Everyone knows who he is. He is the guy with an amazingly rich voice
that has taken him to the heights of stardom and acknowledgement within
no time at all. And at such a young age!
He is Atif Aslam, the
guy who continues to touch the hearts of millions y belting out one
song after another. “Music is an essential part of my being. It’s there
inside my soul and makes its own way out as effortlessly as that....”
Atif acknowledges his intrinsic talent in no uncertain terms.
So
what does the natural star likes to do when he is not involved in
making music? “Not much reading that you can be sure of!” he is quick
to reveal. “Actually, reading to me is an absorbing, time consuming
activity, and time is not a commodity I get a lot of. I think reading
through the syllabi in my school and college days was more than enough
for me.”
He makes a joke of it but then adds a bit more soberly,
“No, in fact I would like to read a lot more than I am doing right now.
And I would like to read informative books that give you real insight
into the history of religion. I want to read about the state and
practices of Islam in different eras and then compare them with the
present times. There is so much diversity of opinion regarding religion
these days and that is the reason why I want to browse through the
whole history, and, perhaps then, reach a stage where I can discern the
limit between right and wrong for myself.”
Pretty philosophical, but definitely understandable!
By the way, Atif’s favourite subject in school was mathematics, so one can hardly expect him to be into literature really.
Is
a similar judgment to be made about Atif’s other leisure activities
like movies, for instance? Not really, not after his music has been
selected for a Hollywood flick called Man Pushcart, which, after
running successfully in the Venice Film Festival, bagged for him the
‘Feprisci Awards of Critics’. And he does like to watch movies as well.
“I
like to watch movies whenever I can grab a few hours out of my hectic
schedules. And I like serious, thought-provoking art movies. For
instance there was this movie I watched some time back on Zee TV called
Pushpak. It was really impressive right from its basic idea and
storyline down to the standard of acting and directions. It is a Kamala
Hasan movie with no dialogues at all. The whole film is shot making use
of just expressions and music and it really is awesome.”
Apart
from that Atif also likes more Indian art movies like Ijaazat and Aik
Rookha Hooa Faisla. Sanjay Leela Bensali is his favourite director and
Sushmita Sen his favourite artist. Among Hollywood movies he enjoyed
Tom Hanks’ Cast Away quite a lot and appreciates the artistic
capabilities of Demi Moore and Cameron Dias considerably. Besides art
movies, Atif also enjoys adventurous films.
Currently he is
involved in finalizing his second album to which he is attaching loads
of importance. “I won’t go into much details. It would be for all to
judge, criticize or appreciate it once it comes out, which would be
soon. But I would definitely say that I have put my 100% in it and hope
that my efforts will be duly awarded.”
Talking of awards, Atif
has yet more reasons to feel proud of. He has been nominated not only
for the Indian Filmfare and Zee Cine Awards but also for the very
prestigious Manikchand Awards which has till date only been won by one
Pakistani artist, Nazia Hassan.
“Just being nominated for the
award, along with contemporaries like Sonu Nigam and Ramesh, means a
lot to me,” he modestly acknowledges. Aadat and Who Lamhay have already
created waves in the Bollywood already fetching him a couple of
0000000000000000000awards.
Atif reveals a rather interesting
aspect about his choice of music. “I normally listen to music while I
am driving. And because I like to drive a bit fast, the music has to be
complementary to keep the adrenaline flowing.”
But this is not
to imply that it is the only kind of music Atif likes to listen to. “I
am a great fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and love to listen to not only
his contemporary music but old qawwalis too. Then I also like Abida
Parveen and Junoon’s music a lot. Among the westerners I like to listen
to Audio Slave, U2 and Foo Fighter.”
Surprisingly, though
acknowledging all the great maestros of the music world, Atif does not
seem willing to become a disciple of any.
“I know there’s a lot
I can learn from so many great legends of music world, but I also feel
that if I become a shagird to anyone I would lose my distinctive
identity, for then I’d be influenced by the maestro’s style
intentionally or unintentionally.”
So the lone crusader keeps on moving ahead on his own. One can’t help but wish him the very best of luck!
