“Meeting Pritam da proved to be a turning point in my life” – Soham S Chakravarty

In the year 2006, one heard Soham S Chakravarty’s voice in a Hindi film for the first time when he crooned the chartbuster ‘Dil Laga Na’ for ‘Dhoom 2’, the most successful film churned out by the Hindi film industry that year. As a playback singer, Soham’s career skyrocketed when he sang ‘In Dino’ for the Anurag Basu directed ‘Life In A…Metro’.In the next few years, one heard him sing several notable songs including ‘Kahaan Kho Gaya Hai Dil Mera’ (‘Hattrick’), ‘O Yaara Dhol Bajaake’ (‘Dhol’), ‘Tu Jaane Na (Reprise)’ (‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahaani’), ‘Khudaya Khair’ (‘Billu’) and ‘Pal Mein Hi’ (‘Chance Pe Dance’).

Music remains an integral part of this classically trained singer who hails from Kolkata. Every day, Soham sets aside a few hours from his busy schedule to do his riyaaz. Doing shows in India and internationally throughout the year keeps him busy as an artist.

In this interview, Soham talks about his love for music, journey as a singer, association with Pritam, the stories behind some of his popular songs, personal struggles, upcoming projects and more.

Music became a part of your life when you were very young. You started singing when you were 4-5 years of age.  

I used to learn the tabla and my sister used to learn singing. One day, my sister was attending a session with her guru at our house. I was sitting nearby and playing the tabla. She was having some difficulty in grasping something. I told her, “It’s such a simple thing. Why are you not able to understand it?” The teacher looked at me sharply and said, “if you know everything, why don’t you try singing it?”. I did and he was very impressed with my rendition. He spoke to my dad, “why are you making him learn the tabla? He should be learning vocals.” My journey as a singer started from there. My first teacher was Subrat Sengupta ji from Kolkata. Later, I learnt from Ustad Mohammad Sagaruddin saab and Acharya Jayant Bose ji. My dad was a student of Ali Akbar Khan. Music was a hobby for him. My uncle used to learn from Ustad Karamtullah Khan saab. My mom used to sing. There was always a musical atmosphere at home. However, I was the first person in my family to pursue a career in music.

Were you born in Kolkata?

Yes, I was born and raised in Kolkata. We lived in a joint family. Everybody in the family was connected to music in some way. In the evening, we used to sit for riyaaz. My dad used to go to the office at 6 o’clock in the morning. He would pull my ear and say, “brush your teeth and do your riyaaz”. Discipline is very important when you are learning Hindustani classical music. In the evening, I had to do riyaaz again and then, complete the homework assigned at school.

You sang for Kolkata Radio Station as a child.

I sang a few songs written by the legendary poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. I was a part of a show they used to do for children. Later, I auditioned as an adult singer and got selected.

Where did you study?

I went to the Scottish Church College in Kolkata. I was pursuing Economics Honours but I could not complete the course it as I got the opportunity to participate in ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’ (later renamed as ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’) in the year 2000. The judges on the show were O. P Nayyar, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Bappi Lahiri, Dilip Sen – Sameer Sen and Nikhil – Vinay. All of them told me that if I wanted to do something in music, I had to move to Mumbai.

At that time, technology was not as advanced as it is today. Now, a singer can record in any part of the world and mail the track to the music director. There is a Bengali lyric writer called Priyo Chatterji. He introduced me to somebody at T-Series. Priyo da would come to Mumbai to write cover versions of popular Hindi songs in Bengali. At that time, remixes were very popular. T-Series liked my voice and signed me up for three years. I remember doing a photo shoot for them. I sang countless songs in different languages like Telugu, Tamil, Haryanvi and Punjabi. I sang a lot of songs in Odia as well. I got the chance to practice how to sing in front of a mic. Slowly, work started increasing. I met Pritam da at a party. Pritam da used to do jingles back then. I sang some jingles composed by him for brands like Mc Donalds and Emami.

After coming to Mumbai, you had to go through your share of struggle. You lived in a chawl for six months.

Everybody has to go through struggle. It’s a part of life. Till the time we are alive, we have to struggle. It was the time of learning for me. I had won a prize money for winning ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’. I thought I can try my luck in Mumbai till I don’t run out of that money. To save money, I would survive on vada pav and bhajiya. Thankfully, I got an opportunity to sing for T-Series and that helped me sustain myself in the city. Meeting Pritam da proved to be a turning point in my life. After recording a few jingles for him, I got the chance to sing scratch versions of songs for ‘Garam Masala’ and ‘Chocolate’. Singing new compositions helped me grow as a singer.

