Shreya Ghoshal

“Singing in Hindi is nice but restrictive. Regional languages are more rhythmic, have a different tone and sound, making it more interesting.”

“Since I stayed in a colony where either one was an engineer or a scientist, everybody thought I would be a scientist. This was the expectation everybody had apart from my parents. Honestly, I, too, wanted to be a scientist. I think it was the way Dad would explain us scientific theories and concepts that made the subject more intriguing.”

“I'm not a gadget freak, so to say. I own an iPhone, which I love, and would sorely love to upgrade to MacBook Air from my current MacBook Pro. But what gets me going is the technology behind the gadgets, new websites, new apps. And I'm way too much into social media - FB, Twitter and Instagram are always open on my phone.”

“I'd say, for me, it's cooking that gives me a space beyond music. I love food. And somehow, music and food go together so well. Cooking is very therapeutic. That preparation, the fragrance of spices, the wafting aromas - it just sweeps aside my depression, tiredness and name what you may.”

“I appreciate art in any form. So it applies to clothes as well. On stage, I think people prefer me in Indian outfits... in fact, it goes with the kind of songs I sing as well. Indianness in the form of a sari, or a chaniya choli or jeans with something interesting, matches my style of singing.”

“It's a great feeling to be wanted, but it's more exciting to be inaccessible.”

“I'm not superstitious about good luck charms and all that. I don't have any ring or any tangible thing as a charm. But I like to have at least one of my parents with me during my shows. It gives me strength to find their faces... or my brothers... in the audience. It comforts me.”

“My break in Bollywood is definitely the high point of my life.”

“I don't do anything specific for the stage. I'm just myself. I can't stand still for five seconds. I'm normally quite active, so that just comes out on stage. If I see people react to me and my music, I just have to give back and express myself.”

“When I am not recording, I do live shows or am at home catching up on shows which I regularly watch. But there will always be some music around me.”

“My parents being Bengali, we always had music in our house. My nani was a trained classical singer, who taught my mum, who, in turn, was my first teacher. Later I would travel almost 70 kms to the nearest town, Kota, to learn music from my guru Mahesh Sharmaji, who was also the principal of the music college there.”

“I learnt to sing in Bengali, my mother tongue, then went on to sing in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and every possible Indian language.”

“An award means a lot to me. It brings happiness along with a kind of fear. It brings fear because the award is the responsibility which audiences have put on us. So a singer winning an award should always try to give best of him to the audiences.”

“The Indian music market is very film-oriented, and any other creative music venture doesn't receive enough support. I'd rather do singles and put them on my website.”

“I have always enjoyed dressing up, but I don't do it as often as I would want to, because it's time consuming.”

“Gujarat is truly vibrant. Be it handicrafts, folk music, art, costumes or food - the state offers the best of everything.”

“It is only your passion which takes you forward. So it is my gyaan to all budding singers that keep faith in your passion and prepare yourself, because you will get that opportunity sooner or later, and if you can prove yourself, people will line up for you.”

“I'm not a person who comes with bodyguards. I'm a simple jhola-kurta kind of girl. So people treat me as a buddy.”

“Unfortunately, we are living in an era where plenty of songs with vulgar, objectionable lyrics are also becoming popular. It's a disturbing trend, and I feel really sad when I see small kids dancing to such numbers in television shows. In my career so far, I have refused any song whose lyrics I haven't been comfortable with.”

“I've never seen a low point. I like to believe that they don't exist.”