If you are still in the dark about the voice behind the song Besharam Rang from the upcoming film Pathaan—which shot the temperatures up with Deepika Padukone’s sultry moves—it’s Shilpa Rao’s. The classically trained crooner, who started off her very flourishing musical journey in Bollywood with the songs Aveda Zindagi and Tose Naina from Anwar, has come a long way from being a TV jingle voice.
With several hit numbers including the tracks Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno), Manmarziyaan (Lootera), the Kalank title track, chartbuster Ghungroo (War), and Haan Tum Ho (Love Aaj Kal 2020) under her belt—Shilpa is a melodious force to reckon with in the Hindi film music industry, today. Possessing a soulful and experimental voice, Shilpa has never backed down from trying out new genres or styles and also collaborated with several global artistes including sitar player Anoushka Shankar, Karsh Kale, Agnee, and Noori.
Her collaboration with Anoushka Shankar for the song Those Words from the album Love Letter also fetched her a nomination at the 63rd Grammy Awards in 2021. Last year, she sang the super hit track Tere Hawaale from Laal Singh Chaddha, brought to life on screen by Kareena Kapoor. With Pathaan now ready for release this February, we speak with Shilpa about her musical journey, what’s up next, and more.
Your song Besharam Rang is the flavour of the season. How does it feel?
I am happy for one reason—it actually talks about celebrating yourself. This song talks about celebrating your flaws and I am excited and happy that whenever young people hear this song, they connect to it and celebrate it too.
What went into the recording of the song?
Some things that seem effortless actually have a lot of effort put in. When I started learning music, I started with ghazal, which has a lot of khatka (a vocal ornamentation that involves performing a single note as a cluster of notes) and that is exactly what I used in this song. But, I had to sing it in a certain way because the emotions of the song are very important. We had a lot of fun recording this song with Siddharth Anand, Vishal Shekhar and Kumar.
Which are the genres you are drawn to?
I am open to all kinds of genres. But my learning or my talim (instruction) is in ghazals, so that is one genre close to my heart.
What inspires you?
Actually, it is a very short answer—life.
According to you, what’s different in the way Gen Z perceives music today?
Music keeps changing and adapting to the times—it never stays the same. I really wish that the young generation learns music—it could be any form of music, but learning music is very important. Indian music is all the more important and if the youth believes that and puts in the effort to learn it, we’ll have a great future for music here.
Which songs are on top of your playlist currently?
The most listened to song on my playlist will always be Gulon Mein Rang Bhare by Mehdi Hassan and I don’t think that will ever change.
Finally, your upcoming projects?
There are a few independent songs apart from a few movie songs. There are projects which are currently in the pipeline too, but as soon as the dates are announced, we will talk about them for sure.
Streaming on all major audio platforms and YouTube.
Pathaan is slated to release on January 25.