Vishal Dadlani sleeps for 2 hours only

Vishal Dadlani has just got himself a bull. The beast is charging up his left arm. "It's my fifth tattoo," he says. The ace singer and composer spoke to t2 on the sidelines of the launch of Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar.

First things first. Why have you come alone? Where is your partner?

Shekhar (Ravjiani) is in the US. We just finished mixing for Anjaana Anjaani. So before we start shooting for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, we have done a deal. Once he is back, I will take a break for a week.

Of the judges in this season, you are the only ones who have been on the show before. Among the participants of the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 season, are you in touch with anyone? How are they faring?

Raja Hasan is singing with many directors. He is touring with (A.R.) Rahman. That's a huge thing. Amanat Ali has become a big star in Pakistan. He has sung for both Dostana films. They have to put in years of hard work to make it in the industry. You can't become a Sonu Nigam by coming on a TV show. Sonu is so versatile that I believe he can sing in Bhojpuri or even in Chinese.

What is the key to making the shift from a reality show winner to a playback singer?

Those who go beyond maintain humility. Even today, Raja doesn't do anything without asking me. You have to be humble. If I call Shankar (Mahadevan) today to sing, inspite of being a music director himself, he takes instructions from me. True stars are those who don't care about their stardom.

What went wrong with Aneek Dhar, who had beaten Raja?

I guess he got carried away. There is no doubt that he is a great singer but he needs to focus on music.

Why is it that singers like Kumar Sanu and Abhijeet who ruled in the 90s are not heard any more?

Abhijeet sang for us in Om Shanti Om. Every musician has a life span. Jo log ek maahol mein bane rahe un logon ko taqleef hota hai naye zamaney mein adjust karne mein.

We are hearing a lot of you as a singer. Was it a conscious decision to start doing playback yourself?

I am not a professional singer. And I think I will give my singing a break now. After Dhan te nan (in Kaminey), there seems to be an overkill. Of course I am thankful to Vishal Bhardwaj for giving me the song, but I have become the Dhan te nan singer. My only reasons for agreeing to sing are whether it would be fun and whether I'd learn something. Singing with Shankar in Rehmo karam (We Are Family) has taught me a lot.

What comes next from Vishal-Shekhar on the big screen?

In terms of release, Anjaana Anjaani would be out first. It has fun music. Siddharth's (Anand, the director) brief was "Give me something you want to make". He never told us item song chahiye, romantic song chahiye….Tees Maar Khan would be end-to-end fun. Ra.One will be in a separate league. Normally we don't do the background score, but for this film we are. It will have a

(Billboard) top five international artiste singing. The announcement will happen later. Work has started on Dostana 2. We have collaborated with K'naan. We have done one song with Akon. He will come back to do a second song.

Add to that Pentagram and now Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. Last question: with so much on your platter, when are you sleeping?

(Laughs) After I am done with my playback commitments I jam with my band members. I never sleep for more than two hours. I went to sleep at 8am today.