Paoli, so who convinced you to sing Ami jokhon meye thaki in Natoker Moto?
Paoli Dam: One day Debuda (Debojyoti Mishra, the music director of Natoker Moto) called up and asked me to sing a few lines over phone. At that time I was actually at a party with my friends, but I hummed a few lines of a Tagore song.
Debojyoti Mishra: I knew that Paoli can sing and once I heard her over the phone I knew that she would nail it. And it’s great if an actor can sing for her character. (Paoli plays stage actress Kheya in Natoker Moto).
Paoli: I’m not a trained singer, but I have done playback for theatre.  

Were you tense on the day of recording? 
Paoli: Very. I even asked Debuda if I could sing the song some other day. But that didn’t happen. I had practised at home, and under his guidance I tried singing the number in different modulations and tempo.... I wouldn’t say it was very tough, but I was nervous. My voice wasn’t that great on that day…
Debojyoti: But I was sure she would be able to do it. You are very vulnerable the moment you come before the mic. That’s the moment one has to draw out the innocence from the performer. One has to put the singer at ease and pamper him/her. And we recorded her song pretty quickly, say in two-three takes. She did it very spontaneously. 

Does Paoli have a full voice?
Debojyoti: She has a distinctive voice that has character. Since the song has some amount of drama, she could beautifully capture the nuances.

Will you take Paoli as a playback singer for your next project?!
Debojyoti: Yes, I’ll direct a film where she’ll play the lead and sing! And since I’m working on a musical now, she would be perfect as an actress who can sing (smiles)!

Paoli, will you take up singing professionally?
You mean as an alternative career (laughs out loud)! I haven’t thought about it, ya. I like listening to songs. Music has always been inspiring for me… it’s like a mood elevator.

What are the high points of the film’s music?
Debojyoti: My reference point for this film was the sound of Salil Chowdhury. Since I have worked with him for 13 years, I was familiar with the craft... Srijato had to set the words to the tune. 
Srijato: My brief was also to recreate the Salil Chowdhury song, but Debuda told me to keep my signature as well. Now, that was tough. And the funny thing is people continuously ask us to deliver songs in the vein of Chol rastay (from Autograph). ‘What was the brief for that song?’ they ask and my only answer is, ‘We had a deadline.’  
Paoli: I was reading a Javed Akhtar interview where he was asked, ‘What makes you create such lovely songs?’ And he replied: ‘Deadlines.’ 
Debojyoti: For me, deadlines and false deadlines work the most! 
Srijato: I took three days to write Pashapashi hete jete. The music gave me the cues to come up with the words.

Paoli, how much did your acting skills help you in your singing?
Gaan gawa shob cheye boro abhinoy. It’s a stylised expression. Being an actor helps you sing, and if you can sing then it helps the acting too. Kishore Kumar used to act out his songs. You would know when he was singing for Amitabh Bachchan or Rajesh Khanna. 

Arindam Chatterjee
Can Paoli be Tolly’s Priyanka Chopra? Tell t2@abp.in