Richa Sharma turns rapper for ‘Thank You Obama’

NEW DELHI - After featuring in Bollywood numbers and devotional songs, singer Richa Sharma has now turned rapper with a song for the upcoming moive “Thank You Obama” that will release during the US president’s India visit.

“My next song is going to be a shock for many people. As I have rapped for the first in ‘Thank You Obama’, Richa told IANS in an interview.

“It was a hard task for the music directors to convience me to sing the rap number. I never thought that one day I would do a hip-hop kind of a song. The video of the song is expected to release on November 7, when US President Barack Obama will be visiting India.”

The singer, who has to her credit hit numbers like “Ni Mein Samajh Gayi”, “Bilo Rani” and “Sajda”, is once again hogging the limelight for her song Zor Ka Jhataka in Action Replayy. The song is picturised on Aishwarya Rai in the film, which is releasing Friday and also stars Akshay Kumar.

The 38-year-old says she was sure that the song will be a chartbuster.

“From the start, I was pretty sure that the song will be a hit. The pairing of Akshay and Aishwarya, the situation of the song, the look of the 1970’s everything seemed perfect to make a great package, which indeed turned out very well.”

Born-and-brought up in Haryana, Richa learnt the art of singing bhajans from her father Pandit Daya Shankar Upadhyaya and mother Manorma Devi, which slowly and steadily became her destiny.

The singer, who has been in the industry for more than a decade, says she is blessed to be spontaneous with her vocals.

“By god’s grace singing comes naturally to me. I don’t take much time to record a song. I don’t have too many re-takes during recordings. It takes me a maximum of an hour to record a song.”

Richa has come a long way since the time when her singing was confined to devotional songs. Although she used to sing as a child, her playback career took off only in 2002 with “Mahi ve” in “Kaante”.

Richa’s upcoming projects include a soothing devotional song in the movie “Cheers-Celebrate Life” and a Sufi number in “Patiala House”.

Revealing the secret behind her successful career, she said: “Being versatile is the key to a long and successful career. When I started, I was limited to Sufi but with growing years I have learnt a lot of new styles.”

Though she has tried many genres, Richa says Sufi is still her personal favourite.

“Now that I have sung in so many different styles and explored different genres, I rate Sufi songs as my personal favourite. It gives me the comfort of right scale and pitch. I’m comfortable while singing Sufi songs.

Richa, who has earlier released albums like “Ni Main Yaar Nu Sajda Kardi”, “Piya” and “Wind Of Rajasthan”, is busy with her new album.

“I will come out with my own music ablbum by the middle of next year. All the compositions are different and are based on family emotions.

“We singers are very particular about the lyrics. I get them changed if I find that the lyrics have double-meanings or are vulgar.”