Himachali singer gets ticket to Bollywood

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 7

Upcoming Himachali singer and runner-up of the second season of India Idol Anuj Sharma has finally made a debut as a playback singer in Bollywood.

His maiden song ‘Kuch hone wala hai’ in the murder mystery ‘Missing on a weekend’ was recorded in the last week of June and the film is slated for release in August.

The film produced under the banner of Red Bulb Studios and directed by Abhishek Jawker will also launch Karan Hariharan, son of legendary singer Hariharan. The executive producer of the film is Murali Lalwani while the music has been given by Om Jha and Naksh Aziz. The film is shot mostly in Goa.

“It all started from bathroom singing as I was a bit shy and my elder brother Manoj virtually pushed me into the world of music. He even got my subject changed to music while I was pursuing graduation in arts from Government College, Dehri,” said 39-year-old Anuj.

“I did postgraduation from Guru Nanak Dev University and taught music in Dehri college for a year. I have sung folk songs on radio and have 45 folk albums to my credit,” he said, adding that he had moved to Delhi to do a course in sound recording.

“During my stay in Delhi, I gave auditions for Indian Idol, got selected and finished as a runner-up,” said Anuj. He said he had got three more offers.

In 2011, Anuj released his first Hindi album ‘Khawab’.

Anuj hails from Rehan, a small town in Kangra district. He is a good cricketer (fast bowler), enjoys reading cartoon books and is also a fitness freak.