Seeing Benny Dayal sing is like seeing the energy of his songs take physical form in front of ones eyes. The singer of chartbusting hits such as Badtameez dil,Daaru desi,Disco deewane and Pappu cant dance saala is really something on stage he is always on the move,showcasing different dancing techniques even as he reaches for soaring notes with ease. His skills as a natural performer he owes to a childhood idol,Michael Jackson,and his earlier days of training in Bharatanatyam,courtesy his mother who is a trained practitioner. Since I started learning Bharatanatyam as a kid,I was listening to Carnatic classical music before anything else, says Dayal,sitting inside the air-conditioned greenroom on the sets of MTV Unplugged. Its only a while ago that all of the above came together,when Dayal presented his reprise of Omana penne,one of his earlier hits with AR Rahman from the Tamil film Vinnaithandi Varuvaayaa,where he attempted a Carnatic flourish in what is essentially a Rhythm and Blues (RnB) number. I wanted to do that Malayalee bit too,but couldnt. Actually,I should have, he says with apparent indecision,suggesting the kind of spontaneity he works with. It has been five years since Dayal started singing for Bollywood,and his fresh,youthful voice seems to have worked very well with Hindi cinemas young heroes,from Ranbir Kapoor in Badtameez dil,to Sushant Singh Rajput in Shuddh Desi Romance and Ranveer Singh in Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl and Band Baaja Baaraat. I am never told about the hero while recording the song. The only time I was,I had Aamir Khan sitting in front of me during the recording of Kaise mujhe tum mil gaye from Ghajini, says the singer,who got his break singing for Rahman in Yuvvraaj and later,in Ghajini. He was soon picked up by A-list composers such as Amit Trivedi,Pritam,Salim-Sulaiman,Vishal-Shekhar and Sachin Jigar. His latest one is for Papon in his episode of Coke Studio@MTV. I chose songs that I thought can be taken somewhere that will be unexpected for the audience, he says,referring to the set in the show. As a result,one will see known Hindi film songs turned upside down such as a techno-heavy dance number Ek main aur ek tu transforming into a soft ditty or the more difficult Badtameez dil,whose fast tempo is difficult to contain,in an acoustic set-up. The outcome isnt always satisfactory,but Dayal is ready to surprise the audience. Every song I sing,I want people to actually ask who the singer is. Like some of my friends back home (Kerala) couldnt believe when I told them that Ive sung Badtameez dil, he says. Dayal has an unusually good vocal prowess on the higher notes. The distinct nasal-ness is perhaps Dayals most prominent traits that he mastered over his years of singing RnB. His other influences are jazz,soul,street and old school hip hop. I am not a big fan of rock. I listened to a lot of bands,but its really RnB that I found the grace I was looking for, says the 29-year-old,who has a journalism and mass communication degree from Madras Christian College. His Malayalee origins may throw doubts about his Hindi accent,but as far as Dayal is concerned,that is misplaced. When I was recording Tu hi toh meri dost hai in Yuvvraaj,Gulzar saab told me he couldnt believe I was a Malayali. That is the greatest approval you can get for your Hindi, says Dayal. Having grown up in Abu Dhabi,he picked up the basics of the Arabic accent. That inherently makes him at ease with even shuddh Hindi words like mui belakhni,a phrase he picks up from his latest song,the Shuddh Desi Romance title song.
