I managed it in my second attempt, in 15-20 minutes. But soon everyone understood that they just need to leave it to me and not give a lot of instructions. “There was a dilemma about who should I listen to, Karan or Nikkhil. He had already worked with Karan Johar in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and had his trust. Kal Ho Naa Ho was the first time Sonu teamed up with debutant director Nikkhil Advani. Reflecting on his two songs, which are as special to him as his fans – “Kal Ho Naa Ho” and “Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin”, Sonu marked at a similarity too. Earlier, we worked in wholesale, today we are busy by choice,” Sonu said. It’s a commitment I’ve made to my craft, that I will never take it lightly. I’ve even sang 40 Odiya songs in a month. “Some days, we worked on the entire album. He confesses that at one point of time, he used to record a dozen songs a day. It is difficult to select Sonu’s career peak, he’s been an integral part of the Indian music scene for the past three decades, setting benchmarks and being an inspiration for generations of artistes like Armaan Malik, Ankit Tiwari and Mithoon. As an artiste it is very fulfilling when your films, albums and TV show, everything is a hit,” Sonu reminisced, adding that the secret behind the success of each of his album was good intent.

This, when I was already singing for films. So we were doing work according to our will. Kismat and Mausam also had classical songs, western jazz ballets. “Deewana, Jaan, Yaad, Kismat, Mausam were albums which had my colour, they were created keeping me in mind.

While some of his Indie-pop albums were also written and composed by him, others had his voice and face, and were promoted in his name. It was a long wait but I was overwhelmed with the response. It finally started coming out in 1998, when I was 25. I was famous but I wanted to have my independent music and independent films. When ‘Tu’ released in 1998, I was already seven years old in Mumbai and my show Sa Re Ga Ma was going on for over three years with great TRPs.

Was coming in front of camera, an organic switch? “I was waiting for it! This was quite late. With an equally magnetic screen presence Sonu found humongous fame in no time. He also became India’s first singer to host a reality show – Sa Re Ga Ma around the same time. While Sonu was becoming the most sought after voice in playback singing, he also began churning out his solo albums and featuring in them. After years of struggle, Border, Pardes and Dil Se happened around 1997-1998. Sonu started singing at a very young age and took it up professionally in early 1990s.

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