Behind the lungi
He remains one of the most controversial figures to have ever hit the Indian music scene but, Honey Singh, in person, comes across as a very different person.
Currently basking in the success of his ‘Lungi’ song in Chennai Express, Honey Singh is also reeling under the effects of the court case against him for apparent lewd comments. “Even when the Chennai Express song was yet to be released, people accused me of taking credit for something that didn’t exist,” he says, referring to contradicting reports in the media about his song for the movie. “Now that the song is out, my work will speak for itself.”
The Lungi song claims to be a ‘tribute to the legendary Rajinikanth’. “When I met SRK to discuss the song, I was honest with him. I told him you are a legend, but the real superstar is Rajinikanth.”
He goes on: “There are only two people in India who do not need an introduction — Rajinikanth and Amitabh Bachchan. Every child born, in whichever part of the country, is born with the knowledge of them.”
Geographic barriers are also something this musician wants to break. “I started off singing in Punjabi and later in Hindi. I noticed that wherever I went to perform, people enjoyed it despite the language barriers. So I wanted to put in my effort into this and I have promised myself that I will sing in all the languages of the country.”
After finishing a recent Tamil project in Chennai with a friend, Singh is now looking for folk musicians to take in some Telugu music. The singer also insists that his career is all about music first.
“I never ran after stardom. I am in this strictly for the love of music and when I travel, it is to meet the youth from across the country. When I think of some of the great Indian musicians, I feel like I just have five percent of their talent,” he says.
But Singh did make for some notorious headlines and surprisingly, admits that all that bad press was, in fact, his own fault.
“I’m guilty as well. I can’t blame the media. I have not been talking to the press properly for the past two years. And a lot of people were also making statements on my behalf which became an issue. Youtube also became my biggest disadvantage. There were a lot of videos uploaded under my name and even though they were irrelevant, the damage was already done just by association. So now, I’m trying to deal with the media myself and I’m also trying to rebuild my credible image.”
Singh also gave out a final defence against the many accusations of ‘lewd lyrics’ levelled against him.
“After the case was squashed, people still said that my lyrics are bad and that they have double meanings. But it would be just hypocrisy to point fingers at me while some of the oldest Bollywood lyrics, sung by some of the biggest names, remain extremely suggestive. And that’s my defence for my lyrics.”
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