Singing his way to Indian Idol 4

Kailash Kher has come a long way from being an unknown voice to a judge of Indian Idol 4. Ritujaay Ghosh tells us more.

In the past five years, Kailash Kher has graduated from being an unknown voice to one of the most sought after singers in the country. But he isn’t resting on his laurels. With every accolade Kher has earned over the years, he has tried to further his dreams, which do not start and stop at playback singing. But even he admits to being surprised at the speed with which his life has changed as he prepares to inaugurate his state-of-the-art recording studio.

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“I learnt everything the hard way from the day I landed in Mumbai. But I always held on to two dreams: one, I wanted to form my own band, which I did; and two, to build a recording studio of my own so that all my friends in the industry could come and work with me,” says Kher, who also feels the recording studio will help budding musicians, given the dearth of quality studios in the country. “It’s my gift to the industry,” he adds.

The two-storeyed studio in Mumbai’s Andheri (West) will be inaugurated early next month and Kher refuses to concentrate on anything else until he successfully launches it. “I have named it Kailasa after my band, because it’s a joint effort and credit goes to all of us. The really good news is that everyone, Sonu (Nigam), Shaan, Shreya (Ghoshal) and KK, live close by. So the studio will be our hangout,” he laughs.

Just back from a 45-day tour of US and Canada, Kher isn’t ready to rest. Kailasa is working on its third album, which will be ready by the end of the year. And he promises to come up with a different sound. “It will have a sufi feel blended with hard rock sound,” he says.

To top it all, Kher’s prized project of a Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrulgeeti album hasn’t taken a back seat either. “We will begin recording in another two months,” he says, spontaneously crooning over the phone, “Bhenge mor ghorer chabi, niye jabi ke amare…. Kyon chalega na? Aap ko pasand aaya? See, I have learnt Bengali too.”