'No singer can sing all kind of songs'

Songs like Tum Se Hi, Tum Ho and Ye Dooriyan gave singer Mohit Chauhan a unique identity.

Though his song Dooba Dooba was a chartbuster in 1998, Chauhan started gaining recognition only after he crooned Masakali from the movie Delhi 6. Since then there has been no looking back for him.

After carving a niche for hilmself in Bollywood, the singer has now moved forward to conquer the television world by lending his voice to the title track of Ye Hai Aashiqui, along with Neeti Mohan. The show will be aired on bindass channel from February 21.  “When the channel called me to sing the theme song of the show, I found it interesting.Moreover, it was for a successful series which has its fourth season coming up, so I wanted to get associated with it,” Chauhan tells Metrolife.

According to him, there is no difference in singing songs for television or films. The emotions and expressions in the song is all what makes Chauhan go ahead. “A song is a song. Music-wise, I think there is no difference between singing for the two mediums. It’s like I sang the song Dooba Dooba, which has not been featured in any film, but that too has romance and can be used for films. One can use the song for a scene in any of the mediums; it doesn’t really matter as long as the music is good,” he says.

The Jo Bhi Main singer created a buzz with his songs from the movie Rockstar. Composed by A R Rahman, all the songs of the movie became anthems for the younger generation. From college and music festivals to cafes and lounges, everyone wanted to see Chauhan performing those songs live. But post this, his presence  in Bollywood became comparatively less.

There was a new wave coming along with singers like Arijit Singh. The former romance master has been somewhere replaced by Singh, who now sings for almost every second Bollywood movie.

On being asked if a Bollywood singer goes through a particular phase of being ‘no.1’, Chauhan says, “In Bollywood, if someone wants to sustain for long, one must possess certain uniqueness in his voice to make a mark. Even today I sing songs, but I’m also taking it easy. Sometimes I chose my songs on the basis of lyrics and there other factors because of which I hold back.” “The new generation of singers is very talented, but what is important is to see for how long they can survive. That’s something you have to wait and see,” he adds.

The 49-year-old agrees that romantic compositions are his genre of music. While a bunch of peppy and playful songs like Matargashti and Masakali are also his forte, he says that no singer can sing all kind of songs. “Every artiste has some strong points and some weak points. I have got opportunities to sing all kinds of songs and I keep trying something new. For an artiste, it’s nice to get different kind of stuff and they only have to justify that,” he says.