Shilpa Rao on ‘Chaleya’ challenges; Calls the song in Shah Rukh Khan's film ‘Not easy at all’

Playback singer Shilpa Rao, received much love for her song 'Chaleya' in the Shah Rukh Khan and Atlee film 'Jawan' and the song had went on to become trending, for all the right reasons and she also won National Award for the song.During the SCREEN session, Shilpa Rao spoke about her musical influences, early training under her father, and her journey in the film industry. She also shared her thoughts on an industry increasingly shaped by numbers and virality, along with her experiences working with composer A. R. Rahman.Discussing 'Chaleya', Shilpa revealed that the song was far more complex than it appears. Despite its light and breezy sound, she said it demanded immense effort during recording. She explained, “It’s not an easy song at all. It sounds breezy because a lot of effort was being put in to make it sound like that, because if you want to sound effortless a lot of effort goes into that.”She further described her initial struggle in the studio while trying to get the song right. “The first time I got onto the mic in Bombay it took some 3–4 hours and still I couldn’t crack it, because it has a very shuffle rhythm structure. You have to sing it in pockets, say Michael Jackson style. It has to be quantized but at the same time fluid because the lyrics are like that. So after 3–4 hours of struggle, I gave up.”She added that things changed when she later recorded the track in Chennai with composer Anirudh Ravichander. “I went to Chennai, energy matters and Anirudh was there and we finished the recording in twenty minutes.”Shilpa also revisited her work on 'Besharam Rang' from 'Pathaan' and she praised director Siddharth Anand for his unique understanding of music and storytelling. Sharing her experience, she said, “He sees music very differently. Like for ‘Besharam Rang’ I asked him if it’s a duet, how many lines do I have? And he said, ‘Shilpa, it’s a solo, go for it.’ So he has that kind of vision and it’s great to work with such people.”Shilpa emphasised the importance of discovering one’s own voice, “You have one life, please sound like yourself. In our house, we listened to all these women, we didn’t listen to just one, we listened to everyone, and then there was no single reference left. Because when you listen to just one person, you start feeling that this is the only way, and this is who you have to follow. But when you listen to so many amazing voices, you get confused… then you start finding your own.”Despite nearly two decades in the industry, Shilpa admitted she still feels nervous before recordings. She believes this fear keeps her focused and pushes her to perform better. She said, “I’m not confident at all. I’m still very scared, and I want to retain that feeling, it just makes you more alert. I always have the fear that I won’t be able to sing the song. It’s a good fear because I’m still bothered about doing a bad job.”She also spoke about prioritising authenticity over convenience in her work. “You might lose a project or two, and you might let go of a song or two. Yes, it happens all the time. So you might lose it for that moment, but in the bigger picture, you have to project yourself as yourself. For example, if I have to choose between doing say a run-of-the-mill song and play it safe or choose an in-your-face kind of song where I’m being crazy, I’ll choose the second option because even if I fail at least I did what is me instead of doing something which is boring.”Shilpa Rao has established herself as a prominent playback singer across Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil cinema. She began her career during her college years after composer Mithoon selected her to sing 'Javeda Zindagi' from the film 'Anwar'.