Singer with a difference

Shoma A. Chatterji chats up Rupam Islam, who has bagged the Best (Male) Playback Singer award at the National Awards this year

Rupam Islam has bagged the Best (Male) Playback Singer award at the 57th National Awards this year for his song in Mahanagar@Kolkata. He began singing at the age of four. He has a solid base in classical Hindustani music, yet has traversed the world of musical genres. His award is a tribute to modern genres of music.

Rupam founded the Bangla rock band Fossils in 1998. It became the most popular band in the next five years. He is singer-composer-lyricist of this band. Rupam is one of the busiest playback singers of Kolkata and has sung in more than 30 Hindi and Bengali films. His debut in Hindi with Jannat made him a national celebrity. Rupam released his first solo album in 1998 from HMV called Tor Bhorshate. Due to the constant demand of this album even after 10 years, SaReGaMa re-released this album with a fresh new look in 2007.

I was working on my pooja album in my studio when a journalist from a television news channel called me up to ask my reaction on winning the award. I was so surprised that I thought the journalist was probably making some mistake. Then when my phone just did not stop ringing, I rushed upstairs to my wife to confirm the news on TV.

I finally feel that this genre of music was being recognised. The songs of Mahanagar@Kolkata are not the stereotypical filmi songs. Rarely do directors and producers use this genre of music. Getting the National Award for these songs came as such a big surprise that it took a long time for it to sink in. The fact that the jury could break away from the traditional mindset is a great recognition to the genre of music. My oeuvre comprises songs from classical based to ‘popular filmi genre’ to rock to folk and Rabindra Sangeet.

Right. I know which songs are the most difficult to sing. A song that sounds rather easy to a common man’s ear might be the most difficult song to sing that can be sung only by experts. My first feeling was gratitude towards the jury for understanding this music and towards my director (Suman Mukhopadhyay) for wanting me not only to compose for him but also to sing these songs.

I do not think my attitude will change in any way. I am a perfectionist and have always worked for my own satisfaction and not for winning awards or for others to like my work. Winning awards and people’s admiration give me impetus and serves as a motivation for future works.

Music composer Pritam Chakraborty approached me to sing for Anurag Basu’s film Life in a Metro. Pritam was planning to continue the Metro Band even after the film was made. He asked me to leave Fossils. I could not do it. Fossils is my passion. It is a process that keeps me inspired to create better music, write better songs and sing them well too. I am what I am because of Fossils. He later asked me to re-record my popular song Hasnuhana in Hindi. But that too got postponed for technical problems. I got lucky and the chance to work with Pritam at last. The rest just fell into place. Jannat’s "Jahan" marked my debut as a playback singer in Hindi cinema. For the first time, a hard rock number was used in a Bollywood film. Pritam was confident that I would do justice to the song and I feel honoured.

Yes. It does. The song is based on a negative philosophy and was an out-of-the-box number that equates money with heaven. I have a Bengali song called Bicycle Chor (Bicycle Thief.) It talks about today’s youngsters who decide early whether they wish to follow two roads to a negative way of living — as murderer or as thief. It is a choice between two negatives, pointing out how money has surpassed everything else. The song in Jannat was in keeping with the story that tackled gambling, illegal betting and match-fixing in cricket.

I have made good inroads as playback singer in Bengali films like Chalo Lets Go, Kanchan Babu, Madly Bangalee, Piyalir Password, Jiyo Kaka, Shukno Lanka, Dwando, Angshumaner Chhobi, Aleya, Antim Swash Sundar and Autograph. But Bollywood has not come calling again.

I wrote my first book of songs, Epitaph in 2006. It was a sell-out at the Kolkata Book Fair. My second book, Rupam On the Rocks, was released at the same fair last year and is reportedly a hot-seller for Anando Publishers. I also wrote a special column for the youth magazine Unish Kuri. After all, I began my career teaching English in a school here.

All music directors I have worked with know that the pressure to do better and improve comes from me and not from others. Most of the time, my music directors are very happy with the first or second takes but I do not stop till I am happy with my singing.`A0 I do not think this award will create any additional pressure. They, later, requested me to record a Bengali version of the song.