I idolize my mother, says playback singer

During a quick chat with ‘The Pioneer’, Bollywood playback singer Hrishikesh Chury, the voice for ‘Taang Utha Ke’, talks about his experiences throughout his journey as a singer and his achievements in that time.

Excerpts:

Your Bollywood debut was in 2011 as a playback singer in the movie Naughty @ 40. How would you say that affected your career?

Naughty @ 40 was a small movie and apart from the industry nobody knew that I was one of the singers. But, yeah, it helped me get recognition in the industry and people started to approach me with new projects.

What was your reaction when you first got offer for Taang Utha Ke?

That was an amazing experience for me. Housefull 3 had a huge start-cast and it was one of the main promotion songs and all of a sudden I am told that my voice has been selected for the song. I have no idea what had happened and it was quite surprising. It was a crazy day for me and if I keep explaining I’ll start ranting (laughing).

Who do you idolize and think of as an inspiration?

As a person, I idolize my mother. Ever since I was a child I have seen her take care of me and the way she treats people has taught me a lot about life. So, definitely it’s my mother who I idolize as a person.

When did you realize you wanted to pursue a career in singing?

That was when the movie ‘Roja’ came out and I was randomly singing that song the whole day. I love the song, in fact. So, eventually, I realized that I can sing and since I was really young at that time and had no idea what to do, I started my vocal training after a while.

How was your experience as a jury member for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs?

Being a jury member for the show was an amazing experience. There were 30 jury members at a time and we were like a one big family. We used to enjoy our time there. It was more like a group of friends sitting together. It was also a great opportunity to see so many talented children from all over India.

You have won a Rotary International Award for Best Upcoming Playback Singer. How does that make you feel?

Rotary is a big name. It has a lot of branches and members and winning an award from a big and esteemed organisation is an honour for me. When they said that you have been honoured with a Rotary award, I was ecstatic.

You have also been doing some philanthropy work on the side. Would you like to shed some light on that?

I have been doing this for a long time, during my school as well as college time. In my college, I was actually the President of NSS. After that I was also a part of Rotaract Club in Mumbai for a short time. Then, finally I started my own NGO because I think giving back to the society is important. We get a lot from it and in my opinion, people who are underprivileged should be helped out.