Md Irfan lends his voice to Raavan

Remember Mohammad Irfan? The soulful singer from Voice of India? The soft-spoken singer is wearing a smile these days. Why? His song Behne de, which he sang along with Karthik for Mani Ratnam's Ravaan has become a chartbuster and that is no mean achievement. "I think I am blessed to have got the opportunity to sing for A R Rahman," says Irfan, talking more about it. "It all started last year when I was performing for the Little Musicians Academy in Hyderabad. S P Balasubramaniam was the chief mentor there. He heard me once, liked my performance and recommended me to A R Rahman. Then after almost 18 months I got a call from Rahmanji's office. He called me to Chennai and asked me to lend additional voice support to Karthik for the song. I was pleasantly surprised and could not believe my own ears. I went down for the recording. My interaction with the maestro was limited but it was very fruitful. He knows exactly what he wants," says the singer who impressed Rahman with his rendition of Piya haji ali. "I owe this break to S P Balasubramaniam who had promised to recommend me to A R Rahman. I didn’t realize I was singing for Raavan. I thought the track was for Rahmanji's personal album. But when I got to know that it was written by Gulzar saab, I figured it was for a movie,” he says. So how did he realise it was for Raavan? "That is another funny story. I was browsing through Rahmanji's web site and suddenly saw my name in the credits for Raavan. That is when I got to know that the song I sung was for it!” Irfan feels this dream break gave him the much-needed push and says, “I’d been trying to sing in movies for the last two years. I lent my voice for a solo track in Jannat but it didn’t figure in the final album. Maybe I was destined to debut under Rahmanji’s guidance. I’ve sung a solo track for another film but I don’t want to discuss it till it’s finalised!” In the mean while, he hopes to sing for some Tollywood films back home.