Riding on tide of success

Choreographer-turned-singer Shraey Khanna in a freewheeling chat talks about his stint in dance, music and his inspirations

Shraey Khanna shot to fame after winning the first ever series of ‘India's Dancing Superstar’ in 2013. The multitalented artist also debuted in singing with his first single “Nakhra Wakhra” in 2015, which got immense love from the public as well as from the dancing legend Remo D’Souza and other celebs from his former shows.

The dancer-turned-singer has recently released a new single “Haath Mei Daru Nahi Juice Ka Glass’. He not only rendered his voice to the song but also has choreographed, penned lyrics and composed the song.

Shraey states that he wants to change the current trend by taking the step ahead by releasing the non-alcoholic party anthems as nowadays every singer is releasing songs having ‘alcohol, girls, cars’ or all of these as objects, be it in a video or the lyrics of the song.

Shraey has earlier choreographed songs for Yo Yo Honey Singh and he admits that the rapper’s struggle to fame inspired him a lot to take the mantle of singing.

An ardent fan of Michael Jackson he recently performed in Hyderabad and on the sidelines of the show he shared his passion for dance and singing.

Excerpts

How was it to perform in Hyderabad?
As soon as I was in Hyderabad, I went for the local ‘Hyderabadi Biryani’. The experience was amazing as it was my first time in the city. I was able to see that the crowd was loving our performance and for me, that was enough as if the audience happy then I feel satisfied. We also danced to a lot of Telugu songs and gave a small tribute to Chiranjeevi sir. Everyone loved it. Though we don’t understand Telugu but we loved the music and performed on the beats only. I loved the people of Hyderabad as they are very humble and lovable.

When did you realise that you will pursue dance professionally?
When I was in 11th standard, I was preparing for IIT, so one day my dad randomly asked me if I really want to do IIT. That was the moment when I realised that I want to make dance as my career. Maybe the thought of sitting in an office and working scared me and that is why I took dance over everything. And by god’s grace, I am doing good so far and I don’t regret my decision. All thanks to my dad.

Tell us about your inspiration?
Michael Jackson has always been my inspiration. He is like the core foundation of what I am today. He was not only a great performer but also a great human being. Whatever he did his music and was all done just to heal the world. Even after being the biggest pop star he was still the most humble and polite person and that’s the best thing about him.

How supportive were your parents of your decision?
In the beginning, my parents were not that confident they were supportive about my choice but somewhere my mom always wanted me to be an engineer. I had complete support and slowly and gradually they started trusting me.

Why did you venture into singing?
When I was a kid I saw someone doing Moonwalk on Indian show ‘Boogie Woogie’, I practised that move and in 3-4 days I could do the moonwalk. And one day accidently I saw Michael Jackson on some music channel and it was then I realised that there is a legendary pop star named Michael Jackson. MJ has been my first and biggest inspiration. It was my dream to be a stage performer, complete entertainer like him. In 90's access to information wasn’t easy at all so I never understand that he’s at that stature. I did not know that I could sing so I thought I would never be able to achieve it. And I began my journey as a dancer and I won reality show India's Dancing Superstar’ on Star Plus and after winning the show I got the opportunity to choreograph YoYo Honey Singh. Honey paji is a one man army, he sings, composes, writes and so talking and listening to his inspiring life stories I was charged up and decided to learn music and be someone who can sing, compose, write and dance and try to be a better entertainer like MJ and Honey paji.

As a singer what do you bring to the table?
My aim is to combine music and dance together and deliver something fresh in the Indian market. I am an artist who can sing and dance, in short, a pop artist. I also want to change the way music videos are being done in India. I think there is much more than to showcase cars, girls and glamour in a music video. Recently I released “Hath Mie Daru Nahi Juice ka Glass’ and this video does not have any such elements.

What are your future plans?
Being a singer, a dancer, a writer and a music composer I just want to make something which entertains public. I am working on dance numbers and would be releasing them really soon. Also trying to change the music videos the way they are being shot in India. So hopefully if everything would be sorted my next video would be very different.