 Hi Rick. Hi. Thanks for joining us. The Muscular Dove herself. Yes. Listen, I don't think anyone has ever called me that. I enjoyed that review so much. Like I kept on, I mean, amongst my entire family, we've all seen it and we've re-seen it. And we just like, those words are just unique. I don't think any. And you know, the person who wrote that description of the song, we kept on bullying him. We kept on bullying him for that inimitable. That's awesome. This is a new vocabulary introduced to the world. Long for gone. He is famous for doing things that we call corporalization. So I guess that could qualify in a different kind of way. Thank you so much for actually joining us. We are big admirers of yours. We've heard, it feels like a million songs of yours. We've seen, well, we've seen, we've heard your voice and it seems like a million movies that we've seen now. You are the one and only Muscular Dove for always and forever. I think you should put that on cards. So thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate that. It's my pleasure. I really have seen a lot of your reviews and interviews. You guys are so detailed and so hilarious at the same time that it's very entertaining. I really enjoy watching your stuff. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Well, first and foremost, we want to talk about your new single that came out with your brother, which obviously as you know, we absolutely adored and we thought it was phenomenal. So how did you first come up with that idea, that video with your brother? What, how did that whole process come about? So I don't know what you guys were doing in the lockdown. I was very bored. I was not doing my usual, you know, volume of work, whether it's travel, concerts and recordings for films and other stuff. So I was feeling very uninspired and bored at home. And I felt like doing something that just will give me instant dose of joy. So that's why I did Agna More the song that you heard with my brother. And my brother is like, so we have a seven year old gap. Okay. So I kind of bully him a little bit. Sometimes we do speak about music a lot. He's a very sincere musician. But I say, you know, we should be doing something that should really, you know, give some excitement in our lives. And he says, yeah, whatever you say. So Didi is sister in Hindi, right? So he said, Didi, whatever you say, we'll do it. He's a very good boy. So he said, you don't even think twice before what kind of music we need to do, whatever comes and right now, just let's record it. And let's not think about what genre this is, whether it's a commercial kind of a track or not, because it matters right now a lot, right? Because everything is dictated by numbers and how many, what kind of people are listening to what's the in thing. But I think we kind of really did not follow any rule. And I did the song as a for my love for classical music. So it's not a very hardcore Indian classical music piece, but it's inspired by it. So it's a very, it's a very flowy composition, where I am able to do a lot of singing, technical things also, but not keeping it very heavy. And the arrangements and the production was very important for it to become very unique, because didn't want it to become something cliched, because fusion is the term when it comes to Indian classical mixing with Western style of arrangements. I didn't want it to become a fusion song. It had to be a very unique experience. So that's how we did it. And I'm glad Swami that could add his influences, his musical style to enhance it in a different way. And people liked it, I'm glad. Yeah, very much. And you have said that this song connected you back to your roots. How so is that? And is that an accurate description about your connection with the song that brought you back to your roots? Yeah, yeah, because, see, I have learned classical music, but I won't say I'm an exponent in it. I am not a full-fledged classical music performer. I have a certain inclination towards this kind of music. Whenever I sit and sing something, or I listen to, I choose to listen to music, I'll end up listening to Buddy Ghulam Ali Khan Sahib, the big names of Indian classical music, and the Rangas, or something that gives me instant love and happiness in that moment. So I think I'm drawn towards it, and that's my first love. But I am not a full-fledged classical performer. I use my little bit knowledge, whatever I have, and the experiences, having listened to the greats, all of those influences I bring in my singing. But I won't call it a purest way of putting classical music in my technique of singing. So yeah, I would say I was drawn to this kind of music because in films, in the typical format of singing, I won't get too many opportunities like this. So because this was an independent project, I could do something that gave me happiness in that moment. Was it any different or challenging to do all this during a pandemic, or was it any different process during the whole COVID going on? Oh yeah, because everything was virtual, like this. We were on skype or video calls, and there are so many different things that have come up in this kind of a challenging time. So I could hear the audio, like a very good quality audio over the internet, and jam with my brother on many things, even recording the other musicians. We were all doing it virtually like this. So I learned a lot of technical things in this period, to be honest. I never thought I could operate all these softwares, and I'm very good at this now. I think I can call myself an expert. Are you pleased with the fact that here you were, really, I mean, on the one hand, you're definitely not someone that can be put into a box. You're very versatile. But this was a very personal