Naresh Iyer : I would have been cricketer if not for singing

Singing sensation Naresh Iyer fills in Vrinda Prasad on his soulful concoctions, being noticed by Rahman and his breathless adventure. Deep breathing recommended!

Try reading this sentence aloud in one breath: Naresh Iyer is a busy singer and performer who lives and breathes music of different genres even though he learnt Carnatic music formally. Are you out of breath? Naresh Iyer attempted Shankar Mahadevan’s Breathless sometime during his early days, at a fest in Kollam. The crowd went berserk. His concerts usually result in a few swooned women and thousands high on his music! His vocal chords have the power to evoke undiscovered adrenalin. Small wonder that his voice and his captivating smile has created a huge fan base. Naresh also happens to be one of A R Rahman’s favourites.

He would have probably been a cricketer or a table tennis player had he not ended up being a singer. “Let me be honest. There was no plan. I did not have an ambition to make it as a singer. You could call it a case of plain luck,” he offers. Turns out, it was his mother and sister who pushed Naresh to become a singer. “My mom wanted me to stand in an audition for Channel V Super Singer and I was freaked out looking at a crowd of some 5000 contenders. But I made it to the top 25,” he smiles.

The show was a deciding moment in his career. Rahman happened to be the judge and he was to announce the results. Though Naresh was eliminated, Rahman promised to call him back. In four days, he got a call from Rahman’s office and he sang Mayilarage from the Tamil film Anbe Aaruyire (2005). That was a first for him.

His debut song got him the HUB Award for the best playback singer. “I simply walked into Rahman Sir’s studio and sang Mayilarage, without a clue that it was going into the album. My journey as a professional singer began then,” he says. Being part of the Rahman School has been a dream come true for the songster and it’s only getting better from then on.

Naresh makes no bones about his indebtedness to Rahman. Within a year, Paathshala, Roobaaroo, Tu Bin Bataye, Paathshala (remix) were burning sizzling on Bollywood charts. Hey Kaala kaala bandar from Delhi-6 also created some buzz for Naresh.

He won the National Film Award for the Best Male Playback Singer (2006) for the song Roobaroo, “Though my debut in Hindi with Rang De Basanti was great, the few films for which I sang after this weren’t even released for various reasons.” He has a few songs lined up this year. “I just hope it works out for me,” he says.

There is intense competition these days with the new crop of young singers flooding talent hunt shows. But as usual, some singers are marked off to suit certain actors. Just how does he view this scenario? “Honestly, I do my job and switch off after that. I don't want to keep a tab on who sings for whom, where the competition is going, where I’m heading and that sort of thing. I believe that there is life beyond this. It would however be nice if the name of the singer is shown in the title, along with that of the composer. People are curious to know about the singer, so perhaps there could be a montage shot of the singer in the video.”

Moving on, we ask Naresh what he thinks of the trend of television channels churning out overnight singing stars? Naresh responds, “Television can make a star, a popular figure. When a singer is born, he or she will sing whether or not there is television. A lot of these people have talent, but not so many avenues to showcase it, so it’s a great platform.” Naresh is quick to add that “stardom without talent will surely be short-lived.” About being trained in music, he says, “it does help you get the right notes and the pitch, but at the end of it, the connection between the singer and the mike ought to happen.”
Does that mean Naresh does his riyaaz daily? “That’s what I’m meant to be doing, he gushes but because of my erratic schedules I tend to miss my daily riyaaz,” he sighs rather audibly.

We let him go now, since he needs to get back to the recording studio. As a parting note, he treats us to a few lines of Roobaroo. While we are too busy getting heady and forget all about saying goodbye, Naresh resumes a note of humility that belies his young age. “I am here thanks to Rahman and all my fans,” he signs off.