Kailasa!

Kailash Kher is a Delhiite to the core. Street-smart, can catch the nerve of the crowd in front of whom he is performing and has always been a wanderer to the core. In 12 years he shifted 26 houses within Delhi. Well, that sums up his attitude – always asking for more and never satisfied with what he has. With 200 commercial film songs, 300 jingles and an album – Kailasa - under his belt, sky is the limit for him. And only thing he knows, he says, is his “unique talent coupled with intelligence”.

“My voice is a gift of God, but lot of people have it. I reached the heights, because people used to tell me that I am very intelligent when I was a child. Maybe I have used my intelligence to nurture the gift of God that I have,” he says looking content to the core and showing an exuberance of a child.

But why Sufi? “When I started, classical music was a long road, especially for people not having the right pedigree. Pop, too was boring to an extent, as people cannot carry on dancing. So I chose the middle path – Sufi. It can move the emotions of the corporate world too as well as the kids will also love them. It has energy in it.”

After wandering on the streets of Delhi for 12 years, in 2001 Kailash Kher decided to move to the dream City –Mumbai. Although he had its own trials and tribulations there, but it was just a matter of a year and a half there that things picked up in the right direction for him. “I struggled a lot initially but I had faith in me,” he adds.

However, with Allah Ke Bande, Kailash Kher got an instant fame, especially with him featuring in the movie while playing the song. “Well, I didn’t believe it since I just started my career that I would be featured in the movie while playing the song. I though it was a fluke. Moreover, when I asked the name of the movie while it was being shot from Vishal (music director), he said ‘Waisa Bhi Hota Hai’. I thought ‘waisa bhi hota hoga’; it happens like this in Bollywood too that they don’t decide the movie name and are already shooting for the movie. I was just a starter so I kept mum. To top it all, I didn’t even know who Arshad Warsi (hero of the movie) was? I called up my sister in Delhi to ask about his credentials. Well, what happened after the movie was out is history.”

Although people thought that he is just a one-song wonder. “They thought I got famous in fluke. But after one song and another, I kept my consistency going.”
With solid footing in Bollywood now, people quite relate Kailash Kher to as Bollywood singer, Kailash feels, “I am a singer but I like to do it solo. For movies, one has to listen to the music director but for making my own album, I like doing my own composition. That way I can express my own feelings. Kailasa is doing very well and now I am working on my second album Kailasa II.”

Regarding the Hyderabad connection of shooting of his two numbers of Kailasa, Teri Deewani and Tauba Tauba, he says, “It was never in my thoughts that I would shoot in Hyderabad. It was sheer shortage of money, which forced me to go to Hyderabad. The video director was already shooting in Hyderabad. When I called him to Mumbai, he asked me to join him there as his entire crew was already there. So it just happened by chance.”

Regarding Nusrat, the singer says, “I am inspired by his selection of the lyrics. In Sufi, I just listen to him only. I don’t listen to other singers. I am happy that Sufi has gained much acceptance now. It is the newest flavour of music and has a blend of spiritual as well as entertainment.”