Popular musician Daler Mehndi rules the hearts of 90s kids with his songs like “Bolo Ta Ra Ra” and “Tunak Tunak Tun”. The man who hails from Patna and later relocated to Delhi, says, “Bollywood is the most influential industry in India. It changes colour, but we managed to change the industry in totality.
“Today, keeping a Daler Mehndi style or tadka (in an album) has become a norm. Other singers kept dwindling but I stayed strong in my work,” IE reports Mehndi saying.
“In 1996, a friend asked me when I’ll come and work in Mumbai. I said the day Amitabh Bachchan calls me, I’ll work. Amitabh Bachchan called within the next one year and asked if I’d like to work with him,” the singer said of his foray in Bollywood.
Mehndi explains that he’s picky about signing Bollywood songs. “I need to like the song and its lyrics, it should be socially good for the new generation too. There isn’t an artiste costlier than me in India’s playback singing scene. I demand maximum money for a song. Other singers don’t get money,” Mehndi shares.
Daler speaks of the process of making a song today. “A dummy singer first records it in Mumbai. Then it is recorded with several struggling or new singers, and then whichever voice they want, they retain the song in that singer’s voice.
“With me, first you pay Rs 6 lakhs and GST, then I record the song. Hence, they aren’t able to remove my song from the film because they know it is them who approached me. That’s the reason why I have less songs, firstly because I’m too costly to afford, secondly I’m very choosy about the songs and thirdly, I don’t want to do dirty work in market,” he clarifies.
Talking about monopoly in music, he adds, “No company is responsible for the monopoly, but only singers. If you think ‘jo dikhta hai, woh bikta hai’ then you’re wrong. They think the more they are visible, the more their work will hold value.”
Daler Mehndi believes he gave a twist to Punjabi music to include folk and pure classical too, which made his compositions stand out. What do you think of his revelations?