Wedding bells for Abhijeet & Shilpa

Success is not just difficult to achieve, a lot of hard work goes into sustaining it too. Abhijeet Sawant, the first Indian Idol, has managed to do both.

And now he is all set to tie the knot with his childhood friend Shilpa Edwankar on December 3. The singing star says, "Shilpa and I have known each other since childhood. We lived in the same colony, and have grown up together. Somewhere along we decided to get married." Just a month ago he was not very certain about his wedding plans. Says the singer, "Since the time I won the contest, this dilemma 'to marry or not marry' has been dogging our relationship.

Marrying a celebrity brings its own problems, if both partners are celebrities then it becomes difficult to adjust with the family, but fortunately she too comes from a middle-class background and will be able to adjust well with my family." Abhijeet informs that Shilpa, who works as a ground staff for a private airline, is not much of a singer, "But she remembers all the lyrics of the songs and she is the one who gives me the cue when I am singing one of my old favourites."

Multitasking

Abhijeet is riding the wave of success as his latest album is a big hit. Recently the singer was at Pushkar in Rajashthan.

Talking about his hectic schedule he says, "I was doing the shoot for another number, which is to be added to my latest album. Then later in December, after my wedding, I would be leaving for Jakarta to perform at the Asian Idol contest. All the winners of the shows from all over Asia will be taking part in it, I would be representing India." He adds that the event would give them the opportunity to have their honeymoon in Indonesia.

Having proved his singing skills, Abhijeet is now trying his hand at acting. "I am doing a romantic thriller, titled Lottery, which is being directed by Hemant Prabhu. The film is about a singer, and the character and the script are all to my liking, besides I am also singing the songs for the film."

Getting into the groove

Ask him what is more important, acting or singing and he is quick to say, "Singing will always be my first priority, I am presently singing in four films." But the singing star admits that finding a foothold in the industry is not easy at all. "These days the competition is very tough, I am paying a lot of attention to my playback singing, the industry picks up the best of the talent and we singers have to work very hard to understand the trends."

Commenting upon the manner in which the music industry functions, Abhijeet says, "The new singers who emerge from these music shows don't make me feel insecure. After all I too got a ready-made platform to launch myself from. The other singers like Shaan, Sonu Niggaam, Sunidhi Chauhan and others have had long spells of struggle before they could find the groove they are in today."

But Abhijeet also admits that getting sustained work is difficult and newcomers do face a problem, "Today it is not the music director alone who decides upon the singer for a particular song, everybody right from the producer and director of the film to the actor has a say in the matter, this does make things difficult for new and young singers like us."

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