A man with million dollar smile and talent worth a. Review on Sonu Nigam

Well, in order to talk about Sonu Nigam I need to spend 5-6 hours and countless paragraphs. I like him since he was a struggler - right from the days of Bewafa Sanam. Remember the song Achchha sila diya tuney marked the grand entry of mega performer. This song sung by him was such a great hit, nobody even care to know that Pakistani prisoner turned singer Ataullah Khan sang the original song. He was then singing mythological and bhajans with Gulshan Kumar in T-Series. He was still looking for a brand where he would be able to scatter like sunshine. He got such a chance with Magnasound Music Company. He made a mediocre album with them. Yes, a song got popular – Ai dilruba itna haseen mila. He even featured in the video of the song.

He got a gigantic break with ZEETV in the singing talent hunt mega serial Sa Re Ga Ma as a host, where he could actually display wide knowledge of songs he had in his kitty. I was present one of the episodes of the serial, where I saw the inclination of the singer turned host towards singing technically correct and appropriate. Be it minutes before the episode was being, or during the breaks, I could actually hear him working on his minute harkat and mudkiyan (as is termed in hindustani classical). This incident proved how much dedicated towards his work because in the sets nobody would tell him that he is not able to sing a particular of a given song properly. It also gives an idea about the amount of grand preparation he does before even small performances. No wonder he does everything so well and so methodically.

Once he reached the Indian households, there was really no looking back. He started getting offers, or rather got flooded with offers. Then and now, so many things have changed. He has already been associated with legendary musicians – The Late Madan Mohan, Jatin Lalit, A. R. Rehman, Anu Malik, Ismail Darbar, and similar power house brands. If you turn on a music channel on the television, and listen to 100 songs, it is matter of guarantee that Sonu appears for at least 70 songs or even more, and that says it all about his success. He has almost swept away the songs. The fortunes of the singers of caliber like Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet, Udit Narayan, Mohd. Aziz, etc. are flown away by him. The current scenario is as such that a music director becomes popular by including songs of Sonu Nigam. Even B and C grade Hindi films have started including at least 1 song of him, so as to pull some viewers in the cinema halls. At the pop music or album arena, Sonu is nowhere at the back. He has marked his presence in so many songs. Songs like – Ab mujhe raat din, Teri yaadein aa gayeen, Deewana tera, Wo pehli mulqat ki, Tera milna pal do pal ka, etc. have topped the music charts for so many weeks. Chanda ki doli, is of course is due to be mentioned here, as Sonu has first time composed the music for the entire album.

For the last 15-16 years, almost everything has worked in favor of Sonu, except one thing – acting. It really hasn’t. He has worked in few films that had a complete whitewash at the Box office. Honestly speaking he had acted horribly in Jaani Dushman that happens to be a horror movie, which I have dared to see. There were several horrifying factors of the movie except the story and the script. Firstly, Sonu Nigam expression was as if a child is unwillingly reading his English literature book. That was boredom at its worst possible. Secondly, the rest of the actors were also equally painful. I had headache for weeks after watching the movie. Thirdly, you see Sunny Deol dancing. Overally, it was a black spot on Sonu Nigam’s career and image, which he will have to carry through his life. It is very amazing that after having such dismal performance in the movies, he continued to multiply the quality and quantity of songs. And due to his master progress, we could forget his bad performance in the movies. Further, we can give an honest suggestion that he must not work in any other movies any more, or may be careful and do a lot of homework and hard work for the next movie he does. God forbid!

There are so many aspects of his stature, but I want to conclude my speech by listing his few songs liked by me:

SANDESE AANTEIN HAI (BORDER)

KAL HO NA HO (KAL HO NA HO)

MUJHE RAAT DIN (SANGHARSH)

HUM SE RAHOGE KYA HAMESHA (AUR PYAR HO GAYA)

MUJH SE NARAZ HO TO HO JAAO (PAPA KEHTEIN HAIN)

MAIN HOON NA (MAIN HOON NA)

AYE CHAND TERI CHANDNI KI QASAM (TERA JAADO CHAL GAYA)

ZINDAGI MAUT NA BAN JAAYE (SARFAROSH)

SARFAROSHI KI TAMANNA (SHAHEED BHAGAT SINGH – AJAY DEVGAN)

HUMEIN JAB SE MOHABBAT (BORDER)

SATRANGI RE (DIL SE)

YE DIL DEEWANA (PARDES)

KISMAT SE HUM TUM SE MILEIN HAIN (PUKAR)

BOL SAJNI (DOLI SAJAKE RAKHNA)

I know they are really very few as compared to what Sonu has actually sung, but these are some of the songs that I remember at this moment. Hope you like the songs too.