wish to chase their long-cherished dreams. The girl band scene is not much better the world over, however, Aditi points out. Although there have been legendary boy bands across the world for ages, yet the only all-women band she can recall from the recent years is Spice Girls. “I still remember a lot of their chart busters as I would listen to them nonstop and even formed a band in Moscow along with four other girls, and I would sing the parts of Scary Spice ‘Mel B’! Those were the fun days of adolescence,” she reminisces.