project for you that's very different from some of the things you've done. Are you happy? It's being very well received, not just by us, but it's being very well received that must be really pleasing for you. Yeah, I actually did not think much about how this will be received, what will people say. I honestly did it out of just pure love for wanting to do something of this sort. And then when I put it out, I think I think because the audience is also more probably waiting to hear something like this, not just from the music industry, but me, because people know that that I have a certain, you know, love for some classical classical music and I have done a bit of this here and there. But this was a very different presentation. So I honestly did not know how this would have been received, but it's very encouraging to see the kind of comments and the love that has been pouring in for this. So this makes me feel very confident that I can keep going on this path and not worry much about, you know, what is expected of me. I think the audiences really want an artist to really express what's in that in their heart in that year or in that month or in that period of their life or in that phase. I have been in this industry for probably more than 20 years. I've done a lot of different kind of music, but it's now time for me to really explore what I really need to or want to do now. Absolutely. And so you've, I believe, sang in almost 19 different languages, I think is what I saw, which is astounding. How, because coming from an American who just speaks English and just a tiny bit of slang Spanish, that seems very impressive to me. So how difficult is it? And I know you've said, you know, music has no language, but you're still singing in a completely different language. So it's still crazy impressive. So how difficult is it to sing as beautifully as you do and get the, I guess, the articulations correct in a language that you're not fluent in? Yeah, you know, this is the beauty of our country, India, because we are a country of so many languages and different cultures and traditions and cuisines and so many different things. I feel very fortunate that I have, see, I speak Bengali at home. My mother tongue is Bengali. Our national language is Hindi. And we all speak pretty much everyone speaks English. So three languages we have to speak, you know. So this is given. But, you know, there are these languages which are very different from what I speak like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Canada, especially the South Indian languages are very different from the main language that I have learned or I'm speaking because that's, so Hindi, Bengali are based out of Sanskrit, the root languages Sanskrit. And Tamil is a completely different language, you know, it's a very old language, it's older than Sanskrit. So, so to be honest, I don't understand these languages. So when I am singing these songs, I probably I am not sure what I'm singing, what are these words to me? Most of the time, these are sounds and I have to, you know, get the sound and the pronunciation correct. And also express the song and with all emotions and the, of course, the musical part is there. But because our film music and our, you know, generally, all music, it has to be all about emotion, apart from the musical nuances. So it definitely gives me a little challenge, but I somehow have figured out my tricks into figuring out how to do it best. I take the help of my composers and the person who has written the lyrics of the song to give me the actual pronunciation, the diction, the phonetics of it, I make very precise notes on my notebook. And once I've learned it, so in those 10 minutes of learning a song, I'm a very good student. Listen to every bit of what has been spoken, even if I'm joking around and if I'm like having fun, but my ears are very, you know, very alert about every information that has been given to me. And once I'm on the mic, I take all the information in front of me, and I convert it into a song. And do a muscular dove. I love it. God, I was trying to find, you know, we were having this internal joke, because I just told my brother, I've never been called a muscular dove in my life. So I was trying to find an emoticon or an image on the internet. If there is a dove that is muscular. It's muscular. It is not, there is not a single image of a dove which is muscular. So you need to create one. You created the butterflies. You could create one that's unique for you, absolutely. The next music video, I expect some credit. It's going to be a muscular dove music video. It's going to be beautiful. Yes, next one. Now I read, I read somewhere, speaking about the way that you go about learning, for example, say Tamil, which is not Sanskrit originated, which Hindi and Bengali are, that when you're wanting to understand exactly what you're saying that you'll do your notation in Hindi, is that correct? Yeah, I think Hindi is a very, phonetically, it's very proper. It's very close to what you want to enunciate and pronounce. So it's very easy for me to, so the Hindi script is actually called the Dev Nagari script. So you can write a lot of different sounds and vowels and the way. And then of course, I've made some my, I've come up with some extra script additives, which only I know what it means. So I do have my own little, you know, notations. What, what language do you, would you say is the most difficult to sing in that, yeah, obviously you're not fluent in? There are lots of them. I think having done so much work in all the four southern languages, so all the four are difficult to be honest. But Malayalam especially is very difficult because there are these various levels of even the la, there is la, there's