Sonu Nigam’s formidable repertoire of multi-genre songs has been a result of over three decades of effortless, melodious singing for the Hindi film music industry. His deep love for the stage and passion for music began when he was just a toddler and that hasn’t abated even a bit, though he is almost touching 50.

Sonu has been busy with shows across the globe. And while he did choose to stay away from singing actively for Bollywood at one time, Sonu’s latest song has been for his favourite star Aamir Khan — Main Ki Karaan from Laal Singh Chaddha.

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph Online, Sonu Nigam speaks about the changes in the music scenario in the last few years, his work on Jal not getting the recognition it deserved in India, dealing with social media trolls and his upcoming projects.

Your songs in Laal Singh Chaddha have been on the charts for a while now. How was it working with Aamir Khan again?

Sonu Nigam: Working with Aamir Khan has always been special and now even more because we have developed a personal equation in the last couple of years. He was always one of my two favourite actors. One is Amitabh Bachchan and the second was Aamir Khan, so when I work with him, I work with a lot of happiness.

The music scenario has changed a lot in the last couple of years. What do you feel are the positive changes?

Sonu Nigam: There are changes for sure and you can look at it as positive, or you can also look at it as negative. It is there in every era, in every field of art or profession. Yes, there have been a lot of changes from the time I came to this industry. It was 1991. Today I am 31-plus years old in this industry. Right from the recording style, things have changed — it was analogue earlier with musicians and singers working together. But now we can record songs in our bedrooms. So a lot has also changed in the way we used to have music companies release a song, to today, where you can release a song on your own, with your label, on various platforms. It is all in your hands. There is a lot of music in the market which makes the success percentage ratio very difficult sometimes. But at the same time, you don’t have to rely on one particular person to succeed. You can keep releasing your stuff yourself and if you are lucky, and if you have talent, you will surely stand out.

You have worked with some fabulous musicians, composers over the years…

Sonu Nigam: The perks of working in Mumbai, which was Bombay when I came to become a singer, is that you get to meet and work with the best and not just the country but with the world. And of course working with our greats like Lataji (Mangeshkar), Ashaji (Bhosle), Manna Dey sahab. I used to do a TV show called Sa Re Ga Ma and I am the only one who can actually talk about my good fortune that not just one but all the greats of all time came to my show which went on for four to five years. Such great people right from Naushad sahab, Zakir Hussainji, Anil Biswasji, Ravi Shankarji, Ghulam Mustafa Khan sahab, Birju Maharajji, Kelucharan Mohapatra… I have worked with many great people. And I have not even begun to talk about the younger ones and the newer ones who are so beautiful in their work too. So yes, I have been very fortunate and I am the luckiest artiste in the world ever.

Sonu Nigam with Bickram Ghosh TT Archives

Tell us about your long collaboration with percussionist Bickram Ghosh. You do a lot of work together…

Sonu Nigam: Bickram bhai and I have done lots of good work together. Our most amazing work has been one on the album Jal, which got nominated in the shortlist of Oscars in 2014. The movie, Jal, didn’t do very well at the box office in India, but the music was appreciated worldwide, not in India though (smiles). It was a very unique album that I did, which will never ever get its due. Unless 20 years later people get up and revisit and notice what we did in this album. It was called the music room and from the rhythm changes and the composition to the lyrics I wrote, it was one of my best and most amazing works ever.

You have always had cross-generational appeal with your genre-bending voice. What do you think makes a singer unique and appealing?

Sonu Nigam: Thank you for being very kind and calling me cross-generational. I don’t take credits, I just believe in my good fortune. My good fortune is that I am open-minded, I listen to everybody. I take good qualities from everyone, younger or older, male or female. I listen to them, I observe, take the minute details and then I steal it. You have to be a thief to become rich in your craft and trust me, you won’t be penalised for it.

Fame and success comes with baggage, controversies and trolls. How do you handle them? What is your advice to others who have to face trolling?

Sonu Nigam: Yes, of course! You learn as you go through it as you experience trolling, as you experience the controversies. I don’t have any advice in particular because we all have to handle our own demons. All I can say is that the best way to be out there in public, unless you’ve been triggered too much, is with head down and hands folded in humility. You see, you cannot fight back people who are so huge in numbers.

You have to accept sometimes the consequence of something that you are probably going through or you are suffering because most of it is bad fortune. There is a higher power who decides for you. So, one should be patient, not be negative, not be too hard on criticism or trolling. Your positive vibrations will reach the people eventually.

Any memory about a concert or live performance that has stuck to your mind?

Sonu Nigam: I have been performing on stage for the last 45 years now. I started in 1977. The first time when I went on stage, it was at a place called Jind and I cried. I wanted to go on the stage and I forced my parents to let me sing with my father. That was one memory. Then of course another is about singing in front of Lataji on her 75th birthday back in 2003. So we celebrated that, and I was singing her songs in front of her and also hosting the entire show. It was a very difficult thing to speak for like three-four hours and then sing three of her most difficult songs in front of her.

Tell us about your upcoming work...

Sonu Nigam: We are working on a proper official Hanuman Chalisa for my label, I Believe Music. I have sung for Aamir Khan’s son Junaid’s movie… I don’t know the name. I have also sung for Meghna Gulzar’s next movie (Sam Bahadur). So, lots of work is coming up.