I can't sing every Bollywood song: Shubha Mudgal

Renowned singer Shubha Mudgal has created magic with her songs like "Ab ke saawan" and "Mann ke manjeere", but her presence in Bollywood has been rather sporadic. She says it's not possible for her to sing every kind of film song as her voice often becomes a limitation.

The singer has lent her powerful voice to only a few Hindi film songs including "Piya tora kaisa abhimaan" ("Raincoat") and the title track of "Laaga Chunari Mein Daag".

"There have been some composers and directors who have invited me to sing in their films. But I don't think that I can sing every song. My voice and my temperament have their limitations; so, merely to accept a song because it's for a film and because one feels that it will get more attention would be idiotic," Mudgal told IANS in an interview here.

"I also believe that to sing a Bollywood song, one needs to have a specialisation and that specialisation is not that I have been studying. If a song excites me and suits me, I only go for it then. I don't want to be apologetic for doing something," she said.

Mudgal has produced various impeccable renditions of the Indian classical repertoire, but she feels that classical training is not the only way to become a singer.

"I don't think it's important to be studying classical music alone. I feel it is important that whatever kind of music you do there should be a disciplined study of that. I am not of the opinion that you have to learn classical music to be able to sing any other kind of music. It is advisable that you study some type of music but in a disciplined fashion," Mudgal said.

A lover of music genres such as khayal, thumri and dadra, Mudgal explored Indian pop music in the 1990s. Her albums "Ali More Angana", "Ab ke Sawan", "Pyaar Ke Geet" and "Mann Ki Manjeere" went on to become hugely popular.

The singer, who has been missing from the pop scene for some time now, says she doesn't want to keep repeating herself.

"I don't feel there is any point in repeating oneself and that is very often the expectation. When you sing one 'Ab Ke Saawan' you are expected to sing 100 other songs that sound like that.

"Also, I am not an assembly-line artist. I cannot churn out one album after another. I think the need to be out there, making an album and doing the launches every three months don't really work with me. If there is something that excites, fine. Otherwise merely to repeat oneself doesn't make a point," said Mudgal.

Though the 50-year-old Padma Shri awardee appreciates present-day film music, she still is "partial" when it comes to melodious old film songs.

"I wouldn't trash everything in the present time but I am partial to older film music. I think there are some beautiful songs that are made even today. But I do have a thing for the older songs. Perhaps because that was the time when I was growing up, I have a nostalgia for that music," the singer said.

Mudgal, who is not working on any Bollywood project at the moment, was in the capital for the promotion of a new reality show "Amul Voice of India - Mummy Ke Superstars" where she will