From leaving the comforts of his home and a banking job in Kolkata, coming to Mumbai and fulfilling his singing dreams to taking the plunge into politics, Babul Supriyo prefers exploring life to the fullest. Recently, he tried his hand at direction with a music video for his latest single. While politics keeps him occupied, the artiste in him still holds a stronger ground.

“I was in talks with Pritam since 2017 for our song, Shayera, which released this year. There are people who’ve told me that they don’t subscribe to my politics or party, but enjoy listening to singer Babul. I respect and understand where they’re coming from,” he says.

 Apart from his work as a Union Minister, he takes out time for riyaaz as he wants to balance both. Talking about his journey, he shares that unlike Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan and others who sang to the fullest of their career, his generation wasn’t that lucky.

“Shaan rightly said that our generation was made to retire. This happened when studio products and auto tuning took over. It does feel bad,” he says. Supriyo adds nepotism and camps exist, but they’re are everywhere else, too.

“When nepotism is detrimental to nurturing new talent then that’s the problem,” he says. He adds that debates around these issues and even the drug menace coming to the fore needed to be addressed. “Prevalence of drugs in a high tension industry like showbiz may push people into a dark hole,” he adds.

Supriyo’s daughter Sharmilee, is also planning to make a career in music and might also get dragged into nepotism debate. “Yes I know, but then as a father why won’t I help her? Now, only if she’s good, she’ll survive,” he says.