Singer Shashaa Tirupati on her journey and evolution as a musician

Singer Shashaa Tirupati reflects on her journey from Hindustani classical music to Bollywood playback singing

05 October,2026 07:42 AM IST |  Mumbai  |  Komal RJ Panchal

Ready with her EP Maahirr, National Award winning singer Shashaa Tirupati reflects on how playback singing in films helped her evolve beyond technique

Shashaa Tirupati. Pics/By Special Arrangement, PTI, Youtube

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From beginning her tryst with Hindustani classical music in Canada to turning playback singer in Indian cinema, Shashaa Tirupati‘s musical journey has straddled two worlds. She has gone on to record more than 1,000 songs across 20 languages since starting her film music career. Now, with her EP Maahirr, Tirupati is exploring sounds beyond playback. In a chat with mid-day, the singer shares how the EP is her way of seeking her father’s validation and reflects on her evolution as a musician.

Excerpts from the interview.

What made you want to create Maahirr?
It’s everything my listeners celebrate me for, and then some. I wanted to explore the things my dad always wanted me to do more of. I wanted to be cut loose. I hoped Shabeer, my collaborator and the producer of Maahirr, would allow himself that same freedom. And he did! Maahirr has also become inseparable from my dad. In many ways, the EP is still reaching for his validation through the music he wanted me to explore; a validation I now know I can never receive.

You’ve built a career between Canada and India. How has that shaped you as a singer?
My first guru, late Shri Devindar Hundal Saahab, was in Canada. I was singing on Canadian radio from the age of five and first performed live onstage at seven. Growing up in Canada exposed me to an ethnically diverse range of music. Then I came to India and entered an entirely new terrain: stadium shows, state-of-the-art studios, and massive productions. Every experience demanded a new kind of learning. India concentrated all those influences into something applicable, particularly within the language and demands of film music.

Has your Hindustani classical training made playback singing harder?
Initially, yes! I was a feeling-less singer. I didn’t understand what people meant when they asked me to sing “with feel”. Today, people tell me they can hear sentiment even in my Hindustani classical renditions. Playback singing isn’t only about what I want to express; it is about finding my truth within somebody else’s world.

How much do you rely on technical precision versus instinct?
Performance is largely instinct for me. I’m an out-and-out feeler. The technical side feels like second nature. Over time, instinct and emotion have superseded technique. Knowing when to control all of that and simply connect with the sentiment of a song is what I consider growth. A large part of that growth has involved unlearning. A harkat isn’t required everywhere; only experience and a fair share of failures can teach you that.

AR Rahman; (right) ‘Vaan Varuvaan’

Shashaa Tirupati won the National Film Award for the AR Rahmansong, ‘Vaan Varuvaan’, from ‘Kaatru Veliyidai’

Shashaa on her latest UK garage song ‘Raynnn’

It’s not a fusion song. We didn’t fuse anything. I created it independently, and Shabeer did the same. Yet the composition and production complemented one another so naturally that they sounded as though they had been conceived by a single entity. There is also something fluid about the way the UK garage production forms a bed beneath the Hindustani composition and vocals.

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