Music's not my bread & butter: Abhijeet

Whether it's his caustic comments on singers from the neighbouring nations or his take on reality show judges, Abhijeet Bhattacharya refuses to toe the hypocritical line!
The singer, who has rendered some mellifluous beauties like Tauba tumhare yeh ishare, Mein koi aisa geet gaoon, Tum dil ki dhadkan mein, Darwaza band kar lo and Vaada raha sanam, is candid enough to admit: "I'm not too happy with the way I've sung Darwaza...and Vaada raha...because I recorded these two songs when I was suffering from terrible cold!" With Abhijeet ready to enchant the Nagpurians today at St Ursula Girls' High School, at the Times Nagpur Festival, NT brings you more on this interesting tete-a-tete...
SRK's voice!
There was a time a few years back when Abhijeet was happily tagged as the 'screen voice of Shah Rukh Khan.' But now, the scenario is different. Ask him if it rankles, and pat comes the reply: "Talat, Rafi and Hemant Kumar were said to be the voices of Dev Anand, but it was Kishore Kumar who sang maximum number of songs for Dev saab! Today, the time of dignified and stylish voices is over! Now every one, with the voice of a street-beggar, is singing in the name of Sufi genre!"
Whither playback?
Ask him if that's the reason, he's not much into playback singing these days, and Abhijeet says, "Tell me, which big singer is doing lots of playback singing today? Whether it's Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam or Shreya Ghoshal, they are hardly into playback. Today, tracks are made first. Gana toh zabardasti nagaade ki tarah daal dete hein! Many singers take a chumma or create a controversy to stay in news! I'm a brand in my own right, so I don't need all that!"
Intimidating presence!
A talented singer he certainly is, but Abhijeet, who's also judged quite a few reality shows, is known to speak his mind. Ask him how does he manage to be so straightforward, and the singer replies: "I don't believe in hypocrisy! Most of the music directors today are singing too. And they praise the young contestants to the skies, so I have to step in and tell them that 'if the singer is so good, why don't you give him/her a chance in your film?' Moreover, when a young contestant is singing from his mouth, why should they force him to sing from the nose? I'm only scared of hurting my mother or the Lord Almighty. And music is not my bread and butter! I've a thriving real estate business, so I'm not scared! That’s why I always speak my mind!"
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