Trained musician and vocalist Amit Mishra, who previously gifted Bollywood popular songs like Allah Duhai Hai from Race 3, Manwa Emotion Jage from Dilwale, Sau Tarah Ke from Dishoom, and Bulleya from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil to name a few, triggered a buzz of praises yet again with his last Bollywood song Dil Hai Bholaa, from Ajay Devgn starrer Bholaa. Though he has released another single called Phir Kabhi, the essence of Bholaa is still lingering on. We had a chat with the singer recently, who shared some really interesting details about the song, and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
Tell us something about Dil Hai Bholaa.
I would say it is more of an anthem where the arrangements are not very minimal. It has got the symphony, the orchestral pattern, along with the modernised voice and of course it has got a very awful dark anthem feel. The genre is more of a rock itself, but somehow it has a kind of pathos.
How was the experience working with Ajay Devgn and him as a director and producer?
It was wonderful to work with Ajay Devgn, because not only is he a brilliant actor, he also knows how to make an artiste comfortable in front of the camera. He made it very smooth for non-actors like us and it was an amazing experience to work with him.
You are a trained Classical singer. Did you ever have plans to stick to the classical genre of music? Or being a playback singer was always on your cards?
Yes I got my training from Bhatkhande Music Institute, Lucknow, and I would say I am still learning. For the basic learning, of course classical is the best thing to learn. I started learning when I got a chance to be a part of my school choir. So besides learning classical music at the same time I was learning Sugam Sangeet which is more of original music like what we call Thumri and Dadra. I am still taking my classical music classes from Vinod Prasad ji. I am starting my new classical western vocals as well. I am looking forward to it.
It wasn’t a plan to be a vocalist at all. I have always been a big lover of music and that’s why I started learning a lot of these instruments at my school choir. So you can say somewhere on the line, that music has chosen me, I have not chosen the music.
Which song would you consider to be your turning point song and why?
The turning point was my first song from the movie called 1920 Evil Returns by Vikram Bhatt, because there I got a chance to record the song. It was a pathos rock number and the industry literally started taking my voice seriously. But the real turning point was Manma Emotion Jage, in which I got a chance to sing for Pritam Chakraborty. In the market, the value came in with the song Bulleya. It was a song which became a huge hit and I got me a lot of appreciation. So that was a turning point I guess in terms of market valuations. So both Manma Emotion and Bulleya have their own frame in my career.
Any plans to experiment with new genres?
When you work in Bollywood I feel like everytime we work with a new genre (laughs). These days I am singing a lot of anthem songs like Sakht Jaan in 83 which was again a rock genre. I also got a chance to sing for Thalaivi's title track. Again I got a chance to sing for a movie called Major where I sang the national anthem.
Recently I got a chance to record one beautiful romantic song for a single project with B Praak called Fakira which people really appreciated a lot. So I am looking forward to exploring more genres. Experimenting with new genres is like learning, and I am taking it in that way.
How are you as a listener? Who's your go-to musician/album to listen to?
I keep on listening to different musicians and if you ask about go-to tracks, Rakita Rakita by Santhosh Narayanan is my favourite though I didn't understand the meaning. Besides Bruno Mars, Sonu Nigam, Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi’s songs would be on my playlists everyday and I like to explore even more songs. So I am a good listener in that way.
Tell us about your upcoming projects.
There are a few, but I am unable to share about those right away.