Saiyaara Exclusive: Barbaad Singer Shilpa Rao On What Mohit Suri Told Her To Evoke Solitude
Singer Shilpa Rao taps into raw emotion as she reflects on recording Barbaad, the hauntingly beautiful track from Yash Raj Films' Saiyaara. The singer, during an exclusive chat with NDTV, reveals how the mood and atmosphere of the studio shaped the emotional depth of the song which plays over a pivotal moment for the film's main female character, Vaani Batra (played by Aneet Padda).
"We recorded in pitch darkness, with just a spotlight on the lyrics. It was fairly new for me, and I still feel like I'm standing there, singing it again and again," says Shilpa. "That space just me, my thoughts, and the music-helped me sink into the song."
But it wasn't just the setting it was the character's emotional complexity that truly challenged her. "When we started recording, Mohit [Suri] told me that Vaani Batra is a writer. She's extremely young, full of emotions, but also innocent. She's afraid, nervous to fall in love, and yet she's already in love," Shilpa recalls.
"And I was like, yeah Mohit, give me more words and make it more difficult! Because when you're told, 'This is flowy love,' it's simple. But when you're given all this innocence, fear, passion it corners you. You ask yourself: how do I express all of that, without showing that I'm expressing it?"
It took two focused studio sessions, but Shilpa says they found the right balance and the result is a song that captures Vaani's vulnerability with quiet intensity.
Interestingly, Barbaad was recorded in the same YRF studio where Shilpa had earlier recorded the hit track Ghungroo from War. "I was dancing while recording Ghungroo, but this Barbaad needed something else. That song required loneliness, that solitude. It needed stillness."
With Barbaad, Shilpa once again proves why she's one of the most evocative voices in Bollywood.
She doesn't bring only melody with her voice, but a character's entire inner world, to life.
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