You came to Mumbai in the early 2000s. Back then, only a handful of voices were getting the opportunity to sing for films. Composers were not very open to the idea of trying out new singers. Did you face some resistance initially?

To some extent, I did face some resistance. To convince composers that I could do justice to their compositions was tough. When I met Pritam da, he was also starting out. We grew together. He knew about my voice texture and had an idea about the kind of songs I could sing. I had dubbed ‘Dilbara’ (‘Dhoom’, 2004) at Salim – Sulaiman’s studio in Khar. Salim and Sulaiman praised me a lot and said my voice sounds very fresh. Ali, the character played by Uday Chopra, was a ‘tapori’. Therefore, Sanjay Gadhvi, the director of the film, wanted the song to have a ‘tapori’ vibe to it. Eventually, Abhijeet da dubbed the song. I continued singing scratches for Pritam. He promised me that when they make ‘Dhoom 2’, I will sing for it. He fulfilled his promise by getting me to sing ‘Dil Lagana’. It turned out to be my first song in a film.

‘In Dino’ is your biggest hit as a singer. For ‘Life In A…Metro’, Band Metro was formed. Along with Pritam, this band comprised of you, James, Suhail Kaul, Niladri Kumar, Kalyan Baruah, Jim Satya, Titu and Eric Pillai. What are your memories of working on this film?

When Pritam da was working on the film, I asked him if I could try out one of the songs. He told me they were trying out a band type of concept for the film. I remember he called me one night when I was sleeping. He asked me to come and dub a song immediately. When I went to his studio, Pritam da said, “jaldi jaldi gga, shoot pe jaayega gaana” (“sing it fast! The track has to be sent for the shoot”). Pritam da had told me that we do not have a lot of time as the song had to be shot the next day. He told me we can dub it again without a hurry later. I heard the composition 2-3 times and went for the recording.

I dubbed ‘In Dino’ in 15-20 minutes. After a week, Pritam da asked me if I can dub it exactly the way I had the last time. I told him I can do a better job at it. Pritam da said, “I don’t want you do a better job. I want the same feel”. I laughed and said, “dada, no artist can sing a song same-to-same twice.” Pritam da said, “theek hai, chhod de” (“fine, leave it”). I thought the song is gone from my hands. However, Pritam da decided to use the original recording and told me that everybody in the team has loved my voice. I did not expect ‘In Dino’ to become such a huge hit.

Even though ‘In Dino’ was this rock ballad, it had a semi-classical, ghazal-like feel to it.

Yes! Once Pritam da briefed me about the song, he gave me the freedom to interpret it the way I wanted to. He gave me the freedom to do lot of improvisations. Those days, I was listening to a lot of ghazals rendered by Mehdi Hasan saab. I thought we could give it that kind of feel. I sang it in a particular way and Pritam da said that it is sounding different but good. In 2008, I was nominated for several awards. I received the Star Screen Award for Best Playback Singer (male).

After ‘Life In A…Metro’, one expected Band Metro to do some more work together but that did not happen. One had also come across reports stating that the band was planning to work on an independent album.

We had planned to take Band Metro forward but unfortunately, we couldn’t do it. James is from Bangladesh. He had some visa issues. Once some people are introduced as a part of a band, the audience expects to see all of them together. If somebody is not there, there is no point in taking the band forward.

Anurag Basu did some interesting things with ‘Life In A…Metro’. One could see Pritam, James and a few others singing in the film. He followed a similar format for ‘Metro…In Dino’ which released recently.

When I sang ‘In Dino’, some of the songs had already been shot. I was not a part of the band initially. Once my version was recorded, they decided to shoot it as well. There was a point when Pritam da had told me that they might not use ‘In Dino’ in the film. Thankfully, they did. Ronnie Screwvala, the producer of the film, really liked the song and believed it would be a big hit. While I am not there in the film, I am a part of the music video they shot later. In the film, however, you can hear my voice in the song.

The first cheque you received in Mumbai was for Rs. 10,000 handed over to you by T-Series. It was for a Marathi album you recorded for them.

Yes, that’s right! T-Series had done an album for B. R. Ambedkar. Sonu Nigam ji had sung the songs in the first album. They asked me if I could sing in his style. I gave it a shot and they liked it. I recorded the songs for the second album for B. R. Ambedkar in my voice. Ajit Kohli, who was heading the company back then, asked me, “can you sing in different styles?”. I said I could try. For a remix album, I sang non-stop remixes in Sukhwinder Singh style. I sang 11 songs for an album in Shankar Mahadevan style. The Marathi album became a huge hit and I was paid Rs. 10,000 for it in cash. By then, I was staying in a small hotel. A while later, I rented out an apartment.

‘Khudaya Khair’ from ‘Billu’ became very popular.