la, there's ra. So, you know, there are these levels of saying the same alphabet differently, depending on what the word is and how it's coming. It's very complicated, but I think I have now attuned myself a little bit. So I now can predict that if this is the word, it has to be pronounced like that. So I think somewhere I'm learning slowly, learning. I think this is a slow process, but I'm getting there. Well, it's encouraging to me to hear you say that there's some things that are difficult with the la and the different sounds because I've tried to begin to learn some Hindi and I'm also Ami Bangla Shikchi. So, this is amazing. Yeah. There are so many sounds in both Hindi and Bengali as well as all the other Indian languages that we don't even make in English. Yeah. So it's encouraging to know there's so many languages that are challenging for you as well. Do you find, we've noticed something in our exposure to now, really in the past two years, we've been fully immersed into Indian artistry in ways we had no idea existed. And what we've discovered, and you can affirm this, is that musicians in particular, singers in particular that are coming out of Indian artistry, tend to have a much broader and bigger range of music as well as training. It seems like training, whether it's Hindustani classical music or it's Carnatic, or it's just the basics of understanding modality and raga and everything else, is training essential for singers and musicians in Indian music? Yeah. I think in my case it definitely has helped because I feel learning classical music, whether it's for a western singer, if it's a western classical, or for a jazz artist, there is some other kind of training. For Indian music, Indian classical music is definitely the first step towards learning a language. So it helps you, this is the perfect musical language which you can then use for your life to improvise, execute ideas, so many different applications of that thing. So it helps you create, it helps you take a certain piece of music to a different level. So I feel, for me, execution of notes and how I can approach a note a certain way, I can approach it in 300 different ways because I've kind of heard the masters of Indian classical music. I won't say that I've learned it very thoroughly, but I've heard a lot and for me, learning has been mostly through my ears. Even the bigger artists, I take them in front of me as benchmarks and institutions and I learn a lot from just every day listening to the same song and discovering something new in it. For me, Lata Mangeshkar is one of the most prolific Indian female artists or Indian artist, to be honest. Her dynamics and her presentation of words, her use of emotions in the right place. So I have learned a lot of things from her and many other artists, even classical artists and I use those very wherever needed without even thinking now how I need to use those techniques in my singing. So I feel Indian classical, learning a classical course is very important for any singer to have a great foundation. And this is just a, I'm curious here. I'm not a singer. Rick is a singer and a musician and all that kind of stuff, but I know in Western, whenever singers or musical theater, I suppose, are preparing, they have warm-ups. But I'm sure they're different for Indian. Obviously, there's the rugs and all that kind of stuff. So what are the, like if you're going into a studio to record something for a film, what are some warm-ups that you would normally do to get your voice ready? You know, coming, so I'm sorry to disappoint many of my listeners and you, that I do not have a regime. I honestly do not do too much going before on the mic because that's the truth because, you know, people really expect that I'm probably doing acrobatics in my singing before I'm going on the stage or doing my scales and opening my voice. I do a very little bit of, so even if it's just, you know, because being a recording artist and being a performer are two different things. So then, when I'm doing my concerts, when I'm going for a live gig, I really have to, of course, once do the whole warm-up and the soundcheck and everything to make sure that I'm ready to belt out because the projection of my voice on stage is very different from what I'm doing on the mic in a recording studio. So I honestly feel when I wake up in the morning, I really know what is my situation that day. How is my voice sounding? Is it tired? Is it exhausted? Is it well? Is it feeling muscular? So really honestly, so I wake up and I know that, okay, today if I have to record a couple of songs, I need to make sure that my octaves are not working in that certain, my voice is not, the tone is not perfect today. I can find flowers in my timber that day that, okay, that particular frequency, I can't hear today well in my vocals. So I will probably do a warm-up too, you know, just to initiate or just fire up that frequency or do some scales to open up my octaves. And so it's very, you know, day-to-day situation and I think over the time I've tried to understand how my voice works, how my body works, how well, also your mental state is also very important. If I'm very stressed out with 100 different things, I may not be able to do that music at all. I have to be in that state of mind. So I have learned how to shut off those switches which might give me, you know, will distract me from the actual emotion of the song. So there are a lot of processes which are very now impersonal and maybe not everyone can use these tricks, but it has worked for me. Yeah. Do you have a preference and it may change from venue to venue or production-production, but do you have a preference to performing in a studio when you're doing vocals for a motion picture versus when