MUMBAI: Life would have been different for Rahul Pandey, had it not been for his big break with music composer duo Sachin-Jigar. It was Haseena Tu Kameena Main for the film Happy Ending that changed the industry ball game for Pandey.
Sharing how he stumbled upon what really turned out to be his first step to Bollywood success, the singer says, “Sachin –Jigar and I have a common friend who insisted me to meet the composers. So one fine day I visited their studio and I met Sachin. I sang a few scratches for them and they in return promised to call me when they have my kind of song. The wait was a tad long, but I did get a call. I had no clue about the film or the cast but I gave my best to the song. Six months later Sachin messaged me congratulating on the song. A debut film like this for me was like a dream.”
Hailing from Kolkata, music for Pandey started at the age of one. His house always echoed of Kishore Kumar’s songs. His first stage performance was at the age of eight. He continued being the lead singer for his school band. He also went on to participated in various competitions during school and college days and also won many.
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Music always played an important role in Pandey’s life and therefore, he wanted to peruse it as a career at the earliest. His parents, on the other hand, agreed to him following his dreams but on the condition of him completing post-graduating. Respecting his parent’s decision, Pandey took the flight to Mumbai only after completing his MBA in Marketing.
After the degree, Pandey worked with an MNC for a year and then switched to a production house as a brand manager for another year. During this time he was also, working on his music. Managing music along with work schedules in Mumbai was turning tough day in an out. Finally, he decided to quit his job after saving money to survive in the city for the next six months.
This is when the singer started focusing completely on music. “I started recording my music samples and took them to various studios. The response was not that quick I had to keep a lot of patience. I started taking up work like singing the chorus as all I wanted was to face the mic (microphone). Also, when you visit studios, you meet different sound engineers and composers, your music circle increases. And I wanted to grow my music circle a little so I did everything I got,” confesses Pandey.
In the recent release Munna Michael, Pandey lent his voice to Feel The Rhythm and Show Me Your Moves composed by Pranay. “I met Pranay through Shashaa Tirupati. He asked me to sing the scratch of Feel The Rhythm and luckily the scratch itself got selected. Pranay gives singers their own space to sing, he does not interfere much and that is what gets creativity into the singer’s voice,” explains the singer.
Apart from Bollywood, Pandey has also attracted fans from the Tamil and Telugu industry. “I enjoy the South Indian industry and its music. Singing a Telugu song did not take me much time while the Tamil song was little difficult as the pronunciations are different. But I managed and my work was loved by all,” exclaims the proud artist.
Currently, he is working for a German film which is slated to release next year. The story is about a traveller who visits Mumbai during one of his expeditions and that’s when Pandey’s song comes in picture. The song is titled Sapne.
