Shailly Kapoor talks about finding her voice

Kehte hain agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho, toh poori kainaat usse tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai…’ These lines from the SRK-Deepika Padukone starrer Om Shanti Om won the hearts of an entire generation of Indians. For isn’t it so beautiful to dream of something so deeply that the Universe leaves no star unturned to fulfil it? For city-based singer Shailly Kapoor, life has had its ups and downs, but today, she is living her truth, confident that the universe will conspire to make her dreams come true.

Ahead of her mehfil at Imli Sarai on August 9, she fondly recalls to CE, “I was born in Kanpur, where we often had baithaks and mehfils at home. Singers and shayars would fill our house with poetry and song, sometimes until 3 am in the morning! My father would sing while playing the harmonium, and my mother, who loved music, would join in.” Hers was a musical upbringing in every sense, and even as a little girl, she was deeply immersed in the likes of Begum Akhtar, Iqbal Bano, and Mehdi Hassan.

But the whimsical rosiness gave way to a harsh reality: her parents divorced, and little Shailly didn’t take it well at all, failing her Class 1. When she was 14, she and her sister moved out of their paternal home to Gujarat, where her mother worked as a banker. “It was all about meeting ends. After school, while other children frolicked outside, my sister and I would do the jhaadu-pocha ourselves,” she narrates with a sigh.

But Shailly’s heart was made of steel — she just wouldn’t let go of her first love, music. “I began singing professionally at a hotel, hoping to earn money and support my mother and sister,” she shares. The little girl inside her jumps for joy when she recalls how, upon realising how talented she was, her father helped her get tutored by the great Mohinderjit Singh, who also mentored the husband-and-wife singer duo, Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh.

But as is always the case, life happens to us: financial stability took precedence, and Shailly found herself climbing the corporate ladder, dealing with two rocky marriages, and raising her son as a single parent. “Still, I never lost touch with my music. My son has a musical bone too, and we would often jam together at home — him on the guitar and me on vocals,” she notes with a smile.

Coming to Hyderabad was Shailly’s new beginning; she juggled a senior role at an MNC while also rendering Jagjit Singh’s compositions of Mirza Ghalib’s poetry on her YouTube channel. Soon, she realised that being on stage is what she truly loved. “I feel so grateful for the love I receive from across the world and fans in Hyderabad too,” she says.

One of Shailly’s guiding principles comes from Jagjit Singh’s documentary, Kaagaz Ki Kashti. “He says, ‘If you skip your practice for four days, you yourself will notice. If you skip it for ten days, your family will notice. And if you stop for a month, even the audience will know.’ It reminds me how important discipline is in this field,” she states.

What are her favourite raags? Shailly sweetly protests at the ‘out-of-syllabus’ question, saying it is so hard to choose. But ultimately, she relents: “Malhar raag, because I love the rain. And then Peelu raag and Khamaj raag.”

But today, raags, riyaaz and performances aren’t enough; Shailly underscores the importance of navigating social media presence, something her son has helped her build. She quips, “You know, he even nudged me into online dating, where, after several frustrating experiences, I met someone: a fellow divorcee, deeply into poetry and music. It felt like the stars had aligned. He supports me immensely.”

Shailly is open about her life, feeling her emotions deeply. “Sometimes I wish I could’ve chased my dreams as a young girl. But then another voice inside says: Thank God I’m doing it now! Right now, I am both the captain and the sailor of my own ship. Inshallah, I’ll reach my destination soon…” her melodious voice trails off, ready to conquer the world with song.

— Story by Nitika Krishna