OnTheBeatWith| Shweta Shetty: Rahman is a perfectionist, he’d never accept anything mediocre when you entered the studio

A pop icon of the early 90s, Shweta Shetty, balanced film and non-film songs with rather unprecedented ease at a time when there was no social media to carry her work forward. While songs with music maestro AR Rahman, (Rukmani Rukmani from _Roja_, 1992), (Khel Hai Yeh from Super Police, 1994), (Mangta Hai Kya from Rangeela, 1995) climbed charts steadily to become superhits, her non-film songs Johny Johny Joker, Tote Tote, and Deewane To Deewane Hain became pop favourites.

She made a comeback on the solo live stage last month at Mumbai’s Royal Opera House, after a gap of 25 years. She takes a stroll down the memory with First Post as she reminisces about some of her decade-old songs, some of which were even recreated by others in the last year or so.

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‘Mangta Hai Kya was an out of body experience for me so to speak’

Rangeela’s Mangta Hai Kya featuring Aamir Khan and Urmila Matondkar was a special song for Shweta Shetty. “It was out of this world. It was an out of body experience for me so to speak. It was just like when yogis go into deep meditation they just lose their mind and control and that is actually what happened to me when I first heard Mangta Hai Kya.” By the time she got this song Shweta Shetty was already a very huge Rahman fan. She had done other hit films with him by then, so was very comfortable with Rahman. “When this song came to me I had a really good feeling about it. At that point, I did not know who was in the duet with me. I did ask Rahman’s team who the male singer was and said I hoped it was not Baba Sehgal, because normally in those days, it was mandatory in Bollywood to have the same singers who have had a hit song together to sing again. They told me they said that they were not too sure, as it had not been decided yet and that they would decide after I finished recording. I was just very very nervous recording this song. I was a little confused with the lyrics initially because the lyrics were a bit weird for me. However, I thought ‘let me give it my own feel’. So the beginning was a little bit like a pop opera as I really wanted to bring a little bit of soul into the song. I’m really happy that I was allowed to do that by Rahman.”

‘Rahman is a taskmaster’

Having worked with Rahman for many songs, Shweta Shetty did share a level of comfort with him but when it came to work, he was a tough taskmaster. “Rahman is someone who will push you to the limit till you actually say, ‘No Rahman what more do you want from me?’ And just when you say that he goes ahead and still brings out the very best in you every single time. The man is such a perfectionist and such a wonder child. He’s such a gifted artiste and he expects a lot from you. He will not accept anything mediocre from you and you know that when you enter the studio. So there’s a little bit of pressure when you work with Rahman and it is always a good pressure.”

‘I give everything to a song, unless I don’t like the song’

Shweta confesses that she works best under pressure. “I need the kind of pressure, that nervousness if I am going to live up to expectations of composers like Rahman. I think that holds me and gives me the strength to give my best. I give every song my best unless of course if I don’t like the song but still sing it!” Shweta is not too proud of her song ‘You Are My Chicken Fry’ which was composed by Bappi Lahiri and was a duet with her. “May his soul rest in peace but when Bappi Lahiri gave me a song that had lyrics like, ‘You are my chicken fry, you are my fish fry, you are my samosa, you are my masala dosa…I was like, ‘Oh my God! I just did not want to sing that song which Bappi Da gave me. That song became a hit later but my heart was not into it and I promised myself after that song that I will not sing songs like this because that is not me and it shows because I’m not comfortable singing such songs.”

‘Biddu made Johnny Johnny Joker from my real life stories’

In the early 90s, Shweta was dating Sanjay Patel and she shares an interesting story about how he was involved in one of her most popular songs. “Sanjay was a very eligible guy and every girl wanted him. Once we went out to a party that had all these girls hitting on him and he was kind of enjoying the attention. Which man wouldn’t? But then I am quite a possessive person and I’d get really upset. So every time Biddu and I spoke, even on long-distance calls I would tell him all about how I was angry and what my boyfriend did etcetera. We used to also exchange faxes in those days because we didn’t have mobile phones. Biddu would listen to me but would worry about us wasting precious talk time. He was sharp and out of all the stories I told him about my boyfriend, he created Johnny Johnny Joker. I had no idea then because I was just talking to Biddu about my relationship with my boyfriend and when I saw the song I realised he had written about my life! This secret is out now, very few people know about this!”

‘The music Salim-Sulaiman did for me then was way ahead of our times’

After the success of Johnny Johnny Joker, Shweta came out with a solo album called ‘Shweta The Album’ with composer duo Salim-Sulieman. She reminisces how the talented musicians had come up with something extremely unique in those days. “I think it was way ahead of our times. The music was a completely different world that Salim-Sulaiman did for me. There was techno and it had an R&B kind of feel to it too. So, I think that was something we wanted to try but it didn’t really work out at that time. Had we done the same album with that kind of music today, it would have done really brilliantly. But I have no regrets because I’ve always wanted to work with people who wanted to do music that I believed in.”

‘I loved the energy of Hans Raj Hans in Dil Tote Tote Ho Gaya’

In the late 90s Shweta sang for quite a few Guddu Dhanoa films. “He would always call me his lucky mascot because we had many major hits together. Whether it was Poster Lagwa Do Bazaar Mein from Aflatoon, Kaale Kaale Baal from Ziddi, Dil Tote Tote Ho Gaya from Bichhoo or Pichhu Pade Hai from Salaakhen. Before Tote Tote he’d called me up saying my duet would be with a Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans. I love Sufi music and I loved the energy of Hans Raj Hans, so everything came together and we did Tote Tote.”

‘I’d always keep that actress in mind when I was singing a song for a Bollywood heroine’

Shweta tells us that she has always felt that she has been very lucky when it came to her work because they let her be herself and appreciated her way of singing. “I was blessed to work with all the people that I have worked with, whether it is Rahman, Biddu, Anand Raaj Anand, everybody said ‘You have your own style, how can we tell you how to sing a song’. When it comes to non-film songs I have always sung to the emotions I have had at that point of time. I kind of adapted with each track, adapted according to the songs. With Bollywood it was different because it featured somebody else. So, I’d always keep that actress in mind when I was singing a song for a Bollywood heroine. I knew most of them personally, I knew their kind of voice tones, so it was easier for me to do it. So, it was never like Shweta just sings for one particular kind of song. I was never really categorised. For Deewane Toh, I said let’s try this bass husky song. People came to me with different songs like Main Dekhne Ki Cheez Hoon, a complete dance number.”

Debarati S Sen is a consultant journalist and writer who writes on music, culture, theatre, films, OTT and more. Instagram: @DebaratiSSen

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