Paroma Dasgupta talks about her latest song, Bulbula, and how she reinterprets old Bollywood songs
After a sensuous item number for Oonga, Paroma Dasgupta’s next with music director Krsna is Bulbula (from Aanand L Rai’s web movie Meri Nimmo), a western classical track. “Krsna thought my voice texture would suit the song. It was a challenge to memorise the tune. But we have a good understanding as collaborators,” she says, crediting Krsna for getting the best out of her by pushing her to do her best.
A song with Sanam
Before this, Paroma sang Amar Mallika Bone with pop band Sanam, which they worked on for over a year and finalised after listening to a lot of Rabindra Sangeet. “It was worth the wait. When we started jamming, everything sounded so perfect. Everyone in the band is so good at what they do, so, working with them was a smooth affair,” says the singer of Coffee Peete Peete (Gabbar is Back). She has been a big fan of the band and avers, “Sanam’s last Rabindra Sangeet was a big success. Being a Bengali, I believe that is the best Version of Tumi Robi Nirobi I have heard. So, the pressure was high because that song was so beautifully done that this also had to sound equally beautiful.” The song, she tells us, is a tribute to the Poet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and dedicated to Bengalis.
Her own take on old songs
Paroma is known for revisiting old Bollywood numbers like Na Jaane Kyun (Choti Si Baat) and Kajara Mohabbatwala (Kismat) as Kajara Blues. “Whenever I take a song, my focus is on giving it my own treatment and sound,” she says, adding that Kajara Blues was the most challenging to reprise. “My sister Pragya and I have grown up listening to the song, so we interpreted it in a similar way. But we had to sound different from each other. The original is a qawwali but here, we took country bluegrass route. So, my vocals were contemporary and Pragya’s traditional. It was like two singers from different eras jamming,” says Paroma.
Upcoming works
After Bulbula, Paroma has sung a song, Pichi Pichi Gaa for Telugu movie Mehbooba, which she states has a good vibe. “I’m working on a lot of stuff for YouTube and I have Bollywood songs, too. But till a track is about to release, you don’t know if your version is the final one,” she says, adding that she plans to collaborate with many artistes soon.
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