My journey started from Delhi: Kailash

Today, Kailash Kher is a well known name in the Indian music scene. But that was not always so, says the singer, as he looks back at those years of struggle, and his Delhi days, from where it all began for him.
“Delhi mere maa baap ke samaan hai. I’m so attached to Delhi that I plan to make a documentary on the city that made me what I am today – it will be about me and my relationship with this city,” he says.
That’s not all, Delhi tops Kailash’s list when it comes to performing live.He confesses, “I travel so much around the world, perform at the best of the venues. But jo mazza Delhi mein perform karne ka hai woh kahin nahi hai. Delhi’s beautiful monuments, auditoriums and amphitheatres have been my favourite locations. Delhi ke logon ne jo mujhe samman diya hai woh aur kahin nahi mil sakta. I have performed at various venues in and around Delhi like Purana Qila, Pragati Maidan, Delhi University, and so on... The amount of respect from the Delhi crowd has always been overwhelming. Yeh pyaar mujhe kahin nahi milta hain jitna Dilli ke logon ne mujhe diya hai. And it’s the truth,” he says. Kailash is in a different world, as we try to interrupt. He continues, “Delhi has made me what I am today in the music world. Delhi has taught me about life and about music. I owe it all to this city. Mujhe bahut khushi hoti jab mein Delhi aata hoon, aisa lagta hai main apne ghar wapas aa gaya hoon aur apne parivar ke logon ke beech gaa raha hoon. I guess my journey and struggle began from Delhi. How can I forget those days? I started as a 14-year-old all alone. I had left my family and wanted to become a singer. I did correspondence from DU and I have some beautiful memories of the campus days when my friends and I spent singing songs in our free time. I still remember how I’d save money to buy clothes from the Kamla Nagar market. Woh purani yaadein taaza karne ke liye main baar baar Dilli aata hoon. I don’t get that much free time now, but whenever I do, I visit those old places where I would hang out with my friends.”
And these memories will be part of his documentary too, he says. “In fact, in the documentary I will show these places like the Shankar Doll Museum on the ITO road where I used to teach singing, then the small food stalls near the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya where I would hang around with my friends, the DU campus, and many other places.”
Being a Delhi boy, was it difficult to make a mark in Bollywood? “Frankly, I never dreamt that I would get into Bollywood. It just happened. It was never planned. Maine kabhi nahi socha tha ki main Bollywood singer banunga. I was getting bored in Delhi and after a while, my sister Nutan and brother Mahesh encouraged me to shift to Mumbai. I tried to learn music formally, but was never regular. I just went to Mumbai and my dream was to launch my own music album. But things completely changed once I landed in Mumbai. Actually my life took a U-turn. I was offered a jingle by Salim-Suleiman for an ad and he came up to me and said, “Tumhe jingle gaana hoga’. You won’t believe this, but I didn’t even know what a jingle was and asked him, ‘Mujhe kis jungle main gaana hai? Aur kitne ghante gaana hai?’ He laughed and told me that I had to sing only for few minutes. At that time, I was being paid `700-5000 for a jingle and would be happy. Then came my first break in Bollywood movie – where I sang “Allah Ke Bande” and that was the turning point of my life. I never imagined that my kind of voice would be suitable for the film industry. It is pure luck and God’s wish that has made me achieve the success. Mujhe bilkul confidence nahi tha apne aap par aur mujhe filmon ka knowledge bhi nahi tha isliye lagta tha ki main fit nahi hoon Bollywood ke liye. Par ek baat toh hai, main jo bhi aaj hoon woh meri Dilli ke logon ne banaya hai mujhe.”
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