you're performing live in front of an audience? Do you prefer one over the other? No, it's two different, completely two different ballgame. Like it's amazing to have that transition from being in an isolated studio, soundproof and it's, I feel a studio is like a temple, temple of creation. You are, you are in your most, I feel, I'm in my most spiritual state in that moment, because I'm able to create with my composer and songwriters something which was not heard before, something which was out of nowhere, a song is born, right? So I think, and then going on the mic and you're singing it and some days we just are able to hit some extraordinary notes, some days are just, they fall flat. I mean, it's really about, you can't predict, but whatever gets created in that moment in that day is now, you know, printed for eternity. It's going to be there as a record forever. So basically, we are able to capture that moment in sound as a part of history. So that's incredible for me. Of course, then taking that song and maybe once people have heard it and taking that song in a concert and performing it live is a different feeling because then, of course, the performance is also very different from the original song because I am actually probably doing it very differently when I'm on the stage and doing improvisations, which I didn't feel like doing it while I was recording it, or the energies of the audiences and singing and the cheers and the orchestration and the arrangement of the songs. It's a different thing. It can't be compared. I love both. And what's, how, because obviously we're very familiar with playback singers now, but here in Hollywood essentially, those playback singers aren't really a thing very much anymore, here anymore. But what's the whole process like in terms of how far ahead do you guys record that before they're ready to start filming that song in the movie? Like in Baji Ramastani when Topeka was about to do the thing in the gold room. And like how far in advance is that done and are you in the room when she's pretending to have your voice? That's a good one. Well, no, see the song is made first. Yeah. And to be honest, there are now very few films and film directors who can do that kind of music or create those kind of big sets and have a lip-sync moment of the actress. I think things are changing in our films now anyway. But having said that our essential Bollywood song would be about, if I'm a female voice, an actress will be lip-syncing on my vocals and the song is made before half. So the song is created, then it goes for choreography, if there is some dance involved. And then of course, when it's Sanjali Labhansali, he thinks very differently. He's one of the very few people who does his music like a musical and it gives it a surreal, larger than life kind of an experience for audiences. So that there is so much detailing that goes in the short division, how the actress will, what her facial feature, facial expression would be in that particular note. There are so many nuances to even our dance form actually. It also comes from the Indian classical dance classical art form, which now has been converted into Bollywood. Bollywood has every different genre, which is mishmashed and now it's something unique. But so I think when an actress is lip-syncing the song, she really has to, even for me, when I'm singing the song, I really have to imagine if this is the Pika Padukone singing. And I know her face now. I have sung many songs for her. I know how she will enunciate this particular line, how she will probably express with her, I know how her face moves in certain words. Do you normally know who the actress is you're going to be singing for beforehand? Most of the times, yes, especially in the bigger cast, bigger production films. Many of the times what happens is we have done the song and it was then used for some other film. So it has happened that way also. But most of the times on the bigger hits that you've seen of me are always very well planned, very well choreographed pieces. Only very occasionally when, to be honest, because I do a lot of regional songs also. So there is a lot of work happening in different languages. So sometimes if I'm very late in the process to deliver my vocals, just before the release, I didn't have time when they were about to shoot the song. So many of the times they have shot it on somebody's voice as a scratch vocalist. And then I am stuck with the way that song is already shot. Now I have to match up to do something that is already done and then find my ways to improvise on it and do my thing. That sometimes that has also happened. Well, you said something a moment ago that's very telling about you. I'm a big advocate of lip syncing is a much underappreciated art form. It's not an easy thing to do. And I know most actors who are having a lip sync are doing everything they can to match the mouth to the sounds they're hearing. You a moment ago said that you will actually take into consideration what you know the actress is typically going to do. You get to know them well enough and you actually go about phrasing your music in such a way that it will be complementary to what you know they will do with their annunciations. Yeah, that I really keep in mind because I feel sometimes when you see lip sync music can really throw off people if it's not done well. When you're watching someone on screen and you suddenly know that's not her voice and it's not even sounding right with her. The tone is not sounding right with her face or the way she's moving her mouth. It can really throw off an audience. So I am very sensitive towards these things. So I take care as much as possible. But also one more very big thing helps me is knowing the story of the