He is known for his melodious voice and has given us songs that are close to our hearts. His life has been a big struggle to reach to the place where he is today. We are talking about Shahid Mallya who has made his own sweet place in the music industry today.
Shahid who got his family to Mumbai with the scholarship he won for singing talks about it and says, “I got a scholarship from college so without telling anyone in the family I booked my tickets for Mumbai. We were 6 people, mom dad and 4 brother sisters. I booked advance tickets for one month and in that one month I convinced everyone to go to Mumbai. I wanted to fulfil my father’s dream of becoming a play back singer. So we came from Punjab Mail. It took us three days to reach Mumbai. We got down at Mumbai Central Station and I kissed the platform and said Mumbai I have arrived.”
Talking about his early experience of the city, he says, “I used to enter a photo studio for recording because here it is not mentioned outside the studios if it is photo studio or a recording studio. I used to apologise then and come out. Many years passed away and my struggle never ended. I even worked at a shop for our survival. But my parents motivated me that you should only concentrate on your singing and this gave me back my lost spirit.”
Yamla Pagla Deewana was his first bollywood film where he got a chance to sing Gurbani. Then came the film Mausam which gave him the deserved success with the song ‘O Rabba, Main Toh Marr Gaya Re’.
Talking about the same, he shares, “Pritam Sir knew me for 1 year and after 1 year he gave me this opportunity. For this I give the credit to Kumaar, the famous lyricist. He introduced me to Pritam Sir. Rabba was the best song of the year 2011. It was the most downloading song of the year. I was lucky I sang two songs for the film. Life before the film and after the film was totally different. “
Today Shahid is known to be the singer who gave us ‘Ikk Kudi’. He talks about this hit song and says, “Amit Trivedi is known to be experimenting and that is why he gave me the song ‘Ikk Kudi’ which was written by Shiv Kumar Batalvi. I was so lucky that in the film the song was kept under my voice and Shahid Kapoor’s lip sync was also in my voice. Though many other singers sang a reprised version of it but I am lucky to say ‘Ikk kudi’ is my song. I think Shahid Kapoor is a lucky charm for me and I hope that in near future also I get a chance to sing for him.”