The interview which appears below, was originally aired on Rahmania - Aaha FM in December 2007. Interview excerpt is written by V.R. Vithur from the A.R. Rahman Yahoo Fans Group. ©The rights to this material are reserved to the owner. If you have any concerns or comments, please send an email to info@rahmaniac.com.
It gives me great pleasure to share the excerpts of today’s Rahmania Show. Singer Tanvi Shah (Jillenu Oru Kadhal Song fame) was present on the show today, and the various points that were shared today are as below:
Early Singing Career and Discovery by A.R. Rahman
She started singing from 13th May 2003. Her first song was Fanaa – from the film “Yuvaa” (Yaakai Thiri in Tamil from Ayidha Ezhuthu). After that, there was no question of looking back. She is not only a singer but also a costume designer. She is a proper Chennai girl who went to the US for graduation. There she was singing, recording in her garage, and that CD accidentally or miraculously reached A.R. Rahman.
Rahman called up Tanvi, and wanted her to sing for him. He used to say, “Come, Sing this song for me”. At the first instance, she was pinching herself to believe if it was really true. After singing for A.R. Rahman, she started learning Western Classical. Her mother was a sitarist. She was basically a Gujarati Tamil.
Contribution to “Oru Koodai Sunlight”
Their family was in Chennai, and their ancestors had been in Chennai for the past 200 years. She learned Hindustani. She knew Spanish, but only for singing purposes. Rahman wanted her to come with some Spanish gibberish for “Oru Koodai Sunlight” song from Shivaji. She wrote the lyrics in Spanish. After two days, she came to know that it was a completely different song altogether. The song was incidentally sung by her in that movie.
Musical and Cultural Family Background
Her mother was not a performing sitarist but used to play the sitar at home. Father used to play the Dol during his school days. She had her own Band called ‘Zahera” (meaning Upcoming or Budding). She didn’t know dance but just used to take care of the rhythm. In her stay in the US, she was staying with an Egyptian roommate, Dutch people, who were famous for Belly Dancing. She just picked it up from them. She knows many languages, including Arabic. She says that she is an open person and has to go a long way before she can be claimed a celebrity.
After singing Style Song, she was part of the Chorus of “One Love (Taj) Album of A.R. Rahman”. She also wrote the lyrics of ‘Ek Lo Ek Muft” song with Gulzar for Guru. In that song, Rahman wanted her to sing imagining herself to be drunk. The bit she sang was (Joyya Joyya…), which was recorded in the 3rd Take. She didn’t learn lyrics writing. She started writing lyrics based on the situation. If she was pushed to write in English, she told she would do that too.
Diverse Creative Skills
She has been doing Creative Designing; Jewellery Designing, Interiors, Styling. i.e., Dressing up people for a show. She runs 3 stores in Hyderabad. Her family is famous for charity. She donates 25% of her income to the Cancer Institute, which was started by her great grandfather Shri. Nanalal Bhatt. Her band troupe’s first show was for aiding the Cancer Institute. She performs live along with her co-band player, whose name is Shiva.
Unique Vocal Contributions to “Jillenu Oru Kadhal”
Jillenu Oru Kadhal: Before the song came out, she was just singing the track. They were two people. There was another girl called Sonia, who was supposed to sing with her, but Sonia went off to Canada. Tanvi was very sick when Rahman called her up, but he told that he would wait for her to become OK and insisted her to sing the song for him. He told that he wanted 5 voices in that song, and also the feel like L.R. Eswari, Asha Bhonsle in that song. Tanvi brought different format styles of singing in that song:
Low Octaves; High Octaves; Cartoon days; Sound of a Kitten. She was very excited to see her song in the film. She claims that all her songs with Rahman have been a different feel. A.R. Rahman uses her voice very nicely, and he proves her potential. She even thanked him for utilizing her potential, which even she didn’t know well.
Rahman’s songs which she likes the most
- Chandralekha Song from Thiruda Thiruda: Anupama has sung that song very well. She says that she hasn’t heard that much force anywhere
- Tere Bina from Guru: A.R. Rahman has sung very well. Chinmayee has also sung very beautifully.
- Lukka Chuppi from Rang De Basanti: That song makes her cry every time she hears it. The lyrics have been written so well resembling what a mother feels and talks to her son.
She has also sung the Introductory Song for “New”, along with Sunitha Sarathy. Rahman wanted different noises in that song, and it was Tanvi who made the noise “Meou” (cat’s sound), out of which came the sound “new” in that song.