song. What is the situation? Where is it set in? Is it set in the current period or is it a you know it's in the 1970s, a retro period or is it really like in the Mughal era? So like that also sets a lot of those tone, tonality and the way I'm even enunciating the pronunciation of the words. And of course the it's a teamwork to be honest. Like the lyrics for that song will be of course set in say like for example Badi Ramasthani, the song you're talking about Vivaani Mastani which you're talking here. So this is a song where there's a lot of Urdu words used. So Hindi has a lot of Urdu and pure Hindi words mixed. So the languages are also very different and over the years and different historical changes and influences are languages built like that. So how what kind of language was used in that era? How were they pronounced in that time? What was the pronunciation? So the urban lingo has changed but in the you know early 1800s it was different. So keeping these things also in mind helps a lot to set a tone of the song, the sound and the film. Everything put together. So you have to become part of the script, not just be a singer at that moment. You have to become a part of that story in that moment. So I do, even if somebody doesn't tell me what is the backdrop of the song I will do my I'll prod. I'll say what is the script? What is the story? Why is she singing this song and in what time of the storytelling or narration does this song appear? What is her mental state in that point of time? You know is she going through if it's a current scene? Is she going through a breakup? Is she going through a certain crisis in her time? In a personal crisis? All these things may be very sound very silly but they really make a lot of difference and I put these small notes in my head. Then I don't think about I try to get into the mood and just sing it. That's awesome. Beautiful. And so you've saying I believe it's thousands of songs which is mind-boggling but we've also heard these legendary artists like Yusutis and Ann Lara and that have sang like 30 to 50 thousand songs in their life. How does one, like are you just constantly singing like all the time? Like what is your daily life that it's like two to five songs a day that you're recording pre-pandemic? How do you get to that number? Interesting. So that's not really the intention here to get to that number. I think it just happens. See India is a big population. We have a lot of films happening. There is so much music and so many people to entertain in different languages and different styles of movies. And then of course now independent music has also now started coming up so parallely that. So then this number will happen. No, if you're singing for so many years, this will add up. That's just a lot. I think I have had days when I have some fights. I've recorded five songs and hopped from studio to studio to get to one project to the other. Very different kind of songs, very different kind of composers and people I'm working with, even languages. But now I don't do that because I need to enjoy the process. It's not just about the number. I need to be in the song and if I'm not feeling it, even the day if I've gone to the studio and I'm feeling that, okay, I'm not in the right frame of mind or my vocals are not perfectly fired up today. It needs a little bit of rest or something. I'll say, no, I'll come back tomorrow and I'll do it when I'm feeling up to the mark. So I've taken it easy now. So I don't know how the numbers will get there. They will. Yeah, they will. Now you started involved in music at a very young age and now I understand the way you became involved in Bollywood musicals is is it true that it was Sanjay Lila Bansali's mom who saw you on a contest and that that's how you got connected to Sanjay Lila Bansali which then led to Devdas? Yes, wow, you've done a research. That's lovely. Thank you. Yeah, so you were critically acclaimed like right out the gate you do Devdas and you're winning awards immediately and that's how it all started. Yeah, it really feels like a dream indeed. So my life has been very young in music. Before Devdas I was doing, so when I started singing in Devdas I was 16 years old. So before that I was doing a lot of other kind of music which is non film, some Marathi, some Bengali music. So and before that I was doing television shows, the the contests like we have Sare Gama which is pretty much like you know the American Idol or In-N-Idle you know that kind of show as a reality show. So that's that was the first television exposure and that was very new in our country anyway you know a show like this was first time conceived and loved by people all about music and all the greats of the musicians were on the panel, judges panel. So at the age of say about 10, 11 I started doing these kind of those contests and all of this was I actually did not live in Mumbai that time. I was in a different state called Rajasthan and I come from a very you know academic family of engineers and you know this kind of a family where music was just a usually just a hobby can't be nobody has ever thought of taking up a profession or make a career in music but things happened you know thanks to my parents my dad his love for the art and he made sure that I learned from the best gurus and I traveled from Rajasthan to Mumbai to participate in this contest and learn from different people once we moved here and then this show happened I sang a couple of times I was a kid but Sanjay's mother was sitting somewhere in her living room and watching the show and she was very impressed or she you know she instantly told Sanjay that please listen to her voice and that's how he first heard me and I had no idea that you know because film music I had not even