Shreya Ghoshal attends UK press conference – May 2015

Shreya Ghoshal was on her UK tour this weekend and played to sell-out audiences in three concerts across London, Leicester and Manchester. Prior to the UK tour 2015 kicking off, Ghoshal attended a press conference with her accompanying singer Hrishikesh Rannade. The duo talked about their experiences in concert together.

Extracts from the press conference:

“I like sentimental and emotional songs much more. My favourite to sing with Shreya is Samjhawan from Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”, said Rannade. “It’s really an experience to sing that song with her. When she joins in the song, it’s just amazing”.

“I would say that God has been very kind to me. First of all, it’s all about music. That’s the reason we are sitting here together and enjoying every moment of it. It’s the pure attraction and power of music. I continue to hope that I learn more and grow as an artiste with every passing day. Thank you for making this the third consecutive year that I can come back to the UK,” said Ghoshal when asked about how she feels to have so many sell-out concerts in the UK in recent years.

Ghoshal spoke about being about to sing in the soundtrack of Yash Chopra’s last directorial, ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ (2012), “I’ve had the wonderful experience of singing for him for many films earlier. It was very inspiring to meet Yashji in person. He’s always been so humble… like a normal person. Even if there was a new person on the sets with no experience, he would still give them so much encouragement. Thankfully I got to sing for his last film. The whole industry misses him… he was one of those who all the industry looked to as a mentor”.

Ghoshal also joked when asked about whether she’s forgotten her lines during a live concert before, “Ek baar nahin, bahot baar huwa hai. Mujhe abhi bataana nahin chaahiye lekin… (It’s happened many times, I should’ve really say…) It has happened to me in songs that I have sung many times. ��I have so confidently made up new lyrics and sung. I’ve sung with such confidence that people who are singing along with me also think that these are not the right words. But my confidence is so infectious that they think agar singer yeh original hai aur yeh gaa rahi hai toh yehi sahi hoga (if I’m the original singer then the words I sing must be correct).”

Ghoshal spoke about if she makes plans for the future of her music career, “Frankly I’ve never had that moment in my life where I’ve planned something. It really doesn’t work that way with me. I always go by the impulse of what I feel. As a musician you really can’t plan a chart of what you want to do. For example, I did a ghazal album last year called Humnasheen. It was out of boredom of not being able to do that kind of music. Ghazals ki jagah Bollywood mein nahin hai (There’s no place in Bollywood). I don’t care whether it was a commercial success but I just wanted to sing”.

Ghoshal was asked whether she would ever consider acting to which frankly responded, “Before when I’ve been asked I’ve always said never say never but I’ve realised that mujse nahin hoga (I can’t do it). All the people in our world think that if you look beautiful then you can become an actress but for me acting is as big an art as singing. I cannot take it so lightly. If something comes my way that combines singing with acting and is interesting then I’ll consider but nothing has come my way yet”.

Ghoshal spoke about what she’s learnt from Rannade while being in concert, “From Hrishikesh I’ve learnt many things. He’s one of the most soft-spoken people. He looks very shy but he’s very mischievous at the same time. I’m very blessed that in my team they’re all very good people. They’re all great human beings. To be with them is so much joy.”

Rannade also talked about what he’s learnt from Ghoshal, “The last three years have been the most important in my life. I’ve learnt what a singer is, what pitching is, what expressions are… all from Shreya. And she’s such a nice person, she’s so successful but she’ll never make you feel any less. She takes her whole team with her everywhere and that’s the biggest thing we’ve learnt from her”.

Shreya Ghoshal’s UK tour 2015 was brought to the audiences by Rock On Music Ltd.

Photos by Shyama Sudra.