Shilpa Rao: Fame, if it comes quickly, also goes away swiftly

Singer Shilpa Rao, who is best known for crooning the Bollywood tracks Bulleya (from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) and Manmarziyaan (from Lootera) agrees that the quicker one gets fame in showbiz, the quicker it fizzles out. And this is the reason the singer says she started her career with advertisement jingles instead of film songs.

“The first time I got to Mumbai, there were two people I knew — Hariharan ji, who was my guru of course, and Shankar Mahadevan ji. I love what he told me. I went and met him, he said, ‘Do one thing, just go and sing jingles for three years. Go to the recording mic, see what it feels like to record, learn that process’ He gave me my first song in Salaam-E-Ishq with him afterwards,” she recalls.

The 37-year-old adds that it helped her in the long run. “He got me on the path of doing things from the very foundation instead of doing an overnight song and becoming an overnight sensation. The process of actually starting and learning was not just for making me see that thing but also to apply it for the rest of my life,” she shares.

Rao goes on to say no good comes out of these tags. “Fame, if it comes quickly, goes away quickly too. Life doesn’t come to you overnight, maybe one time, due to beginner’s luck. You relish the process because after working a certain amount of time it becomes like a job. The whole point is to enjoy, that’s the purpose. You begin to admire things even more,” ends the singer.