An ardent devotee of Lord Jagannath, singer Vinod Rathod loves Orissa, Oriya music and the people of the state and has sung for a number of superhit Oriya films
“My father says, ‘Ganewale Tansen and sunnewale Kansen (kan-ear),” says singer Vinod Rathod. He has a long list of superhit songs to his credit like ‘Parbat Se Kaali’, ‘Aisi Deewangi’ ‘Koi Na Koi Chahiye’ ‘Kitabein Bahut Si’ ‘Chhupana Bhi Nahi Aata’, ‘Samajh Kar Chand Jis Ko’ are some of the examples. His ‘Nayak nehin khalnayak hun mein’ was a smash hit. He has sung in a few Oriya movies. The renowned singer was in Bhubaneswar recently to perform in a musical show titled ‘Madhur Milan’. Himanshu Guru caught up with the melody man.
About his Bollywood entry Vinod said, “I was studying in Lala Lajpat Ray College in Mumbai when the great music director Usha Khanna gave me a break. She said, ‘Rathod ji, aap Rajput ho, tarwal (sword) le ke mat ana, ganaa gane ke liye ana.’ I was very happy that she offered me a chance to sing in Hindi films. Then she was taking many singers like Sabbir bhai, Pankaj bhai, Manhar bhai, Anuradha ji. In our industry she is regarded as the lucky lady. Accordingly, I started with the song ‘Mere dil mein hai andhera koi samma tu jalade, Teri rehmaton ki sadke mujhe rasta dikhade’. It was a Kabali that I sang with Mohammad Aziz. So, I started my career with a song dedicated to Uparwala (God).”
Vinod Rathod was born to the learned classical musician Pandit Chaturbhuj Rathod. His father knew that Vinod was very talented and interested in music. Vinod could grasp the essentials of music and had a distinct flair for singing at a very early age. Hence his father gave him basic training.
Vinod has recorded about 40 songs for Usha Khanna. The song ‘Yeh Jeevan Hai Akash Ganga’ for the serial ‘Akash Ganga’ was quite popular. About the song he said, “The song was written by Sawan Kumar and the music director was Usha Khanna.”
Vinod entered the big league when composers Shiv-Hari offered him ‘Baadal Pe Chalke Aa’ with Lata Mangeshkar and Suresh Wadekar which proved popular. About his big break in Bollywood Vinod said, “I got the big break in Yash Chopra’s Vijay where I sang for Rishi Kapoor ‘Jindegi har janam pyar ki dastaan’ with Lataji.”
Vinod got an offer to sing to the compositions of great music directors Lakshmikant Pyarelal in Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. It become one of the biggest hits of 1992. “I sang for Lakshmikantji the song ‘Romeo Naam mera, chori hei kaam mera’. Again in the film Chandni I sang ‘Parbat se kali ghata takarai’, he said. Vinod has worked with other composers like Anu Malik, Bappi Lahiri and Anand-Milind.
Music director duo Nadeem-Shravan was at the crest of popularity in the 1990s. Shravan is Vinod’s elder brother. Although Nadeem favoured Kumar Sanu, Shravan came forward to offer his brother Vinod the onus of being the voice of Shah Rukh Khan in Deewana in 1992. ‘Aisi Deewangi’ with Alka Yagnik proved a rage and ‘Koi Na Koi Chahiye Pyar Karne Wala’ too was hugely popular.
Vinod has worked for almost all reputed production houses of India. To mention a few: RK Films, Yash Raj Productions, Factory, Ramesh Sippy Productions, KC Bokadia Productions, Boney Kapoor Productions, Manmohan Desai Productions, Rajshree Productions, Mukta Arts, Bhansali Productions, Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions, etc.
An unabashed Kishore Kumar fan, Vinod’s singing replicates the punch, energy and throw of Kishore Kumar. His regret is that could never sing for Rajesh Khanna, despite getting his first big film Vijay whose cast was headed by the superstar.
His voice is flexible and suits actors of all hues from Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Nana Patekar to Govinda, Jackie Shroff, Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and Salman Khan.
Vinod has sung more than 3,500 songs in Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Kannada, Telgu, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri and Persian. Vinod has sung for all the leading composers like Jatin-Lalit, Ravindra Jain, Bappi Lahiri, Viju Shah, Rajesh Roshan, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Shantanu Moitra and AR Rahman. His song ‘Main Hoon Number Ek Gawaiya’ from Dulhe Raja shows his classical mastery which he has incorporated from his father.
Vinod is a great devotee of Lord Jagannath. He loves Orissa, Oriya music and the people of the state. About Orissa he said, “I love Orissa a lot. I also love its music. I have lent voice in a number of Oriya films including Balunga Toka, Rangila Toka, Golapi Golapi and Dewaana. When my Oriya songs become hits I was very happy that people over here love my songs. I love the language a lot. I am always ready to sing an Oriya song.”
Vinod intimated about his upcoming albums: “I have a long list of upcoming songs including a tribute to great singer Kishore da (Kishore Kumar). I want the blessings of all and, most of all, the blessing of Lord Jagannath. I always love coming to Orissa.”
