I Never Wanted to Be Famous

A tête-à-tête with none other than the most sought-after singer in India

- Payal Mehta

There’s something about Arijit Singh. It took me two months to get the man talking on the phone, forget meeting face to face. On my first request for an interview, I got a blunt no from his reps, stating that he was then currently in his anti-social days, viz, hibernation mode. A week later, I was notified of all the artistes performing at the Enchanted Valley Carnival, an annual EDM festival that takes place at the Aamby Valley City in Pune and I saw his name listed in it. I quickly grabbed the opportunity and called the PR team of the festival to get in touch with the singer. And, guess what? They happily agreed! But the chase didn’t end there. From scheduling the interview almost five times to cancelling it at the last minute (I kid you not, I skipped a meal and a really good event for those apparent appointments) and rescheduling it again; a few weeks later, when I had started to believe that Arijit Singh was a wild goose chase after all, the PR called up one fine day and said he was ready to do the interview in the next 15 minutes. I was a little miffed. However, the fan in me, if not the writer, still wanted to get to know him.

I heard him on the phone and let me tell you again, there is definitely something about Arijit Singh. There was absolute warmth, simplicity, genuineness and humility in his voice. And I turned from a fan to a fanatic in the 20 minutes that we spoke to each other.

I started off with the obvious question. Why on earth was he so media shy? To which, the Raabta hit maker laughs and says, “There’s no answer to that. I think it is in my genes, in my blood!”