INTERVIEW
OF SONU NIGAM
Though he has delivered a number of hits in the last year,
the first thing that strikes you about him is that he is really down-to-earth. The
pretentious I-am-great artiste attitude is missing. His room has about 1,000 CDs, a Sitar, and a Harmonium. EVERYBODY HAS A STORY TO TELL.Sonu Nigam was born in Faridabad and brought
up in Delhi, where he studied till the 12th. He then moved to Bombay where he studied in
college, via correspondence, because his struggle for work had already begun by then.
Though he would go to Delhi regularly, for his career he had to come to Bombay all the
time, leading to his studies taking a back seat. When he was 18, he had his first hit song
with 'Aacha Seela Diya Tunay Mere Pyar'. That's when things really took off for him.
Do
you have any music in your family? Yes, my mum and dad both are singers, very good
singers. My dad in fact is the best singer I have come across. In many of my shows where
we both have performed, people have come to me and said, "You were good but your dad
was better." If he was so good, why didn't he really hit it big? My dad is a
different kind of person. Sometimes only talent does not help. He is quite a lazy person.
To make it here in Bombay you need to have the drive and fire in you. He did not have the fire within him. He would never bow down in front of
anybody to get work. He was quite happy doing shows in his own small way. But he was
always a full-time singer. Agam Kumar Nigam, my dad, has to his credit many shows. He must
have done a 1,000 shows till date.