planned in my life I was too young to know what to do in life to be honest I was doing my my school and a little bit of music whatever was happening in very small kind of work but Devdas was one of the most you know evaded blockbuster magnum opus kind of a film people were waiting to see who's the star cast like finally it was decided it'll be Shah Rukh Khan Ashodeh Rai and Madhuri Dixit they are the you know biggest names possible on in a in a movie and one day I got a call from Sanjay that I am I heard your voice and I want you to come wow so I want to hear you sing in front of you know all the musicians I thought it was a prank I honestly thought it was a prank and it was the most weirdest call ever because this was not expected at all without any preparation for it without any plan in life for a moment like this this happened so I really give it all the credit goes to God because he has plans for for everyone you know so he did have a plan for me and I did this song and of course the the two years of very you know challenging work on this film it was a very very big film it took two years for it to complete and when it released things completely changed for me yeah and the awards are one of the things I feel very humbled by that but that's where my actual journey started of now I have to be very serious about music and I'm being compared or I'm being you know people are calling me for some very big songs which are challenging to me so I have to deliver I have to learn I have to get there so now that's been almost 20 years that's awesome that's fantastic um so I do have a question um the actors often get famous dialogue just shouted at them on the street do you get sung at like do people do people just sing at you listen so uh cobin so I was um in school right when Dave does happen and um that was the first song which I did very fear and you know how just right outside the school they were the school wall where these rather rowdy boys used to sit and just you know kiss the girls you know it's a typical school thing and so whenever I would walk past because my film had just released I would be teased by this song and I used to get so upset at the same time as to feel happy they know this song yeah good it's a popular song so that was the song very good my first song okay so I gotta I gotta I gotta know how did June 26th become Shreya Goshal day in Ohio in the United States yeah it was such a yeah it's become such a big thing and I feel very embarrassed to be honest uh at the same time I feel very uh you know flattered very happy so this was when I had gone for a performance in Ohio and we had you know I keep coming to the US and perform for all our Indian community you know so there are a lot of performance in one of the tours I was in Ohio singing for for a room full of people and the governor of that state comes and gives me the surprise and gives me the certificate and announces a day on my name I did not know what to say at that moment I feel I feel definitely very honored and I feel it's not just an honor for me it's an honor for the entire Indian diaspora which is living in the US and that kind of respect and love that has been shared I feel very happy that this is not just for me but it's for my culture and I hope that I live up to the expectations here and do good job because it's a it's a big thing and I don't know the the fans just make a big deal out of it and they celebrated it's like Diwali or Christmas on that day so I so I also have to celebrate it because that day I feel like should I be cutting a cake what should I be doing that day 100% and I know I know you haven't committed to anything obviously yet but can we expect an acting debut here soon no I thought I heard I thought I know I know you've said you've gotten a lot of offers I didn't know if you were eventually one day gonna like do OTT or anything like that yeah so now these kind of opportunities have come up so I see I never see a no like a blanket no but I don't feel the urge to do it I mean I would rather do my music video that's fine if I have to do it for my song I will do it it's very awkward you know for me to be in front of a camera and I see all these actors just crying at the you know whenever I need it you just get into that mood and start emoting I said I don't do this I don't have it in I can do it with my voice but I don't know if I can do it with my face or my body language it's a very difficult art we we just tend to become like becoming an actress is becoming a glam fashion thing that's what many people think in India like but I I I I don't take it lightly if I were to do something I'd rather go to school learn how to act and then do it and I don't think I can come into it now on a lighter note I heard somewhere that you like to cook yeah you know I I cook but I can't many times when I say for for example if I've committed someone okay I'll you know I'll cook this for you and I'll you know you will get to eat something so and then that day only I'll mess up so I'm not very consistent consistent just like Corbin yeah right Corbin you can relate to it right no no I cook on a different channel I've tried to make some Indian dishes I'm not a cook like in the slightest I I can cook mac and cheese sometimes so it's just I try to make for the first time Indian dishes and we'll see what happens and so that's that's basically I should also so inspired by you I'll also come up with a channel then do it you said but I'm just kidding so this lockdown gave me a lot of time to be in the kitchen because what else to do and of course we were all very active on social media everybody was posting recipes and how to make banana bread and you know that was a fad at that first lockdown period everyone was posting their