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Hariharan
'Hari'cane of Melody
His voice carries the freshness of the rising sun. He also
happens to
be blessed with a swanky sense of humour. Welcome on board to the
ship of singer-composer Hariharan's exploits in the unfathomable
waters of entertainment.
Managing to etch his place in the news with a few priceless vignettes
here and there, this connoisseurs' latest venture - with fellow
Colonial Cousin Leslie Lewis - Aatma has done
reasonably well. Their hit single Kaye Zaala is the toast
of a zillion cable channels! His rendition of the title track of
Subhash Ghai's Yaadein is a worldwide favourite. And
now Hari is all charged up to wear grease paint for his first
outing as an actor in a Tamil-Hindi flick.
Power of Woman his maiden film, is woven around the
issue of women's liberation. His co-star in the film is this 'south-Indian
Goddess' - Khushboo and the director, Jaidevi
is a filmmaker who specialises in parallel cinema. "I am
playing the central character, an artist who runs an art school
and sends across subtle messages of feminism through his paintings.
Khushboo, my co-star, plays the role of a homemaker
and shares a platonic relationship with me," Hariharan
informs.
One cannnot doubt the fact that Hariharan is endowed with a rare-honey- dipped
voice. There is an element of softness that makes his voice endearing,
very masculine and yet having that touch of womanly gentleness.
Let's rewind and find out something about his past. Hariharan
has been hugely inspired by his mother, who is an exponent of
Carnatic music. "My mother is my anchor. She has always
encouraged me. I think, that for anybody to succeed, one definitely
requires an anchor," says Hariharan reverentially.
Hariharan, the master-singer of today had to struggle a
lot initially. He fondly remembers composer Jaidev, the man
who gave him his first break in Muzaffar Ali's Gaman.
It was a ghazal that I had sung first; Ajeeb saneha mujh par
guzar gaya yaaron. As is the norm in the Indian entertainment
industry, he got slotted as a Ghazal singer till he recently broke
the shackles by singing a popular tune in A R Rahman's debut
film, Roja. But a protruding fact is his personal
inclination towards Ghazal singing, which he himself admits is his
"prized passion". Twenty-three Ghazal Albums
are ample proof of his prolific production." People
used to find it amusing that a 'south-Indian' is belting out Urdu
couplets! But then, singing ghazals wasn't something that just happened.
I was very clear since the beginning of my career that I wish to
excel in Ghazal singing." 
The two artistes he admires the most are Ustad Ghulam Mustafa
Khan (also his teacher) and Ghazal maestro Mehndi Hasan.
He narrated the incident when he met Mehndi Saab for the
first time just for you guys "Mehndi Saab
heard my name and tried to pronounce it twice or thrice and then
said, naam mein goonj hai," Hariharan says.
He has shared an artistically rich relationship with the Ghazal
doyen for over two decades. In fact, Hari paid his tribute
by rendering Mehndi Hasan's ghazals from the maestro's latest
album Sada-e-Ishq at the Y B Chavan Centre in Mumbai.
"I'm perhaps Hasan's greatest admirer and have treasured
some of his oldest recordings that were aired on Lahore Radio.
By: Faridoon Shahryar
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