The Hindi film music industry’s a dirty place: Abhijeet

He’s the man with a golden voice. That’s singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya we are talking about. In recent times Abhijeet has grabbed more attention for his caustic comments than chartbusters. From announcing his intention of never doing playback for Shah Rukh Khan (this comes after the latter ignored him and worked with other singers), taking potshots at the DK Bose song, made allegations on Sajid-Wajid for lifting his tune for Housefull 2, was upset about the advent of Pakistani musicians in the industry — Abhijeet has been in the spotlight for his vocal outburst.
Tell him about this and he modestly exclaims “Who are you talking about?” Has all the honesty has hurt his career? The singer who was in Ahmedabad for a live performance promptly says, “I don’t actually care if it has. I am not scared of anyone. I don’t play misbehave at parties or pull someone by collar and give him a whack or two. I just speak my heart. If something is bothering me for wrong reasons, I will speak out and no one can stop me. I am not a hypocrite like everyone else in the industry.” But is it fair to categorize the entire industry for being hypocrites? “If not everyone, 99% of the Hindi film industry are hypocrites.”
Abhijeet feels it was very juvenile of him to speak against Pakistani musicians. “I was silly, the only child patriot amongst all mature souls. I realized of late that patriotism is not for small artists like me. Patriotism can be a bargaining point for politicians or add to the brand value of a superstar.”
Abhijeet maintains in a stoic voice, “If I was called Shah Rukh’s voice once, he should credit me for that. Having said all that, I don’t need the Hindi film industry now to give me songs. Since I have reduced the amount of work I do in Bollywood, I am only getting bigger. I am my own brand now. I pay ten times more tax than I was paying as a Bollywood playback singer. The Hindi film music industry’s a dirty place, I am happy stay outside,” says the singer in between answering his ever ringing phone. He says if it was only about professional politics, he wouldn’t have complained so much.
He adds, “Music companies and film directors lift tunes for popularity and blame it on composers. Composers give in to save themselves from being jobless. They have no respect. All voices and tunes are like clones, without recognition or identity. Gali de do aur gana ban jata hai. People participate in reality shows and get abused and beaten up, while their families sit home and clap.”
Abhijit feels that he never wants to fall prey to any of these tricks. “Big reality shows are waiting for one nod from me. People are offering me four times more money for a single episode than their entire prize money.” But he is not ready to divulge names as he insists he doesn’t want to give publicity to small people, even if it’s negative.
Talking about Gujarat, he says, “I am happy to see Gujarat making such great progress. You have a great leader in Narendra Modi. I think he should leave politics, as he is a one man army. He doesn’t need anyone to fulfill the mission he is on.”
On a second thought he says, “It’ll be even better if he becomes the Prime Minister.”