Winning Score

Meet Suzanne D’Mello,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 Latika’s Theme and Dreams on Fire,is creating it’s own slow storm. Meet singer Suzanne D’Mello better known as Suzie D in Bollywood,who’s got a new lease of life post Slumdog. D’Mello met Rehman a few times last year but it took a while for things to materialise. “He told me he’ll 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 D’Mello,talking of the idiosyncracy of the composer who works at night.

In the studio,D’Mello hummed the composition since there were no lyrics and the session went on till the wee hours of the morning. The tune hummed by D’Mello that night is still without the lyrics and eventually became Latika’s 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,D’Mello 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 D’Mello calls Latika’s 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 D’Mello too,who is rooting for the composer. “He’s a genius. It’s no surprise that the west has begun to recognize him,so there’s a realistic chance of him winning it,” she says.

As for herself,the film has put her career on track as well. D’Mello’s Aye Bachhu from the film Ghajini has also hit the jackpot. Her forthcoming projects include some tracks in Subhash Ghai’s Hello Darling composed by Pritam and a duet with Bappi Lahiri in Amartya Rahut’s Aage se Right Turn. “I am enjoying the fame that has suddenly started post Slumdog,” iterates D’Mello. “But I don’t plan to be complacent. There is a long way to go and I have to work even harder to better myself,” she says.