Rajdeep Chatterjee: Hitting the right notes

Jamshedpur, Oct. 12: It is the price of fame — being forced to be away from family members during festivities — but steel city lad Rajdeep Chatterjee who shot to fame last year with singing reality show Indian Idol 4, is performing in the United States this Durga Puja.

Rajdeep, invited by the New York Durga Puja Association to perform across seven cities across the US, will give his hometown’s Durga Puja a miss to regale non-resident Bengalis with his mellifluous voice instead. “It does feel bad when you are away from home during such an important festival, but this invite gives me a whole new exposure as a singer. Also, it will be interesting to experience the Pujas in a different continent,” said the singer, who stays with his parents in residential Kadma.

His parents appeared to be resigned to the absence of their younger son — Rajdeep’s older brother stays in Mumbai — displaying the stoicism of star parents. “Of course, we will miss him during the Pujas, but this is more important,” said Rajdeep’s father T.K. Chatterjee.

The budding singer, who left his hometown last Wednesday for Mumbai, will reach the US with Torsa Sarkar, another singer from the same reality show, and other artistes. The teenager is performing in New York, Washington DC, Dallas, Atlantic City, Pittsburgh, North Carolina and Maryland. “It is a great opportunity to showcase our tradition there. It will be exciting to present Bengali songs,” Rajdeep told The Telegraph over phone from Mumbai.

He will be back home by the end of this month.

The New York Durga Puja Association is a Bengali community association based in New York, which organises a three-week festival during Pujas to get in touch with roots on foreign soil.

Rajdeep, who was invited for the performance around May, had been diligently rehearsing on phone with musicians and accompanying artistes based in New York. “They specially requested me to play some songs from the legendary Mahishashur Mardini album. I will also sing many Bengali songs to suit the festive mood and a couple of Hindi songs. Since rehearsal was essential and it was impossible for us to meet, we rehearsed completely over phone. It was difficult, but a refreshing experience,” said Rajdeep.

Since the talented singer was voted out at number five from the Indian Idol contest last year, he has been encountering many such new experiences. The teenager has travelled across Kuwait, Dubai, United Kingdom, Bangladesh and a number of places within India for stage shows.