cooking skills on on their Instagram or etc so I said okay I'll also do so one or two posts I did and then I got bored but I think I I think I think I can cook a little better now because with some practice it has this lockdown has been actually a blessing in many ways for me I could do a lot of small things which gave me a lot of joy also so I think now next time when you're in India I can cook for you and I have got fantastic you'll have to you'll have to tell Rick what to make his Bengali girlfriend for Valentine's Day yes any any Bengali yes okay now so in this lockdown I've learned a lot of recipes from my mom I will totally cook for you and your girlfriend and I hope you like it yeah a lot of nice recipes that's why he's uh that's why he's learning Bengali uh so I just want to I just want to finish this off and thank you so much for chatting with us with a little bit of a rapid fire just a couple of random questions here so just coffee or chai it's seasonal I would say coffee but in winters I like chai uh favorite Bengali dish koshamang show do you know that Rick oh yes I do and I you do he does not he's lying if you can cook that for you I am not you should you I've had food in Calcutta I promise you the favorite food that I've had thus far is the stuff that I've eaten in Calcutta 100% and I'm not just being biased it's just true uh okay favorite I like it favorite Bengali word just a word just just a word um army that everyone is I I think I like the word gaurom gaurom means hot gaurom gaurom gaurom like in the sense you know usually Calcutta is so human um that everyone will just say gaurom luch I'm feeling very hot so I I think it's one of the most common phrases used in in Calcutta if you go gaurom gaurom I'll start from that one uh favorite favorite Hollywood film oh god wow I didn't expect you will ask me these kind of questions I would have done some preparation okay um a beautiful mind um yeah wonderful film sound of music oh come on sound of music yes Julie Andrews hey I saw you I saw you do that bit in my Angnamore review it was hilarious how you started with that song and I cannot believe it for when you don't know I know my wife somebody says let's start at the very beginning it should be immediate everybody yeah it was very heartbreaking to see that my wife was very upset as well uh favorite Indian film any region okay uh I I think there's a movie called Jabhi met yep and I've seen it I just watched it I watched it over and over again because I don't know there's something very cute and very sweet about that movie Little Shahid Kapoor little Shahid Kapoor Shahid oh Shahid Shahid Kapoor what did I say did I do oh did I do it what I did that at the beginning of the channel I don't know why I'm doing okay all right well uh favorite Indian Shahid so Shahid means honey so he said Shahid Kapoor well he does feel that way about him that's true he is my best friend uh no uh favorite Indian actor and actress okay actor so okay can I be okay in a very these are all black and white movies the mana okay like the old films I really like gurudat movies are just and these two people are my ultimate you know romance is best uh expressed on screen for me by these two actors yeah we we we just watched payasa actually like uh last week yeah phenomenal film uh and uh favorite Indian uh do you say actress yeah I just say my diamond but there are so many more I I really like Madhubala I uh in the uh in the recent times I like right not so recent but Madhuri Dixit is one of my very favorite is absolutely gorgeous and she especially for my music I feel she is the ultimate face I want to sing for I've sung but I want to sing for her and last but not least what is in your opinion your best work it's yet to come yes good answer I like it I like it well thank you so much for chatting with us we really appreciate it we are once again massive admirers of your talent we we think you are literally one of those unique voices that's why I call you the muscular dove that I've ever heard and we we we just every single time we hear one of your your songs or hear your voice in a film it's just one of the highlights of uh anything anything we watch or stuff like that so thank you so much for sharing your talent and sitting down and talking with us Rick yeah and we we everything we produce sing obviously we've been impressed by the quality of your voice and what your capacity is your training is evident in the way that you sing but more more specifically the expression and the artist that you are and talking to you today was really revealing and celebratory for us because that's the thing that matters to us most is highlighting and accentuating elevating artistry and just the way you described how you go about phrasing things in such a way and the detail that you go into taking your notes and making sure that you're finding the emotional expressiveness and understanding the backstory of the script uh we we just wish nothing but the best for you because in our minds you are the definitive consummate artist not just you're not just a singer you are a complete artist and we look forward to everything else you're going to be doing next so we can listen to your your dove muscularity thank you so much that was so I'm very emotional with all of that you said but you always ended with a laughter so thank you for you know those wonderful things that you do on your channel and I'm so glad we did this interview and I hope I'll come back again and talk to you there's so much more to talk about absolutely so much more I'm looking I'm looking forward to that Bengali dish whenever we come come back to India you must come soon and I'll cook for you absolutely yeah thank you so much thank you you have a great day okay thank you