Pakistani singer Shafqat Amanat Ali talks about his music, his wife and Bollywood.
Pakistani singer SHAFQAT AMANAT ALI talks about his music, his wife and Bollywood.
He is better known as the voice of Shah Rukh Khan in the song Mitwa from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and the face of fusion music because of his last album Saagar. But for Pakistani singer Shafqat Amanat Ali his latest album Tabeer is a dream come true.
“Tabeer means fulfillment of a dream. There were many songs I always wanted to sing but couldn’t because of restrictions from my family (gharana). Now that I have my made my own identity, I could go ahead and make this album. It’s a mixture of folk, sufi and fusion,” says the singer.
Highlights of his new album are the soulful Ya Ali and Khede Nal Nai Jana. But it is Shafqat’s contemporary rendition of the famous Ali Dum Mast Kalandar — a song sung by several artists in the past — that catches the attention. “I wanted to do my version of the song. I have seen people from all religions — Hindi, Sikh to Christians — connect to this song. This song has many admirers.”
Shafqat too has many admirers but his biggest admirer is back home in Pakistan. “My wife tells me if she likes my work. But she trusts me a lot and she knows that if it’s not good enough I will scrap the song myself.” Shafqat admits to being a romantic. “She has accepted my lifestyle, my late nights and my frequent travels very well. I would love to dedicate Aankhon Ke Saagar to my wife. She loves the song,” he says.
This romantic streak has often come out while singing songs like Mitwa and Yeh Hosla in Dor. And after quite a long break from Bollywood, he is back to playback singing. He will sing songs in his typical style for Hello, Ashayein and Mumbai Cutting.
“There’s a charm in singing across the border. Also, there are lots of singers to look up to here. Most singers though end up emulating the great singers Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi. So it’s refreshing to hear original voices like that of Shankar, KK and Shaan.”
Apart from singers, he admires Kareena Kapoor, who he feels ‘is the best’.
t_suparna@dnaindia.net 
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