An abiding love

Music came into Rekha Bhardwaj’s life early on, and influenced her relationship with husband Vishal as well

Rekha Bhardwaj’s singing prowess can be traced back to her father’s love for music — since he himself couldn’t learn music when he was younger, he ensured that all of his children did. Rekha’s elder sister was tutored in classical music and family friends would come over to their home for impromptu “concerts” with someone singing a thumri, another guest, a ghazal. It was in this melodious atmosphere that Rekha grew up, and was later trained in the Indore gharana of music of Amir Khan.

Rekha moved to Mumbai after marrying Vishal Bhardwaj, but says, she never aspired to be a playback singer. “I knew singing was in my blood, at the same time, I knew the limitations of my voice. I do not have a conventional playback voice, but with Ishqa everything changed. Music composers realised I have a different voice, and made offers accordingly. Playback singing in Bollywood too has undergone change. At the time Lataji and Ashaji used to sing, the trend was different; they would sing duets and were expected to match the male range (which is usually higher). Now we sing an octave lower, which is also a different genre. Today, so many music directors have their roots in Western music, so they prefer more open voices. So that change has come, ensuring that singers like me do not have to compromise on their voice,” says Rekha, who recently performed a scintillating gig at Phoenix Marketcity.

Surprisingly, Rekha says she wasn’t originally meant to sing Namak Ishq Ka (from Omkara, the song that propelled her into the big leagues). “Vishal has this habit of singing his compositions to me. When Namak was being composed, he sang the first couple of lines and I insisted on some corrections and gave it a more folksy touch. As I sang to him, he said — ‘You are the right choice for the song’,” Rekha recounts.

The anecdote gives weight to what Vishal Bhardwaj has always maintained — that he took to composing music because of Rekha’s influence. “It is true to some extent, but Vishal romanticises it a lot,” replies Rekha, with a laugh. “Vishal comes from a musical family. His father (Ram Bhardwaj) was a lyricist. People like Laxmikantji and Usha Khanna used to visit his home in Meerut but his music was more of the Bollywood kind while I was deeply into classical music. When we met in Hindu College in Delhi, I was a year senior to him and a ‘star’ of the college’s cultural scene. I had already learnt from Gandharva Mahavidyalya and was training under Pandit Amarnathji of the Indore gharana. During the college fests, Vishal would come up with difficult compositions and I would criticise, nagging him to make his music simpler!”

And does being the wife of Vishal Bhardwaj mean that she gets the first right to sing his compositions “Being Mrs Vishal Bhardwaj might have acted as a catalyst for my work, but I had to fight hard to get what I deserved,” Rekha counters. “It took time to emerge as a full-fledged playback singer, and that, of course wouldn’t have happened had my husband’s name made things easy for me.”

Rekha says she and Vishal have a good back-and-forth going on their work and while they’ve had their share of creative differences, they both appreciate the other’s honesty. Apart from having Vishal as a sounding board, Rekha says practising yoga, going on long walks and reading helps her unwind. “Sometimes I like to dance if there’s a good tune on,” she says, with a smile. And then of course, there is her daily riyaaz. “I devote two-and-a-half hours to my riyaaz every day. That’s the discipline I have been following since 1986,” she says. “To me, riyaaz is more important than breathing.”