Aditi Singh Sharma puts her best foot forward in Bollywood

She is blessed with a unique voice and has an unconventional aura about her. Does she wear a rockstar’s attitude Rightly so, onlookers may say. With good looks and an array of hit numbers under her belt, singer Aditi Singh Sharma knows how to make listeners eat out of her hand. A livewire on stage shows and in the recording room, the 28-year-old Delhiite promises to create some memorable milestones up her career-highway. Already rocking the nation with racy tracks like Offo from 2 States, Dhoom Machale Dhoom from Dhoom 3, Dhat Teri Ki from Gori Tere Pyaar Mein or the soulful Kho Jaane De from Vicky Donor and better still, Raabta Night In a Motel from Agent Vinod, Aditi is a confirmed craze in Bollywood’s current playback industry.

Ask the singer what surprises does she have in store this new year and she quickly rattles off her “I never talk about my future assignments as that’s been just a habit since the very beginning” response. However, she does brief on her songs lined up for 2015: “But I’m so elated about ending 2014 with the title song of Roy, Sooraj dooba hai and Touch my body from Alone. And this is the first time that I’ve sung for the two leading ladies, Jacqueline (Fernandez) and Bipasha (Basu) respectively.”

With pop and filmi genres up her alley, Sharma wants to explore her talent to the fullest. “The more you expose yourself to novel elements outside your comfort zone, the more you’ll excel. That’s my funda,” she says. Having recently performed on an overseas tour in Dubai on the New Year’s Eve, Sharma informs that she has a Malaysian tour coming up, sometime this January.

Although feeling pretty comfortable in her own space and having claimed a slice of the professional pie, the young talent has a long wishlist of composers to make her dream debut with. “The whole bunch is so gifted and individuals are visibly merited with their own signature style so as to be distinct from one another,” she says. “A.R. Rahman, Mithoon, Sachin-Jigar, Ankit Tiwari, Vishal Bhardwaj, Sajid-Wajid and Meet Bros Anjjan are some of the most illustrious names in today’s music industry with whom I haven’t had a chance to work or sing for as of yet. But I am still waiting for a golden opportunity to hear that one coveted call from each of them,” she says.

Recollecting her maiden song in Bollywood, Sharma says that her “Launching song was Yahi meri zindagi in Dev.D. It so happened that the ace composer Amit Trivedi had come to attend one of my gigs in Mumbai and had asked me to meet him in his studio. I went there and tried singing the scratch and finally much to my amazement, had happily landed up with the song,” she recalls excitedly.

Talking about her Bollywood journey so far, the busy bee says “I’m so grateful to have been able to work with such great people and am immensely overwhelmed by the love everyone’s given me and the unconditional support my fans have showered upon me! The fact that I am able to represent our kind of music, even in a small bit way is a big deal for me,” she enthuses.

Regarding her formal taaleem in music, Sharma shares that her mother got her “trained in Hindustani classical music” when she was barely four years old, only for a while though, as they moved to Moscow soon after. “But I am convinced that whatever I had learnt then has stuck me somewhere deep within,” she asserts.

Unable to pick up her favourite from the music-making bracket of a musician, singer and a composer, the singer says, “All three faculties have understandably different roles to play, yet they all compliment one another so well that thankfully, one always does better and shine at every step of progress made with the help of the other two.”

Broaching the topic of today’s technology, it was obvious to raise questions about transforming a tuneless voice into a tuneful one. “it is cent per cent true and not hearsay that modern, upgraded technology can tune up a tuneless voice or any given piece of sound for that matter. But can technology teach you how to feel a song The answer is a clear, predictable ‘never’,” she asserts.

Admittedly, she feels very fortunate to have worked with a crop of extremely talented music composers in the industry. However she specifies that she has definitely had the privilege of working the most with hitmaker Pritam both inside the studio as well as on stage. “I have really enjoyed a good vibe with him till date. He is such a gem of a person and I have much love and respect for him.”

She vouches for one positive aspect about an ‘industry inside story’ which is indeed music to our ears. When asked if it is always a healthy competition within the sector or does the atmosphere get too stuffy at times to handle, to that, she says it is the former. “With our contemporaries I think, it’s predominantly a healthy bonding all around We maintain a cordial relationship with each other, message each other, meet, go out for dinner, watch movies together, hang out at the studios and also appreciate each other’s work. That way, it really is a blessing I suppose,” she gushes before signing off.