Music is a language in itself. And then there’s the beauty of the mother tongue. Singer Sanju Rathod’s heart lay in marrying the two languages. So what if people told him that there would be no takers for Marathi music? Or that only Hindi numbers work in India? He followed his heart, and today that has led the pop star to a huge fan following across India, chartbuster songs, and greater anticipation from his audience for his future works. In a chat with mid-day, the Gulabi Sadi singer speaks on his journey so far as he announces his next album under the music label BL/UR. Excerpts from the interview.

It features 10 songs. The title is Gaon To Global. We have kept this title because the album is about me and people usually say that this guy from a village has gone global. We have been working on this album for the past one-and-a-half to two years. In fact, Shaky Shaky and Bangles are part of the same album. Since making 10 songs of a certain scale needed more time, we decided to release these tracks separately. 

Every artiste wants to do something, but they have to wait because they know it’s not commercial enough. I thought once I established myself, I would sing the other songs. So, I waited it out. There are many genres in this album that I have never attempted before. It also has the kind of music I am known for. 

I believe language doesn’t matter for music. Maybe what I brought felt fresh musically, and the melody connected with people. I have done shows in Nepal, where people don’t speak Marathi, but the crowd sings along with me. They ask me which language I am singing in. Then they research it. Many people have told me, ‘We didn’t know it was Marathi. We started listening to Marathi music because of you.’

When an artiste starts their career, they hear a lot of stuff. When a Marathi artiste is making a song, he is told, ‘Arre, make a Hindi song because the audience for Marathi music is limited’. I have faced this a lot. But I used to always think that we listen to so many songs from different languages — Japanese, English, songs from the South. I am not fluent in English but I have been listening to English music for long. So, I knew there would be an audience for Marathi music too. I created two-three Hindi songs in the beginning, but since 2017-18, I have been making Marathi songs. Also, I have noticed that even if your song hits a million views on a streaming app, people say, ‘Had you made a Hindi song, you would have gotten 10 million views.’ Aaj un logon ka mooh bandh ho gaya hai.

“I want global domination. I want to be seen as an international artiste. There are so many from India who are making it big internationally, like Diljit bhai [Dosanjh] and Karan Aujla bhai,” said Sanju Rathod.