I was born into a family that was deeply into music — my mother was a lyricist while my father was a composer. My parents founded the choir Jhankar Shilpi Gosthi, which I joined at the age four, playing the percussion instrument maracas and eventually graduating to singing.

It was a happy chapter in which my mother was my best friend, philosopher and guide. But life had other plans. My mother was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1992. I was shattered. I found myself in a creative vacuum too since my mother had been the backbone of my artistic pursuits. This was the biggest turning point in my life.

I decided to step into her shoes and turn lyricist. In 1999, a few like-minded musician friends and I formed the Bangla rock band, Fossils. In 2002 our first album, Fossils, was released but it didn’t take off. May 2003 saw the second turning point in my life when Calcutta witnessed the boom in FM channels. The channel Aamar FM started playing our tracks Aekla Ghor and Hasnuhana regularly, and almost overnight the verdict changed. Fossils became a superhit.

A phone call from music director Pritam Chakraborty created a new dimension to my life. In October 2007, I recorded the title track for the Bollywood film, Jannat, and began my journey as a playback singer. This role brought me more recognition. I also won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 2010 for the film Mahanagar@Kolkata. These milestones have in a way changed the course of my life.

(As told to Shreya Shukla)