Interview with Kailash Kher

chillibreeze writer — Samarth Singh

Chillibreeze gives you an insight into the work and lifestyle of Kailash Kher. Read on...

He’s almost everywhere. Whether it is Bollywood, advertising jingles, or his band ‘Kailasaa’, Kailash Kher is a familiar name. His voice is the kind that touches souls, and evokes undiscovered adrenalin. No wonder they say, ‘It’s the soul of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the voice of Kailash Kher.’

Kher comes a long way. He was born in Meerut, lived his childhood in Delhi and set foot into the world of music at the age of twelve when he started learning Indian classical music. He says he was a notorious and hyperactive kid and that is evident from the fact that of the numerous years he took music lessons, he grasped only a couple of days worth of knowledge. Despite this, he claims that his father had maximum influence on his music by his mere chanting of Indian folk songs day in and day out. Before music, he tried his luck at business, but a couple of depressing, unsuccessful attempts took him to Southeast Asia for two years. There, after being coaxed by his near and dear ones to take to singing full-time, he decided to move to Mumbai.

After he set foot in Mumbai, it didn’t take long for Kher to manage his first break. His popularity gained by word of mouth and his performances at Salim studio won him his first advertising jingle for Nakshatra followed by several others like Hero Cycles and Chevrolet. It was all the way up from there and he finally bagged a Bollywood number ‘Rabba ishq na hove’ from the movie ‘Andaaz.’ Well, so far so good. But, it was not until the revolutionary hit ‘Allah ke Bande’ around end 2002 that he came to be as popular as he is today.

Surprisingly, unlike the typical present day celebrity, Kher leads a rather passive, non-fancy life. As far as his singing goes, his ryaz (practice) cannot be classified as the intense, voracious kind. But, he does his own bit by following a controlled form of life- no eating outside, no smoking, no drinking, no dope and conserving internal energy by speaking only when he’s spoken to, he says with a smile. Coming from a middle class family, having absolutely no intentions of having the riches, he intends on letting his success not affect him or his work. But his music does not come cheap. His policy? “I give quality stuff, so don’t scrounge on cash.”

In a very short span of time, Kher has received loads of awards ranging from a Mumbai Police award to the Young Achiever’s award by the Indo-American society. Along with these, he has also had his share of goodwill gestures like gracing KC College’s annual fest ‘Kiran’ and inaugurating Indus Ind bank’s 100th branch. As for now, he intends to concentrate on his band, ‘Kailasaa’ a.k.a. Heaven, fulltime, channeling all his energy towards the release of their first album also named ‘Kailasaa’. This album will include some of their best compositions based on pure Indian Music.

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—About our writer:

Samarth Singh describes himself as a BITS, Pilani student in Marine Engineering who decided to try everything in the world but sailing! A pilot by passion, an entrepreneur in my dreams, a journalist by interest and a rule breaker by nature.

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