The song ‘Ghodey Pe Sawaar’ from ‘Qala’ has become a massive hit all over. Not just on Instagram reels but even on other social media and video-sharing platforms, the song has become a huge success. While the song’s popularity is growing by the day, people simply know it as an Amit Trivedi composition, but not many are aware of the voice behind the song. The singer who has sung the soulful track is Sireesha Bhagavatula.
Yes, it’s the same 26-year-old singer who became a household name after being a part of ‘Indian Idol’. Talking to Outlook’s Prateek Sur, Sireesha Bhagavatula opens up about her journey in music, the success of ‘Qala’ and lots more. Excerpts from the candid chat:
Tell us a bit about your musical journey. What form of singing have you gotten trained in?
I was born and brought up in Raipur, Chattisgarh. So, when I talk about my music inclination, I started my journey when I was 3.5 years old. While growing up, I always had a musical atmosphere as my younger sister and I were introduced to this field almost at the very same time. We started off by learning Carnatic Music. After I shifted to Vizag, I rehearsed and learnt music from Mrs Malapragada Jogulamba followed by learning Western Classical and Hindustani Music from Augustin Paul and Kuldeep Sagar respectively.
When did you know that this is what you want to continue doing in life?
Even though I had a very strong inclination towards music ever since my school days, it was only during my final year of pursuing engineering, I decided to pursue music as a profession. It mainly happened when I banged the golden opportunity of singing in one of AR Rahman’s movies, after being evicted from the then Tamil singing reality show that I was very much a part of.
There is always a constant debate about whether a person is born a singer or can one person learn the art of singing over the years with practice. What is your opinion on this debate?
According to my opinion, be it any art form, singing, dancing, or acting, it starts with one being exceptionally God-gifted and determined towards what they want to pursue and eventually nurturing it as much as they can.
You’ve been popular on social media as well, and a lot of your success gets credited to social media as well. Is social media an important tool in today’s times for budding artists?
Of course! I am grateful for social media as it has played a huge role in unveiling any artist’s visibility and exposure. Not to forget, one app that I would like to give a special shoutout to - Hipi. Hipi had hosted an online singing contest called Hipi G.O.A.T where my talent and art were much appreciated, and I won the contest. As a winner of Hipi G.O.A.T, I was awarded by the music legend Shilpa Rao and Shankar Mahadevan. This encouraged me to pursue my big singing dream and opened so many more opportunities for me.
Many people find it very taxing to constantly keep posting on social media, but for many others, it comes quite naturally. Are you always happy to constantly be posting on social media? Or do you also find it a task to constantly keep posting something or the other?
(Laughs) Well, that’s a very good question because as much as I love posting content and videos, there are days wherein I try to push myself to post not for me, not for the likes or numbers but for all those fans who’ve shown immense respect, trust, and love in me.
You were widely appreciated in ‘Qala’. What kind of love and response are you receiving from your fans?
‘Qala’ is a blessing! I am extremely grateful to the entire team of ‘Qala’ right from director Anvita Dutt, Amit Trivedi, the talented lyricist Kausar Munir, Swanand Kirkire, Varun Grover, Amitabh Bhattacharya and not to forget, the amazing cast. I am out of words by the terrific responses which I’ve got for the songs, ‘Ghodey Pe Sawaar’, ‘Phero Ba Najariya’, ‘Rubaaiyaan’ and ‘Shauq’. It is beyond heart whelming and my heart is full of gratitude. It is wonderful to witness so many people lip-syncing and creating short videos on my song with so much love, expression and admiration.
In today’s times, music directors usually get a song sung by 9-10 different singers and then finally decide on one person’s voice to be kept for the final film. Have you also had such an experience where you sang for something and later it was someone else’s voice that was picked up?
Yes! Well, finalising and shortlisting down to one person’s voice is a big and crucial process of the film. One song may have many versions before finalising the best one. So, whether our version is selected, or no is complete luck. To give your best at that moment is what I have learnt through my experiences as the very first song that I sang was for a very big music director, but unfortunately couldn’t make it up to the final soundtrack. So, from being in a place of complete self-doubt about my music career and cut to ‘Qala’ where I was obliged to showcase my real ‘Qala’ and sing the entire song at a single stretch, it’s a journey which everyone has to go through in order to remain humble and down to earth.
What has been the best experience for you to date in the film industry?
There are many such experiences be it singing small parts in AR Rahman’s song, being a part of Raja Sir’s singing crew or even ‘Qala’. I cherish them all. I am grateful to my parents for showing me the importance of arts and pushing me to pursue them. Another such wonderful experience that I can think of is when Anushka Sharma posted my song on her story appreciating it and I told her about how big of a Virat Kohli fan I am, which she said she’d convey to him. So, these little moments add up together and form the best moments and experiences of my life.
And what about an experience from the film industry that you would say that it was the worst experience of my life?
I wouldn’t say the worst experience as experience either is good or something that I would learn from so there’s always a blessing and disguise. But every time I got eliminated from a singing reality show, I’ve gotten a huge opportunity from a music singer. So, there is still a lot of experience and get my hands over.
What next can we expect to see from you?
More and more singing projects. Everything that God has held for me along with lots and lots of music - be it some of the music that I’ve sung with these renowned music directors or some singles, I can’t wait for them to be released.
