Ready to rock

Whether it's the peppy Chor Bazaari, the lilting Tum Mile or the recent character Character Dheela Hai, singer Neeraj Sridhar knows how to be versatile. The singer who's learnt his craft in Sweden talks about his childhood passion for music:



Child's play
As a kid, I was crazy about music and loved playing the guitar in my free time. Led Zeppelin was my idol, along with Deep Purple, Rolling Stones, Diana Ross. I used to study in a government school, so whenever we had parades, I would be playing the drums. On Sundays, I would play the guitar for six-seven hours at a stretch.u00a0u00a0

Delhi gigs
While I lived in Delhi, I played a lot of rock and heavy metal. This was during my early teenage years. One of my earliest gurus was Indrajit Sengupta, who was my elder brother's college friend in Moscow. The rest of the stuff I picked up by listening to music records. I know Loy Mendonca of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy fame from my Delhi days. He was also like a guru for young rock music lovers. Seeing my interest in music, my parents decided to send me to Sweden, where my brother was. I had a blast in my new school as it had proper music lessons and instruments for us to play, learn and enjoy.

Replay
Today, everyone wants to become a singer. But what bugs me is the fact that most singers want to emulate Sonu Nigam, Kishore Kumar or Kailash Kher. In this quest, they become replicas and lose their originality. Having said that, I don't mean that you're not allowed to be inspired by musicians. Even when I sung ' Naughty Naughty Ek Raat Ayee' from Housefull, I tried to get into the Kishore Kumar groove, but the voice was mine. However, it's encouraging to see people allowing their kids to pursue music as a career.