'I have been a dulha a thousand times'THE studio looks plain from the outside. Only a tubelight illuminates the entrance door. Inside, it's another story. Practice is on full swing for Kailasaa band members, including Paresh and Naresh Kamath. Every now and then, the recording room's door swings open and high decibel music hits you.
The band's lead vocalist and playback singer Kailash Kher is yet to arrive. He is getting married this month-end in a low-keyed affair.
While we wait for him, tiny details in the studio leap out. A string of bells that chime melodiously when the main door opens, a pile of drum and guitar cases, dumped by the entrance probably because of their recent American music fest trip, and shoes that lie outside the recording room — reminiscent of a shrine.
The entrance door opens to the bells' chime, and Kailash Kher walks in. He apologies for the mess in the studio and indulges us with a photo shoot first. "The studio is being renovated," he says as he lifts some instruments lying around at the recording studio to make space for the shoot.
From the heart
Kailash has just arrived in the city from Banaras. He was invited by the Banaras Hindu University to inaugurate its annual Spandan youth festival. "Anupam Kher called me up a couple of days ago and asked if I would go. I was there to light a diya. But I was surprised that the management didn't ask me to sing. You never know which direction the brainy guys thinks in," he says with a laugh.
About his outspokenness, the composer-singer says, "I follow my heart. But since I now belong to this industry, it's taught me a thing or two. Even if you don't want to be diplomatic, you have to be." He says he wonders if he is losing his real self to the glitter of the industry. "Dekho aaya tha insaan bhola bhala sa, ab chaalaak duniya ne usko bhi chaalaaki se jeena sikhaya. It's like removing a thorn with a thorn. It makes me question myself sometimes, whether I am wrong in following my heart," he says.
Marriage… err
He refuses to talk about his marriage later this month or about his to-be-bride. Instead he says, "Marriage is so personal I don't feel like talking about it." Needle him a bit more and he says that marriage is perhaps just another phase of life.
"My thinking is different from that of society. How do I tell you in words about my feelings? It's an arranged marriage. Though I live in a modern, contemporary world, I believe in old traditions. So I am just following the tradition… but it's also a new moment for me," he says with a smile. He adds, "You know I have been a dulha a thousand times… when I got my first award for Allah Ke Bande and all eyes were on me, I felt like a dulha or when I sing on stage I feel like a dulha… it's just a feeling."
Team Rahman
His songs have enthralled many, from Allah Ke Bande to Saiyyan. Kailash even says that people tell him that his songs helped them understand love and sometimes reunited them with their loved ones.
Kailash teams up with the now Oscar-nominated AR Rahman for shows and does playback for him, the latest being Arziyan in Dilli 6. There was to be a role reversal too where Rahman was to sing one of Kailash's composition.
"The fact that Rahman was to sing for me appeared in the media and then the news channels ran half hour shows (enacts) 'Ab Kailash banenge music director aur Rahman banenge gayak'. It became a bit uncomfortable, so Rahman said, 'let's avoid it."
Music for the soul
Interestingly, many of Kailash's popular songs like Teri Deewani or Saiyyan are female versions of songs. Kailash says, "Since my early years, I have been listening to nirguni songs my father used to sing. Nirguni is Sufi. And not many people know about it. I have been influenced by Sufi music, which is beyond the realm of the physical. It's spiritual. And so it is beyond gender. You have to feel the music from the heart."
Conversation turns to other musicians and he wants to know whether we have heard others talk like him. "They all say I wear Versace, girls go nuts about me, I am a lady charmer… I am not saying that I don't belong here, but instead of participating I just observe," he says.
Judging qualities
Another thing that amuses him is when he has to apply makeup. "It's so funny… sometimes I have to even put lip balm, and they darken a couple of grey hairs in my stubble with eye shadow. I don't stop them," he laughs.
He doesn't believe in reacting harshly with the Indian Idol contestants either. "Everyone loves drama. But what's the point in shouting 'Kya kiya tune… tune to barbaad kar diya... show ka toh gala daba diya tune'. If I ever say such things, I will die. I will think I am possessed," he laughs out aloud, an obvious reference to his co-judge Annu Malik.
As we bid goodbyes, Kailash says his bride's name is Sheetal. "You will laugh, but she is totally opposite of me. I think she has a childish demeanor but since God has made this connection, obviously there must be something special."
