After getting Indian citizenship earlier this year, musician Adnan Sami and his wife Roya have another reason to celebrate. The couple became proud parents of a baby girl on Monday (May 8). They have named her Medina Sami Khan. In an exclusive conversation with Bombay Times, Adnan talks about his new bundle of joy and why he doesn't want to comment on any controversy. Excerpts...

How does it feel to become a father again?
It's been more than a decade since I had my first child. When you are in love with the right person, you want to start a family with him/her. My son Azaan was born in 1993 and now, after the birth of my daughter, I have started understanding the 'daddy's girl' concept. My songs are high on emotions and I can't describe the surge of fatherly love that I am feeling now.

You have named her Medina after the holy city...
Yes, I have named her after the city of Medina, which embraced Prophet Mohammed when he was forced to leave Mecca. Even today, the city is known for its love and hospitality. It's also here that you'll hear the most beautiful Azaan, immersing you in a wave of spirituality. So, I felt that Medina was an apt name for my baby.

Now that you have mentioned Azaan, you must be aware of the recent controversy around Sonu Nigam's tweet against loudspeakers...
I am in a happy state of mind right now. I don't want to talk about anything that leads to any negativity.

There was a lot of furore over the legality of triple talaq as well...
The word 'Talaq' is too negative to be spoken about at a time when I have happiness in the family.

Your daughter was born in Munich, so she is a German citizen by birth. Considering the long and tedious process you went through to become an Indian citizen, didn't you want her to be born here?
So what? That doesn't stop her from being a Hindustani. She will eventually come to India and we'll apply for her Indian citizenship. Mumbai is home to us. Medina was born in Munich because Roya's family lives in Germany and she had five sisters to help her while I was travelling for work.

You've had two failed marriages before you finally found love, and settled down with Roya. Did your previous experiences make you cynical?
I never gave up on love. Despite two failed marriages, which was unfortunate, I strongly believed in the institution because my parents had a good marriage. I am an incurable romantic and Roya came into my life wreck. when I was an emotional. She helped me during my tough times and gave me stability. One should never be cynical about love or marriage.

Mumbai, for the last few days, was gripped by the Justin Bieber mania. Your comments...
No, I am not aware of that, but I know that our country is warm and will go out of its way to extend hospitality.

You were last seen singing a qawwali in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Are you being selective when it comes to Bollywood?
Formats in film music have changed, and so has the number of songs. I've been in the business for 32 years and have never followed herd mentality. I did Bhar Do Jholi Meri because I was getting to sing a qawwali for the first time. Also, Salman Khan and I go back 20 years. His father Salim Khan is a father figure to me.

Adnan Sami, 45, is an incurable romantic, hon est, questions things and can be stubborn, but is also extremely simple, straightforward, emotional and sensitive.He may have been closed-minded and fixated as a teenager, but thanks to his father, today he is the exact opposite and is not just one of the world's top players of the piano, but is also the first musician to have played the santoor on the piano. After a hiatus in Bollywood, he has sung and is featured in the already hit qawwali Bhar Do Jholi Meri in his friend Salman Khan's upcoming entertainer Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Over an hour-long conversation in his beautiful apartment in Andheri, he talks to Bombay Times about his connection with RD Burman's house, the night he decided to lose weight in London and the biggest regret that he has in life. Excerpts:

How did you become a Bollywood composer?
While my mother is from Jammu, my father was originally from Afghanistan as my grandfather was the governor of five provinces there including Herat. During the Bacha Saqa revolution, he was assassinated and my father Arshad Sami Khan was moved to Peshawar to keep him away from danger. My father was a diplomat and served as Pakistan's ambassador to 14 countries. I was born in London and grew up there and studied and lived in a hostel throughout in London and became a barrister. My father was a great admirer of music and the arts, so there was always a lot of culture in the house.

As it happened, while my father was the ambassador in Portugal, the ambassador's residence had a piano and so, I started learning how to play it at the age of five. Everyone knew of my father being a fan of Indian classical music and thus whenever there would be shows, he would be invited and he would take me along with him. I was 11 when I first met Asha Bhosleji along with Panchamda in London through a common friend. I played some music to Panchamda, who said to me, 'Yeh agar tum ne bajaya hai toh bahut achcha bajaya hai.' I said, 'Maine hi bajaya hai.' So he gave me one of his portable Casios and made me play it on that, which is when he believed me. Ashaji was very loving and said, 'If you continue playing like this, you could be a music composer one day.' I always believe that there is nothing like coincidence. Who knew that many years later, my first album Kabhi Toh Nazar Milao would be released in India and that too, in her voice. I realised that santoor and piano came from the same family. So I used to come to India to learn the santoor from Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharmaji and am the first musician to play the santoor on a piano, but it was because of Ashaji that I finally came to Mumbai at the time of my first album in 1999. No one knew me, but they all knew Ashaji and that's how I came into the limelight. I really will never be able to thank her enough for giving me that platform and can you imagine when I came here, she was the one who put me up at Panchamda's house, 101 North Avenue at Santacruz, for eight months. I had a very musical address and beginning. He had passed away but she had kept that house exactly the way he had left it. No one knows but that is the reason why even today my email address has the number 101 in it.

