There’s a connection with Shah Rukh Bhai: Sukhwinder Singh

Known for the impact and powerful throw of his voice, Sukhwinder Singh’s latest track Udi Udi Jaaye from the recently released Raees is out eliciting something of a mixed response. But the singer is peppy as ever. In a lively conversation, brimming with enthusiasm, Singh tells us why he chose to sing the song in a scale lower than his usual scale, his special connect with Shah Rukh Khan and more. Excerpts:

Udi Udi Jaaye from Raees appears to have been sung from a lower scale compared to the one we’re used to hearing your voice in. It sounds a little muted. What was the reason behind it?

The song is romantic in nature. It’s in the Haule Haule Se (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi) space. When I get the opportunity to do a romantic song, automatically I feel the romance and my vocals also enhance that aspect. I sang Shah Rukh’s Chak De India, which is anthemic in nature, dance numbers like Dard-E-Disco (Om Shanti Om) or Marjani (Billu) and suddenly, they wanted me to sing Haule Haule Se for RNBDJ, in a low scale. This time (for Raees) they told me that they’ve got another romantic song for Shah Rukh which is a patang ka song and it was Ram Sampath who believed in me. He wanted me to sing and he said, ‘Sukhi ji, let’s do a romantic song and let people dance on it.

Udi Udi is different from your signature style of forceful or impactful singing.

Whenever I get an opportunity, like in Shah Rukh Khan’s film Chalte Chalte, Layi Vi Na Gayi, it was a sad song and people loved it. When I got the opportunity, I even sang Dabangg Dabangg and Singham. So, this is basically what a singer has to be, in films.

The song demanded that you keep a lower scale?

Definitely! If I listen to a nice good joke, I won’t cry. I will laugh. Similarly, if I come to know that the situation is romantic, automatically, the scale changes. I think this is the real identification of the singers who sing for films. I think of only one thing and that is, to understand the situation which is narrated by the director and understand the lyrics. In my experience so far, there’s one thumb rule that I’ve made in Hindi, ‘Jo sun sakta hai, woh samajh sakta  hai, jo samajh lega, woh kar lega.’ In this song (Udi Udi...), when they narrated to me that it was about a couple flying kites, they are romantically involved and are expressing their love through kites, my voice automatically Chak De! India ke format se nikal ke romance mein badal jaati hai. This is the real identification of a singer, who can sing for any situation in films.

You began your career with SRK and Chaiyya Chaiyya. Your voice suits him as well. How do you feel when people identify your voice with that of SRK’s in films?

I sing all my songs with passion, whether it is for Ranbir Kapoor or Shah Rukh or Salman or even Ajay Devgn and other artistes. But I think that there is some connection with Shah Rukh Bhai, because the first song of my career was with him (for Dil Se). After the film released, and I saw onscreen a boy dancing on a train, I was flabbergasted. I simply said, ‘Khush raho’ to Shah Rukh. So I think there is a connection because, woh kehte hain na, dua ek bar hi nikalti hai. However, no matter how many songs I’ve sung for him, it’s a beautiful surprise for me that all of them happened to turn out very well. And in those songs there is a lot of effort that is put by him (SRK). There’s choreography, there’s rhythm, etc. Basically, we have to understand the situation and that’s what I do. It is then that we enjoy. And I sing for characters first of all. So no doubt, Sir ji (SRK) ke sath jo gaane aate hain, woh thoda differently hi history create karte hain.

This is the first time that you’ve done an out-and-out Gujarati number, would you be open to more regional songs in the future?

When they came to me and started narrating the scene to me, the feel of garba and the characterisation of Shah Rukh and the girl, it took them only five minutes to narrate it to me and in those five minutes, I was connected to the content. And then I understood it. I closed my mind for a moment and thought it is the season of Navratri. Someone is singing Udi Udi Jaaye and I’m dancing. The moment I understood the situation, I performed well.