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| Ravi: painting the music world red | ||
| From riding a bicycle with a paint brush in hand, surely this simple man has come a long way, gifting a car to his wife recently, and hoping to go for long ride in the world of music. Utpal Borpujari speaks with Ravinder Ravi, the finalist of Indian Idol. | ||
| Ravi was constantly harangued by the Indian Idol judges Sonu Nigam, Anu Malik and Farah Khan for being off key quite often and for having reached the finals purely on the basis of emotional votes he received from viewers. He is surely lucky in his musical journey, if one considers the fact that from singing songs as a hobby, he has seen his fortunes rise to unbelievable heights in the last few years. So much so that the music video of the title song of his first album has been shot in the picturesque Barcelona city. Ravi also is aware of his limitations and accepts that it was people's sympathy that saw him rise to the level of finalists in the Indian Idol show. "The love I have received from people was so much that from Ravinder Ravi the painter, I became Ravinder Ravi the singer. I hope this love for me continues through Jat Lutya Gaya," he says. He accepts one fact – that luck and people's love proved to be a boon for him. "I know that I was labelled 'off key' during the competition, and when I heard Abhijeet Sawant, Rahul Saxena, Rahul Vaidya and Amit Sana, I realised that they were far ahead of me as they are all trained in classical music. But then, I had to sing several songs in the contest which were not of my range. In this album, all the eight songs, which are various nature reflecting my capabilities, are within the range I am suited for," he says. He does not think too much of his more famed rivals in the show. "Rahul Vaidya sings a lot like Sonu Nigam, Abhijeet is also not original and Rahul Saxena is a good singer but inconsistent," he says in a matter of fact tone, listing only Prajakta Shukre as his favourite rival. His opinion about Qazi Touqeer, one of the winners of Sony's other talent hunt show, Fame Gurukul, is even more matter of fact, "He is plain lucky and is not a singer." Ravi looks back emotionally at his formative years, as he recalls that his parents had passed away when he was around four years old, and also how he and his elder brother had to toil to make two ends meet. "Though we both are passionate about singing, we could never learn it formally as it was a hard life for us," he recalls. With seasoned music director Jawahar Wattal, who made a superstar out of Daler Mehndi by composing Bolo Ta Ra Ra Ra, as his mentor and music director of the album, Ravi is confident that he has a good life ahead as a singer. According to Wattal, "He really has the talent and is a born natural. Though only time will tell how successful this album is, and how far ahead he will go in the profession, I see a great future for him." Ravi now has his eyes set in becoming a playback singer in Hindi films. "Why not? If I can reach this far, what is wrong is hoping to sing for films?" he asks. But then, his heart will always beat, he says, for Punjabi music. "I will always concentrate on it even if I get to sing in films," he says. |
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