Amit Mishra: When Bollywood accepts a genre, it becomes mainstream

Singer Amit Mishra recently got a chance to pay a tribute to one of his favourite artistes — late Jagjit Singh — and he couldn’t be happier

Singer Amit Mishra recently got a chance to pay a tribute to one of his favourite artistes — late Jagjit Singh — and he couldn’t be happier. Mishra recalls that he used to study the genre, when he was in music school as well.

Sinher Amit Mishra has crooned chartbusters such as Bulleya and Galti Se Mistake.

“I used to prepare ghazals for competitions, and I would get experience. Competitions were the only place where I used to perform, apart from studies. Jagjit Singh ji had that thehraav in his voice. Whether you listen to Koi Fariyaad or any of his works, there were not many slurs. You could connect to it any time,” he gushes.

Talking about his tribute to Singh, wherein he revisists the late singer’s ghazals, Mishra shares, “Musically it has been upgraded so that it can reach the youth. I don’t think they don’t like ghazals, but the arrangement has been changed.”

The 32-year-old, popular for crooning chartbusters such as Bulleya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, 2016) and Galti Se Mistake (Jagga Jasoos, 2017), asserts that today’s generation hasn’t lost touch with ghazals, even if the focus is filmi music, views and likes are seemingly the benchmark for success.

“I don’t think the younger generation doesn’t like ghazals... they want a different sound. It’s not about the lyrics,” he elaborates, adding, “Like the last ghazal which became popular was Phir Le Aaya Dil (Barfi!, 2013) Everyone loved it. Whenever I hum it live in a concert, people like it, the youth interacts with it. When Bollywood accepts a genre, it becomes mainstream.”

The singer believes that many people from the new generation have embraced ghazals and he’s glad about it. “A lot of [younger] people have been representing them on a bigger scale. If we don’t remain rooted to our own culture, phir koi faayda hi nahi rahega door jaa ke,” he concludes.