Shinde brings alive Kishoreda in 'Jhumroo'

Gurgaon, April 7 (IANS) When little known Ravindra Shinde speaks like Kishore Kumar, it seems the legendary singer is there for real.

Shinde was at his best in a new Bollywood musical "Jhumroo".

Shinde says he was surprised when he got a chance to mimic Kishore Kumar in the play, open to public at live entertainment destination Kingdom of Dreams.

"Kishore Kumar is a genius and an evergreen singer. He is like a god for me. I idolise him, I have learnt a lot from him, how to sing a song whether it's sad, happy, naughty or comedy, voice throw, expressions, everything," Shinde told IANS.

The singer says it is sheer luck that he was chosen for the show, after hundreds of voices were auditioned to render the dialogues of Kishore Kumar spirit in the show.

Surprisingly, his voice is so naturally Kishoreda that it is hard for the audience to distinguish it from the original.

However, he admits getting the pronunciation bang on was tough.

"Although everything went off smoothly, sometimes I used to get stuck in particular lines or words. There are some words that belongs to today's generation and were not there at Kishore Kumar's time.

"It was important for me to speak those words exactly the way Kishoreda would have said it. I used to get stuck how he would have pronounced the words," said Shinde.

Shinde hails from Kohlapur and holds a diploma in classical music from Kohlapur University. He has been working in Mumbai for 25 years, and used to do stage shows and orchestra shows earlier.

In 1997, he won the music reality show "Meri Awaaz Suno". Since then, he has been doing recordings for TV serials and movies.

Shinde also teaches music at Harmony Music School in Mumbai.

It took two months for Shinde to prepare for "Jhumroo", which narrates the tale of a simpleton who hopes to make it big as a singing idol. When he fails, Kishore Kumar's spirit comes to his rescue.

Shinde recorded for the role over a period of eight months.

His talent was spotted by percussionist Nitin Shankar, who heard him singing Kishore Kumar songs at an event.

"He was impressed by my performance and suggested my name to music composer Raju Singh, who has worked on the music of 'Jhumroo'," said Shinde, who has also sung the title track of the musical.

"When I heard about the concept and what they were looking for, I felt I could do it. I did some sample recordings for the show and they liked it and recorded my voice-over and song.

"I had never thought I would one day be the voice of Kishore Kumar. This is an achievement, more important than an Oscar for me," he added.