Chennai is my second home now: Shashaa Tirupati

Singer Shashaa Tirupati has sung in 12 languages, but she finds her heart in Tamil. She can be spotted speaking in bits of Tamil when she interacts with Chennaites. “I have picked up konjam konjam Tamil and when someone asks me to speak more, I laugh and say, Enakku Tamil theriyadhu,” she laughs.
This weekend, Shashaa, who has recently won the National Award for Best Singer — Female, for the song Vaan from Kaatru Veliyidai, was in the city to rehearse with D Imman, for his upcoming concert in Toronto, of which she is a part of.We caught up with her to talk about her award, her connection with Chennai and of course, Tamil film music. Excerpts:
What do we not know about Shashaa Tirupati?
A lot of things... I am a coffee addict, I suffer from insomnia, and I sleep at 6am in the morning. I am a very private person. I don’t really talk much to people, as I am very shy. I am also a professional swimmer. I am afraid of crossing the road. I love packing my bags, switching off my phone and being gone for a couple of weeks, just travelling. But now, it’s going to be a little difficult. After winning the National Award, I have to be a little more responsible. I love to learn new languages, compose and write my own music. I have composed in Hindi and English for three years.
What do awards mean to you?
To me, they mean responsibility. I need to sing a lot more, I have to live up to the award, and I need to constantly keep improving my art. I need to know that I am worthy of it, and that I need to be able to have the competency to go out and tell people that I have not been given the award by mistake. Living up to the name is very important.
How does it feel to receive such a prestigious award at a young age?
The feeling is yet to sink in; it will take some time for me to believe that it has happened already. So, let it be as how it is right now. By the time it hits me and I realise that I have won this award, I want to be prepared to take on the challenge, but I already feel the challenge. It gives me enough time to prove myself, prepare myself as an artiste to kind of grow and it is also like an eye-opener, a source of motivation. So, anything I do in the future will have to be good, commendable, and respectable.
You’ve been very vocal about how emotionally attached you are to Vaan from Kaatru Veliyidai, for which you’ve won the National Award for Best Playback Singer...
When I am recording a non-Hindi song and I don’t understand the language, it’s generally the tune or the melody that drives my emotions. When I recorded Vaan, the melody hit me... the kind of emotion that I had never felt before, it’s not something that I can define and express in words. It also transported me back to the 90s, when I had listened to songs like Tu Hi Re and Chanda Suraj Lakhon Taare… I had the same sort of feeling. Whenever I am given a song to sing, I make it a point that I connect, feel and deliver the same way the listeners will feel, too. As musicians and artistes, we already have pain, romance and soul inside us; we all do as humans, but as an artiste, we are able to tap in to that part of us when we are rendering a piece of art. We feel the pain when the song is sad, we feel the romance if it is about love...
Did you ever think Vaan will bring you National Award?
I always knew that Vaan deserved every award possible. I am talking about the song and not me. The first time I heard the melody, I was taken back to the 90s music of Rahman sir. I definitely knew that composition-wise and arrangement-wise, it was a masterpiece, but the award coming to me came as a complete surprise. I had never thought that after singing so many songs, Vaan will be the one song that would bring me the National Award.
You’ve announced that you will adopt a girl child by 2020 after singing Vaan...
I’ve wanted to adopt a girl child by 2020 ever since I was 16. I would love to have biological children, but I would definitely want to adopt a girl child. The cause became more significant for me when I sang Vaan.
How do you feel about the Tamil music industry?
I feel very connected to Tamil music and melodies and I would obviously like to sing more Tamil songs. There are so many wonderful composers that I have not gotten the opportunity yet to work with. I got an opportunity to work with different composers and I’ve sung several songs already, but they are yet to be released.
A self-confessed introvert, you are now set to explore the realms of acting. Excited?
Well, it has been a totally new experience for me. ICloud is going to be my first play, and it will be staged in Mumbai in May. I have realised that acting helps in discovering the artiste in you. Theatre has actually been empowering to me because when I go there, I am probably not myself, the shy person doesn’t exist in me. It also makes me more comfortable in my skin, probably because on stage, as an artiste, we are putting on a persona. I play Kavya in the play, and she is someone I don’t relate to, but she is someone perhaps I would want to be some day. She is without apprehensions and there are a lot of aspects of her nature and personality that I don’t have. She inspires me as she is very open about what she feels. She is very confident and charismatic.
Are you also game to explore indie music?
I’ve already composed six songs, and will release them by the end of this year. There is one about the Nirbhaya case and it is special to me; it is very empowering and there are major elements of hope in the song that I am really looking forward to. All the songs are in English.
Chennai is welcoming
What I love the most about this city is how welcoming people are; they accept any non-Tamilian with open arms. They are very encouraging. A lot of Chennaites write to me, saying how much the songs I have sung made them feel better about themselves, how it touched them in moments when they required it, and all of these mean the world to me.
-Purnima.Sah@timesgroup.com