When you enter his house the first thing you notice is the huge window, which offers you a beautiful view of the sunset. And as we sit down for a candid chat, the Indian Idol 3 singer, Meiyang Chang points out at the chandeliers that broke due to the breeze. For the 31 year old singer, life has always been changing since initially he started his career as a singer, then a host and ultimately an actor. The singer while speaking to Radioandmusic.com’s Dhairya Ingle talks about his life after Indian Idol 3, films and upcoming projects, thus we profile the singer in this week’s section of Rendezvous.
For Chang, Indian Idol was something that happened unplanned. It was his friend who egged him to participate in the show. “Initially I thought I would just get out in four to five rounds, but as the competition proceeded, I realised that this was a great platform. However, once the competition got over, I just didn’t know what to do and the biggest question I asked myself was what next?” One good thing after he left the show, Sony Music gave me a contract which any which way goes to the top ten contestants. However, this time the top five contestants bagged the contract and this is how it begun. They had recorded a few songs with Leslie Louis, Amit Trivedi.
By now they were a band of boys when the concept of ‘band of boys’ seized to exist. “In my head it was a good beginning despite this not being in sync with the current trend. A couple of months down the line we shot videos and realised that things were not working out. Thus I went to the same phase when I was clueless about what to do,” said Chang.
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This was when he auditioned for being an anchor for Indian Idol, since Mini Mathur was expecting a child and would remain unavailable for the season. “Initially the Indian Idol team said I was good but too young to be an anchor but then things worked out and I was an anchor for the audition episodes i.e. the first six episodes. But after getting amazing responses, I got my extension. This led me to a few other shows, movies etc. Life has changed drastically for me and has become exciting,” smiled Chang.
He loves singing and acting the most. “Acting was never on my cards since I always believed that I could never be an actor. All thanks to my previous experience in school and college. While in school I was thrown out of a comedy play only because I never said my own line but kept laughing all the time. The teachers never even heard my dialogues because I kept on laughing all the time and I could not afford to do so especially while playing a pivotal role. Over the years, I always ended up being a part of the choir and never did I bag a lead role,” said Chang.
But after a couple of episodes of Indian Idol 4 as an anchor, it was the first time that people heard him talking actively.
After which he was offered a film, which never released and that bagged me the IPL contract. “While I was leaving for South Africa for IPL 2, I got a call for Badmaash Company. When I saw myself on the screen I released I can act and of course get better. After the film there have been a few hits and misses. Now, if things work out, acting will go on,” said he.
Talking about the concept of self promotion v/s talent, Chang talks about a piece o advice given to him by the great cricket commentator Harsh Bhogle who said,” Its always not about talent.” The singer believes that one needs to have both.
Chang is an ardent fan of movies and loves reading fiction. He also loves blogging, which has now taken a back seat. All thanks to hectic schedules. “My day starts with making a breakfast for myself and then doing my riyaaz for 30 minutes to an hour. If I am working to go to the studio and if I am not I try catching up with a few of my friends,” concludes the dentist turned singer.
