More than a decade ago,Shiraz Uppal had bought tickets to an AR Rahman concert in New York,hoping to get noticed by the maestro. The ambitions of the then aspiring singer didnt come true but his relentless pursuit he used to send emails to imaginary mailing addresses hoping to reach Rahman finally bore fruit. After waiting for five hours at a hotel lobby with his pregnant wife,Uppal met Rahman with a demo in hand,hoping to sing for the composer one day. Cut to 2013 and Uppal sang Rahmans most popular song,Raanjhanaas title track. I got a call from his manager. We recorded in May and the song released in June and before the song could sink in,it was a hit, says the 37-year-old from Pakistan. It is a difficult song to sing because it is very fast, he says. Uppal first tested for Rahman in Shakalaka baby from Nayak-The Real Hero (2001). But it was Roya re,from Dhokha (2007),composed by Uppal,that saw him entering Bollywood charts. From Roya re to Raanjhanaa,Uppals disappearance from Indian music could be partly explained by a moral crisis the musician had gone through in the middle years. Disillusioned with the dwindling Pakistani music scene,Uppal had given up music,sold his studio in Pakistan,and settled abroad. A year of introspection in Westminster County,USA,and one phone call from Rahman brought him back to music. The same year,Uppal was touring with Rahman and singing qawwalis in the Noble Peace Prize Concert. When I saw 30,000 non-Muslims singing to the same tune,I realised that music cant be forbidden, he says. In Pakistan,Uppal has produced albums. Besides,he is the music producer of Pakistani film,Bol,and singers Aatif Aslam,Zeb and Haniya. Now with the success of Raanjhanaa,Uppal is hoping to break into the Indian music scene. On his recent visit to Mumbai,he met composers Salim-Sulaiman and Mithoon.
