I wanted to sing my own songs, so I refused reality shows

A page from the personal diary of Indian Idol finalist Aditi Paul Remember me? I am Aditi Paul, a singer from Kolkata who participated in Indian Idol. Though I did not win the competition, everyone accepted by style of singing and I made it to the final 11. It has been five years since then and I cannot help, but feel nostalgic about the years gone by. I came to Mumbai in 2004 to participate in the competition. But once Indian Idol got over, I realized I had to take care of many aspects of being a singer. My Hindi pronunciation was not correct and I needed to groom myself. I started working on those areas and today I am a much more confident singer and human being than what I was in 2004. Since I was brought up in Shantiniketan, and underwent my basic training from Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, my fundamentals of music are very clear. With complete support from my entire family, I have tried my best to overcome whatever I lacked in singing. After moving to Mumbai, I have continued with my daily riyaaz and started training under Ustaad Kader Khan, son of legendary singer Gulam Mustafa Khan. Finally, my patience and hard work seems to be paying off. I got an opportunity to sing in Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann and the film is due for release in January. I have sung the theme song and enjoyed singing it.Since my childhood, I never liked singing cover versions. I am happy that finally with Rann, I am singing something of my own. In the last four years, I have received many requests for doing reality shows, but I refused them because I wanted to sing my own songs. Most offers were very tempting, but I knew if I wanted to make a mark as a singer I had to resist them. My family supported me and so I could stand by my decision. When I saw all my friends from Indian Idol participate in other shows and win competitions, I felt like joining the bandwagon too, but I am happy I didn’t give in. I hope I will get more opportunities. Even in Indian Idol, peopleremembered me for my singing. I hope with Rann too, it will not be any different.