Singer Tulsi Kumar, who has sung a duet with Pakistani singer Atif Aslam for a forthcoming Bollywood film, says music connects people universally and it has the power to connect countries together.
Tulsi has sung "Paniyon sa" with Atif in the John Abraham-starrer "Satyameva Jayate".
What does it mean for her to have sung with a Pakistani artiste at a time when collaborative art/music between India and Pakistan is far and few?
"I actually believe music has no boundaries and that's the beauty of any kind of art. I have collaborated with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan sahab back in 2010 for one of the biggest tracks of my career 'Tum jo aaye zindagi mein'. Now it's a collaboration with Atif Aslam for 'Paniyon sa'," Tulsi told IANS in an email interview from Mumbai.
"I don't think so we should have personal issues of countries involved with music. Music is free from boundaries and sees no difference in two countries. I think music is something which connects people and their emotions worldwide and I think it's great to collaborate with various talented artistes irrespective of the country they belong to. Let music do all the talking and healing and bring the countries together," she added.
"Satyameva Jayate", releasing on August 15, marks two firsts for Tulsi -- a song with Atif as well as a romantic Sufi track "Tere jaisa".
"Both these songs are very special to me and specially the Sufi track is something that I have done for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was a learning experience for me," she added.
As a music artiste, Tulsi has dabbled in soft romantic ballads, foot-tapping dance numbers, old classic retro or unplugged and now Sufi. Does she believe versatility is the key to a singer today or having one's own signature style?
"My signature style is soft romantic ballads or the unplugged zone of songs. Sufi also more or less falls in the same zone, so I would call that my forte. But I think it's good to try out different kind of songs as you don't know what zone your voice fits in and you realise that after years," she said.
She also loves attempting dance numbers.
"A different tone and grunge of my voice comes across in those songs and a lot of times when people hear me in a song like 'Nachange saari raat' or a 'Saiyaan superstar', they are pretty shocked that who is this singer.So I think it's kind of an achievement if you can sound different and fresh in every given track. However, every artiste and singer has his or her own forte and for me that's my romantic side, but I love doing different zones and genres of songs.
Tulsi is the daughter of late Indian music mogul Gulshan Kumar, on whose life a biopic is in the works.
"My father's biopic is a very emotional and binding project for my family. We all will be closely attached to this because it will be showcasing my father's journey as to how he began and where he reached within no time.
"His entire journey will be covered and I will contribute to the film in every way possible way. More than anything else, it's a project that is not just close to my heart but the entire Kumar family," she added.
Aamir Khan and T-Series will release the biopic on the T-Series founder on Christmas 2019.
--IANS
rb/vm
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
