Quarter Century | Is Shreya Ghoshal the Last Great Playback Star of Indian Music?
The girl in the green frock won fame at 12, and since then, for over two decades, Shreya Ghoshal’s songs have preserved their soul.
My Instagram algorithm knows that I’m an avid watcher of the music reality show Indian Idol and so it dutifully throws up similar videos that it knows I might enjoy. One such video is a clip of a youthful Sonu Nigam hosting the popular music TV show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in the late ’90s. Nigam is channelling his inner Julie Andrews by singing “Do-Re-Mi” to a bunch of enthusiastic child contestants who are gathered around him. One of the kids in that group is Shreya Ghoshal, looking quite like a von Trapp child, dressed in a green frock and white stockings. The caption to the video informs viewers that she was only 12 years old at the time and went on to win the contest. In a recent interview with Canadian creator Lilly Singh, Ghoshal, now 40, joked that she’s been diligently paying taxes from the age of 13.
But coming back to the clip, it instinctively made me hop on YouTube to revisit my favourite Nigam and Ghoshal collaboration — “Piyu Bole” from Parineeta (2005). By this time, Ghoshal was an adult, well past her frock-wearing days, but still very young. The song is about a couple in Kolkata playfully flirting and teasing each other. And it’s as much a Shreya Ghoshal performance, as it is Vidya Balan’s, on whom the song is picturised. You can feel Ghoshal blush as she sings the lines, “Thoda woh ghabrayi, thoda sa sharmayi, ucchli yahaan se wahan” with a slight quiver of excitement and laughter in her voice. Ghoshal, who is now a judge on Indian Idol, politely chides contestants when they don’t act through their singing. “Your performance was technically sound, but lacked feeling” is a common piece of feedback that she offers. She then demonstrates how to bring in the feels by singing the song herself, as everyone on the set looks at her in awe.
While growing up, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa was taken rather seriously by my family. We watched it together and had our favourites. This is where she was noticed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s mother, and eventually the filmmaker himself. I have no recollection of Ghoshal on that show, but I think everyone remembers her big Bollywood debut a few years later in 2002 with Bhansali’s Devdas. At the time, there was no concept of memes, but the way Ghoshal added an “ishh” throughout the song “Bairi Piya” (composed by Ismail Darbar) became quite the rage. She was only 16 when she recorded that song and went on to win a National Award for it.
It was then that Hindi playback music entered its Shreya Ghoshal era, in the way that the ’90s was her predecessor Alka Yagnik’s era, and Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar in the decades before. There have been other great female voices that have debuted in the last 25 years, and she’s had a solid contemporary — Sunidhi Chauhan — but I’d argue we are still in Ghoshal’s era. And there is no sign of anyone who is likely to take over her crown.
Over the last two decades, Ghoshal has recorded over 2,000 songs, in over 20 languages. Outside of her Bollywood domination, she’s also sung for top composers from the South like Ilaiyaraaja, Anirudh Ravichander, Thaman S., Devi Sri Prasad and more. Music commentators often say she’s the only Bollywood voice who sings in South Indian languages with impeccable pronunciation, which has given her an edge over her peers. Last year, Spotify India’s list of most streamed Indian artistes revealed that Ghoshal was the only woman in the top five, right after Rahman, Pritam and Arijit Singh. The only other woman on that list is Yagnik, who took the ninth position.
Being any sort of female artiste in the movies is a tough gig. This includes female playback singers, whose career lengths seem to be shrinking. Lata Mangeshkar began her career in 1946 and had her last release in 2009. That sort of longevity feels impossible today for many reasons. When female parts in movies are diminished, there’s less scope for songs to be written around their characters, which in turn means fewer opportunities for female playback singers. To sustain a long career against these odds makes Ghoshal’s dominance even more commendable. She’s built an enviable repertoire of songs like “Barso Re” from Guru, “Yeh Ishq Haye” from Jab We Met, “Jadu Hai Nasha Hai” from Jism, “Ami Je Tomar” from Bhool Bhulaiyaa and “Ghar More Pardesiya” from Kalank — all movies with pivotal female leads — to name a few, where it’s a Shreya Ghoshal show all the way. Her continued collaboration with Bhansali across his filmography adds an extra layer of heft to all her “greatest hits” playlists on streaming platforms. Think “Nagada Sang Dhol” from Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, “Ghoomar” from Padmaavat and “Deewani Mastani” and “Mohe Rang Do Laal” from Bajirao Mastani.
It’s also getting harder for any playback singer to get past the Arijit Singh monopoly. Singh’s talent is unquestionable, but with him dominating every other album, it does feel like there’s no room for any other voice, male or female, to flourish. When the love ballad “Tum Kya Mile” from Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani was released, Ghoshal’s fans threw a fit after they saw that she wasn’t credited along with composer Pritam, lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya and Singh. Later, the makers released a special Shreya Ghoshal reprise version of the song. This outrage in itself is rare, since female singers have now got used to being phased out of duets. Often, they get no more than two lines to shine in a male-led song, making them easily replaceable. That’s probably why Ghoshal has gradually become far more selective about her work over the last couple of years.
A few years ago, Shah Rukh Khan made headlines when he remarked, “We are the last of the stars”, while referring to the outsized superstardom he, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have enjoyed over the decades. More recently, Aamir Khan dismissed the claim saying there will be many more in the future that may overshadow them. Perhaps he’s right. But as things stand now, it seems like Shah Rukh is winning the argument. In fact, I wonder, could this be true of female singers as well? Could Ghoshal be the last of the stars amongst her tribe? If she is, I hope we get to enjoy many more years of her melodious voice.
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