Abhijeet da had sung a version of that song. Shah Rukh Khan saab liked my voice and decided to use my version in the film. Gulzar saab had written the song. I got the opportunity to meet him once. I remember being tongue-tied. I could not utter a word. I have been a huge fan of R. D. Burman. I think the combination of Pancham da and Gulzar saab was the best.

‘Pal Mein Hi’ (‘Chance Pe Dance’) has been one of the melodious songs you have sung. It was composed by Adnan Sami and written by Irfan Siddiqui.              

It was the first time I got to sing a song for Adnan. He was the coolest person to work with. He had made a beautiful composition. It was written wonderfully by Irfan Siddiqui. It was also my first song with Shreya (Ghoshal). When I met Shreya for the first time, I felt Maa Saraswati was standing in front of me. I remember asking her how she manages to sing in such a flawless manner.

You also sang ‘Teri Meri Yeh Zindagi’ from ‘Life Partner’ with Shreya Ghoshal. It was composed by Pritam and written by Javed Akhtar.

It was an honour to sing lyrics written by Javed saab. I didn’t get the chance to meet him during the recording of the song. However, I did get to meet him at a concert in Trident Hotel.

‘Kahaan Kho Gaya’ from ‘Hattrick’ is one of your underrated songs.

Ashish Pandit had written the song. He was starting out at that time as a music composer and lyricist. Director Milan Luthria liked the way I had sung the song. Pritam da also liked it. A lot of drums and guitars were used in the song. It was a different genre for me. The film did not do well. Therefore, the song also went unnoticed.

You had sung the unplugged version of ‘Tu Jaane Na’ from ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahaani’.

Atif Aslam was a Tips artist at that time. So, they used his version. Pritam really liked the way I had sung it and assured me that my version would be a part of the album. He fulfilled his promise.

You worked with Pritam on so many songs. Is there any quality of his that inspired you a lot?

Pritam da is an extremely honest person. When you work with him in the studio, the atmosphere is very positive. He is extremely musical. He is not only a genius composer but also knows what will work with the audience. Once he hears a song, he knows whether it will be a hit or not.

It is rare to see two male vocalists singing many songs together. You have sung several songs with Suhail Kaul.

‘Kar Salaam’ was a Band Metro song. Since we were a part of the band, we were asked to sing it. I remember we were at some shoot for Metro. We were in the make-up van when Pritam told us we had to sing the title track of ‘Dhol’. Since there were four characters, they needed at least two singers. The song was in bhangra style. Suhail and I worked very well together. We did a lot of recordings together. Since both of us were new to the industry, we used to support each other. He was an extremely nice person. I haven’t met him in a long time but hope to speak to him soon.

You have sung several hit songs in Bengali. One of your notable songs in Bengali has been ‘Amar Bhalobasha Jitbei’ from ‘Bhalobasha Zindabad’. It was composed by Ashok Bhadra. Anwesshaa was your co-singer on the song.

In Bengali, ‘bhadra’ means decent or gentleman. Just like his surname, Mr. Ashok Bhadra was a bhadralok or gentleman. He was a great composer and a wonderful human being. I have worked a lot with him. Anwesshaa is a brilliant singer. I keep listening to her song ‘Benaam Khwahishein’ from Coke Studio. It was a wonderful composition by Papon. It is one of those that gives me a sense of peace and calm.

Why don’t we hear your voice very often these days?

I have not sung for many films in the last few years. However, I have been working constantly. I do shows and perform all across the world. These days, music directors try out 20-25 singers for one song. If not the music director, the label gets to decide who will sing. Honestly, I don’t feel bitter about it. If somebody sings better than me or is more suitable for a song than I am, his voice should be retained.

I also went through a personal crisis in my life in 2009. My dad, who was suffering from throat cancer, passed away. I got so depressed that I could not step out of the house for a long time. It took me a long time to come to terms with his loss. When Covid-19 happened, I was in Kolkata for two and a half years.

My life revolves around music. While shows and recording keep me busy, I spend a minimum of three hours every day doing my riyaaz. Once you commit to Hindustani classical music, there is no looking back. I will remain a student of Hindustani classical music all my life.

Is there a singer whom you admire?

Arijit Singh is extraordinary! His work inspires me a lot. He had sung this song called ‘Asadoma Sadgamayo’ from the Bengali film ‘Khad’. I was blown away when I heard it for the first time. Nobody could have sung it the way he did. He is extremely humble. Back in the day, he had dubbed for me. I feel extremely happy about his success.

Do you plan to release some music independently in the near future?

Yes, I am working on a few songs in Hindi and Bengali. I plan to release them soon. I recently recorded a song for a film. I hope to sing melodies like ‘In Dino’ again.