Meet Suzanne DMello,the crooner behind two tracks from Slumdog Millionaire
In the whirlwind of praise and accolades surrounding Slumdog Millionaire and its Oscar worthy tunes by AR Rehman,the largely unknown voice behind the tracks Latikas Theme and Dreams on Fire,is creating its own slow storm. Meet singer Suzanne DMello better known as Suzie D in Bollywood,whos got a new lease of life post Slumdog. DMello met Rehman a few times last year but it took a while for things to materialise. He told me hell get back to me when something comes up. In October I got a call from him at 12 at night to record a tune that he had just composed, says DMello,talking of the idiosyncracy of the composer who works at night.
In the studio,DMello hummed the composition since there were no lyrics and the session went on till the wee hours of the morning. The tune hummed by DMello that night is still without the lyrics and eventually became Latikas theme in Slumdog Millionaire. We had no idea that it was this film we were recording for. AR loves keeping a lot of secrets, she smiles. In a career spanning ten years,DMello has sung several popular tracks like Signal from Bhagam Bhaag,Mahiya from Aawarapan,the backing vocals for Mayya Mayya from Guru and the zingy techno bhangra rap from Ji Karda in Singh is King. But DMello calls Latikas Theme one of her toughest performances yet. I am humming continuously for three minutes. The balancing act with my pitch and tone had to be subtle yet powerful,which was the difficult to perfect, she says.
The wait for the Oscars have begun for DMello too,who is rooting for the composer. Hes a genius. Its no surprise that the west has begun to recognize him,so theres a realistic chance of him winning it, she says.
As for herself,the film has put her career on track as well. DMellos Aye Bachhu from the film Ghajini has also hit the jackpot. Her forthcoming projects include some tracks in Subhash Ghais Hello Darling composed by Pritam and a duet with Bappi Lahiri in Amartya Rahuts Aage se Right Turn. I am enjoying the fame that has suddenly started post Slumdog, iterates DMello. But I dont plan to be complacent. There is a long way to go and I have to work even harder to better myself, she says.