Who do you love the most in the world?
My father, who I lost in 2009. He was my inspiration for everything I did. He was my mentor, my shoulder, my best friend. I owe my existence as a musician and my existence as a very determined person in life also to him. He was detected with pancreatic cancer in 1989 and the doctors had given him just 6 months to live, but he survived 20 years due to his determination and that too, without taking chemotherapy. Fortunately, he died in Mumbai while he was visiting me from Houston, where he lived a retired life, when he, all of a sudden, slipped into a coma. And then I went and buried him in Islamabad.

Do you still miss him?
At 230 kilos, my hands looked like muffins. When I started losing weight, the first time I could see my knuckles, I called him at 3 in the morning and woke him up and said, 'Babs (as I lovingly called him), I can see my knuckles.' He was always there for me and would never be upset that I had woken him in the middle of the night and would just share my joy. It's very strange that I was so attached to him that my whole life I spent with the fear that what am I going to do when he is not there. But then the day came when I had to confront that fear, when the inevitable happened. And while there was tremendous sense of denial on my side, surprisingly, I did not break down. One, because I know that he always wanted me to be strong, but also because I believe that my baba's this chapter of his existence was over, but he had now gone to the one after this, which is eternal. So, it's just a matter of time when I too will join him forever there and it's better that we get over with this temporary existence. There is never a moment in a day when I don't think about him. The thing that I miss most is that now I can't pick up the phone and talk to him for any predicament I may have.

How did you land up losing so much weight?
I was the Abu Dhabi squash champion and played rugby , polo and tent pegging but after finishing my studies, I stopped playing any sport and continued eating, so I became obese with my living out of a suitcase lifestyle. My mother's side genetically was also obese. I could eat upto 2 raans or easily two big chickens at a time. Post one of my tours, baba and I were in London together in 2005. In 1989, he had been operated upon in Cromwell Hospital. So since we were in London, I said to him, 'Babs, why don't we get your check-up done since we are here?' He was very alarmed at my physicality as I had now reached a weight of 230 kilos. He told me, 'Look, I have lived as much as I had to, but tum apni fikar karo.' I would always divert that conversation whenever he started it. But this time, he put his foot down and put a condition on me that he would get his check-up done only if I too got it done. So we both went and when it came to the results of my check-up, the doctor sat me down with my father and without mincing any words, he said to me, 'All your vital organs are on the edge and are about to blow up and Mr Sami, given your lifestyle and weight, I wouldn't be surprised if your parents found you dead in a hotel room six months from now, unless you did something about it.' Now, I wasn't terribly perturbed about what he said, but I was angry that he said it to me in front of my father. My father heard and we moved out. My father was very soft-spoken, but he gave me his look that I understood meant that it was about high time. I told him, 'You know doctors are melodramatic.' And I went out of there right into one of the famous bakeries at Harrods and I bought 2 boxes of all kinds of pastries for myself. He just looked at me and said, 'Bacche, Khuda ka khauf karo.' And we went to the hotel and I hogged. In the evening, we were sitting around when my father sat me down and he gave me a lecture that was a game changer for me. He said, 'I have supported you in everything you wanted to do in your life and I will continue to do that and I will always be there for you and have never asked you or anything in return. But I want one thing from you. Ek baap ko apne bete ko dafnana nahi chahiye. Yeh mujhse mat karvana. I beg this of you. You have to bury me.' I had tears in my eyes and I said, 'Baba. I promise you that I will lose weight and unfortunately I ful illed that promise. Of course, I didn't know that I would lose 160 kilos and become 70 kilos that I am now.

What was the lowest point in your life?
When I lost my father. They say that time is a healer, but there are certain wounds that you don't want them to heal. You want to keep them alive for comfort. I would still like to believe that I am living over here and he is somewhere still there in Houston. The only thing is that he does not have access to a phone.

Roya is your third wife. Why does your loyal nature not translate into your love relationships?
I am an incurable romantic. I am even in love with the idea of being in love and hence, I write a lot of love songs. My sense of loyalty is also extreme. But I also believe that sometimes things are just not meant to be. I respect my earlier two wives for the times we shared and for being a part of my life and like to remove negativeness. I have a son from my first marriage and he lives with his mother in Karachi. Roya and I are keen to start a family.

Did your father meet Roya given that you got married to her just after he died?
That is one of the greatest regrets she and I have. I met her just a few months after he passed away. I think that every thing that he had envisioned of what he wanted from a daughter, I see in her. Her so many habits are exactly like his. He always wanted me to marry a girl from Afghanistan. While she is German, she was born in Afghanistan. Like my father, she too has a saying for every occasion. She too has an eye for perfection and likes cleanliness like him. Also just like him, she is warm and loving and always has that never give up attitude.

What really was your visa controversy all about?
It never was a problem actually. Unfortunately, it was the lawyers of my ex-wife who thought that they had come along a huge revelation of sorts. Like in any other country, you have a visa till a certain date and then, as per requirement, you put in an application for extension which I did, which means that you have exhibited to the government that I have no intention of staying here illegally so kindly do the needful. Due to work load it may come post the date but since you have applied for it, it is legal until you get that refusal. So, since the date had passed, they assumed that I had not done the needful and made it an issue. I am a diplomat's son and the first thing I will know is what visas are all about. My dad was very unwell and we knew that he would not make it. It was at that time that I was being dragged to court but wanted to shield him from all that, so I would dress in a suit and tell him I was going to a function though I was going to court. But I know that he knew. And while that time was tough, the impact of losing him overshadowed everything else.