'Tiger 3': Nikhita Gandhi opens up on song 'Leke Prabhu Ka Naam'

Anand Venkitachalam

New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) Singer Nikhita Gandhi, who is well known for her powerful voice, is glad at the way her track ‘Leke Prabhu Ka Naam’ from Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s upcoming spy-thriller film ‘Tiger 3’ has turned out. 

The song was extensively practiced, though there was a small window in the song's rap where she took the liberty of improvising.

The singer has lent her voice to various blockbuster films across Bollywood and South Indian films, such as ‘Arjun Reddy’, ‘Dhruva’, ‘Sooryavanshi’, and most recently Thalapathy Vijay’s Tamil action-thriller film ‘Leo’

‘Leke Prabhu Ka Naam’ is a powerful song with a great groove; the track received positive response from the audience who praised the vocal performances of Nikhita and her collaborator Arijit Singh. Currently, the track has already garnered over 40 million views on YouTube.

Talking to IANS, the singer gave details of both the song and her upcoming projects.

Describing her collaboration with Arijit Singh, Nikhita said: “I mean it is always a pleasure to work with Arijit. He has a great voice and we have worked together several times before, so you know I was glad to once again work with him.”

Nikhita went on to speak about once again reuniting with the composer Pritam for this new musical venture (‘Leke Prabhu Ka Naam’). 

“Apart from Arijit, I was incredibly glad to work with Pritam da. We have worked before many times and he is a very accommodating composer, I have always felt comfortable with him. 

|He is a sport to his work, and I have a lot of respect for (Pritam) da. Though very professional, he at the same time is more than willing to take inputs from others. So that allowed me to be a bit more creative with the song, and it was a very good experience for me,” Nikhita said.

The singer-songwriter went on to elaborate on the song and how it was shot: “The song was pre-structured, everything was already laid out and meticulously planned. 

“Pritam da knew exactly what he wanted. It is not as if it turned out amazing in just one go, the song was meticulously practiced by me, Arijit, the instrumentalists, and the producers, while he (Pritam) was keeping an eagle eyed watch on everyone and how things went.”

“There were also some goof ups here and there, but on the whole because its foundation was already laid out and was very strong, ‘Leke Prabhu Ka Naam’ turned out very well.”

When asked if she had improvised on the song or not, she said: “There was very little need to wing anything, as I said the track was meticulously planned. 

“Although, since it was a new experience for me I did take the liberty of improvising on my rap. There is a segment on which I improvised on, or rather improvised on my own delivery, so yeah there was some room for me to improvise on, and it actually was appreciated by everyone.”

Nikhita also gave her opinion on the changing style of mainstream music, and how these days composers are willing to take greater risks. 

“There is definitely a change in the style, and the ways in which music composers have approached things today. This is what I think is due to the audiences now having access to so many different kinds of music online.”

“They watch new films, listen to new songs, new artistes etc. Because they have been exposed to a lot of new material, and have now listened to various genres, audiences want the same thing for the soundtrack of mainstream movies. You do one thing over and over again it just gets repetitive and loses its charm."

"That is something that the composers in mainstream cinema across India, not just Bollywood have realised. So now they are more open to taking creative risks and have decided to experiment, it may not always pan out but they still do something different," she added.

Describing her own artistry and her own openness for sonic experimentation, Nikhita said: “I have done various genres such as classical, film music, pop, rap, electronic, rock. I am always open to doing new things and expanding my sound palette, I’d love to incorporate various new styles that I haven’t yet explored or used.

“I want to keep refining myself and hone my talents, so I am more than willing to take risks, experiment with new styles and languages and avoid any kind of categorisation into one genre.” 

--IANS

anv/dan