New Delhi: She has received quite a few honours, but singer-music composer Jasleen Royal says she is no fan of award shows.
Royal, who won the Filmfare Award for best music director for “Shershaah” in 2022, said while she doesn’t mean any disrespect to these awards, she said more effort goes into “who is presenting the award than who is getting it”.
She also won an award for the best indie song at 2013’s MTV Video Music Awards India.
“I have observed on my own, like the nominees are made to sit at the back but some famous people, who got nothing to do with that night, they’ll be made to sit in the front… There is so much politics also.
“You are feeling nervous, and sometimes you end up feeling like, ‘Do you even belong here?’. It’s not like, ‘Oh! You are the nominee. Please come here, sit with us, or what a fabulous job you’ve done’. So I’m not a big fan of the award shows… There’s a lot of VIP culture,” Royal told PTI.
The 32-year-old, with chart-topping tracks like “Heeriye”, “Ranjha”, “Love You Zindagi” and “Din Shagna Da” under her belt, recently released romantic song “Dastoor”, starring Babil Khan, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Neena Gupta.
The single features Royal and Khan as young lovers who part ways because of class divide only to reunite decades later. Gupta and Shroff, who recently co-starred in the Prime Video film “Mast Mein Rehne Ka”, play the older versions of the leads.
Royal, who first gained popularity when she qualified as one of the semi-finalists in the first season of “India’s Got Talent” in 2009, also talked about the “quick fame” that comes with these reality shows.
According to the Ludhiana-born singer, the popularity gained through a reality show is just a head-start and the actual work for the artiste starts soon after. The participants, including the winner, of a reality show remain fresh in people’s memory till the time the next season is not out.
“It is about how you are trying to use that little head-start that you got and put out your own music. Because only your body of work or your songs can make you last long, and make you timeless. So, you need to start doing the work as soon as you get out of that reality show,” she added.
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