The sunshine man

Suraj Jagan,who got noted for his Give me some sunshine number from 3 Idiots,has lent his voice for Kamal Haasans Viswaroopam.

Since Give me some sunshine,Suraj Jagan has been lending his voice for many Hindi films. Though he has been around for a long time,this was a major break for the singer. Suraj has now also sung for the title track of Kamal Haasans Vishwaroopam,in all the three languages; Tamil,Telugu and Hindi that the film is being made in.

The songs for the film have been composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy so I was in a familiar territory and in good company. The composers were confident that I could do it. What was very inspiring was that I got to meet Kamal Haasan whose films I have been watching since childhood. What a humble guy! Not once did I feel I was meeting a superstar. He even dictated the Tamil lyrics to me and was present throughout the recording. Before this,he even described the character to me so that I could get feel. For me,it was like winning a lottery.

Kerala-born Suraj has also worked for Illayaraja in Gautham Menons next,Neethane En Ponvasantham. I have sung the Tamil and Telugu versions of a song, says Suraj,who has also sung in Ami Superstar,a Bengali film by director Sujit Mondal in his kitty.

Kevi Rite Jaish is a Gujarati film for which he has sung and according to him,the song Pankhida is presently rocking in the state as it is a youth-oriented,fun-filled song. It has since gone viral on the Internet,he says. For Suraj,it was a very different yet great experience to sing a lively number and that too in Gujarati,a language that he is not very familiar with. The singer has so far experimented in 14 languages,some of them being Kashmiri,Marathi,Bengali and Oriya.

Give me some sunshine changed a lot for me. I gained instant recognition though I have been singing and performing since 1987. So you can say,I got the industrys nod pretty late, says the singer,who was a part of the Krysys band and others. He also did the jingle You and I in this beautiful world for the Hutch ad but it did not bring him recognition as it is all about the product, adding that he shall always been grateful to music director Shantanu Moitra for giving him the song in 3 Idiots.

Suraj is eagerly awaiting the response to his South songs but he is not talking much about them because The Jaa chudail number for Delhy Belly was recorded three years before the films release. So now I am very cautious but you may look forward to some good work from me, he signs off.