Sophie’s French connection

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She is a singer, actor, composer and lyricist, but Sophie Choudry loves it when you describe her as a performer. “I love to be the face and soul of my music. Which is why I don’t stop at just one thing,” says Sophie who has lent her voice to a song in Ishkq In Paris. While a huge chunk of the song is sung in Hindi by singer Sunidhi Chauhan, Sophie has hummed the French bits. Besides, she has penned them too.

Few people know that the singer graduated in European politics and French from the London School of Economics and later went on to study for nearly two years at the Sciences Po, an esteemed political institute in Paris. Hence, the French influence. “Preity is an old friend who was aware of the fact that I spoke French. But she didn’t know how fluent I was at it. It is only when she overheard my conversation with French actress Isabelle Adjani, on her recent visit to Mumbai that she came to know that I was indeed comfortable speaking it. Since Preity’s film revolves around France, she thought it was a great idea to include French elements in the song to which I agreed of course,” she says.
Sophie is happy about the fact that she is introducing a new trend in the industry. “We’ve always had Middle Eastern influences in Bollywood songs and even Spanish made a debut with Senorita in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, but this is the first time that French lyrics will be sung by a Bollywood actress,” she adds.
“As a child, my mother and grandmother always made sure that we spoke nothing but Urdu at home. Since I grew up abroad, my family took special care to see to it that I don’t lose touch with my culture and roots. Besides, I was a total Bollywood bachcha so I grew up watching and learning from Hindi movies all the time,” says Sophie who does not see herself being a full time playback singer.