Aditya Narayan is someone who doesn’t stick to one thing in particular. Be it acting, singing, hosting and assisting directors, there is nothing he hasn’t tried yet. Being a Jack-of-all-trades, he feels he is yet to master one. “I’m still in my learning years even though I started working from a very early age. For me, learning is very important as it helps you prepare to face the big bad world and learn to tackle the obstacles that come along the way,” says the ambitious young gun who owes his creative streak to father Udit Narayan.
At 26, he considers himself lucky that his work has been appreciated right from the start but admits he’s worked plenty hard to get that appreciation. For now, Aditya is reeling under the good response to his song ‘Tattad Tattad’ featured in Bhansali’s Ram-Leela. “Its amazing. The song is Ranveer’s introduction in the film. It had to be larger than life for he plays the village Romeo adored by all women. So its is kind of celebratory song,” explains the artist. And it wasn’t just his vocals that Aditya lent to the movie; he was also one of the assistant directors. Talking about his experience working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, he says, “It’s been great working with him. Coming from a musical background, whatever I have learnt about filmmaking is from him.”
Growing up
Courtesy his father, Aditya had the opportunity to see the inside of the industry from a young age. Added to that, his own foray at around the same time has given him an interesting perspective. Nevertheless, the singer says he’s had a pretty normal childhood. “I had a regular childhood playing hide-seek and goofing with my friends. At that time my father was not an established singer and we were living in Kalina with my mother. I wouldn’t get any pocket money but there was always music in the house.” Things started looking up for the family when Udit Narayan slowly started becoming an established name in the music field. “I saw my father getting successful slowly and after that life was much nicer when we moved to Andheri. That’s when I started getting pocket money,” he jokes, adding, “I have seen how hard my father has worked to get to the place where he is today and the dedication it took,” on a more serious note.
Hailing from a musically inclined family – his grandmother, maternal grandfather, mother and father are all singers – Aditya had a music edge. “Genetically I’m inclined towards music but I was always encouraged to do anything I wanted. It was ultimately my choice to go into music,” he shares, discarding any notions of perhaps succumbing to the family tradition.
Journey
His first song was in fact sung with his father for the film Akele Hum Akele Tum. “I would accompany him for shows and I would go up on stage and start singing which is how a couple of music producers saw me and told my father to get me to sing. It was meant to be I guess,” recalls 26-year-old. Since then he has sung songs in a number of films, most notably Chhota Bachha Janke Humko from Masoom (1996) which fetched him a special jury award for best child singer at the Screen Awards. He has also lent his voice for songs composed by AR Rahman in the films Rangeela and Taal. He appeared as a child artist in the films Rangeela (1995), Pardes (1997) and Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai (1998). After completing a diploma in English contemporary music in 2006 from the Tech Music school in London, he was called to audition for the host for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 which led to him becoming popular household name in the country.
He followed up with a spate of hosting opportunities like the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs 2008 and X Factor India. In 2010, he made his acting debut in Mukesh Bhatt’s Shaapit which tanked at the box-office. “Shaapit just happened. At that time I wanted to see whether I was capable of acting and whether I would like it or not. The success or failure of the film didn’t matter to me at that point. Post Shaapit, I got a lot of offers but to put it politely, they were insubstantial films and the roles being offered weren’t that great,” says Aditya who clarifies that he hasn’t given up on acting yet.
Right now though, he is busy with working out the production of a series of singles in different genres. “This is my pet project and it will be a mix of techno, electronic, classical ghazals, you name it. I also plan to do a duet as that is something I haven’t done yet, but we are still working out the details at the moment,” says Aditya, ever ready to jump on to a new train.
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