PTI

Mumbai, Nov 5: Popular playback singer Shaan attributes his transformation from Shantanu Mukherjee to the help extended by his sister and singer Sagarika.

"I had never looked at myself as a singer initially. It was my elder sister Sagarika who encouraged me to take up singing. Had she not been supportive, I would not have got the fame today," Shaan said.

Sagarika used to do a lot of musical shows with other female singers. At one point of time, she thought that together they could do something of their own.

"She felt the need of a male singer. She approached me. I was 17 then, Sagarika was 19 years old. We had no clue what we were doing. But she gave me lot of confidence," Shaan said.

After some public performances, he realised singing could be taken up as a career.

"Till then, I was involved with my business of desktop publishing and printing," he said.

At 22, Shaan kick started with his singing career seriously. But while he has grown as a singer, his sister's career seems to have taken a back seat.

"I don't think so," said Shaan adding, "it was more by choice than chance. She got married; before that she started a restaurant. Once you commit to something you cannot pull out," he said.

Speaking about his ascending career till now, Shaan said the journey had been gradual as 'success did not come overnight'.

"I have got time to digest the fame that has come my way. Success at young age can affect anyone. My career graph has been going upward and I am a firm believer that today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today," the singer said.

"I am not very ambitious, did not have any big plans about setting a timeframe to achieve something. Whatever I have got, 90 per cent is luck and 10 per cent by having the right attitude in life," Shaan said.

According to him, playback singing has been very easy for him. While many fade away after their first break, Shaan believes he was lucky that his songs became hit in quick succession.

His second film `Asoka' fetched him `O Re Kachi' for Shahrukh Khan. He even sung for Abhishek Bachchan in`Bas Itnasa Khwab Hai', for Ajay Devgan in `Raju Chacha', and for Sunny Deol in `Indian'. Most of his songs were hit, while the movies bombed at the box office.

"In 2000, I got my first break. Till 2002, when I sang the song `Woh Ladki Hain Kaha' and `Koi Kahe', in Dil Chahta Hai, my songs continued to be a hit, but films did not do well. I was worried someday I may be labelled jinxed for my films," he said.

His latest success has been `E Shona' from Tara Rum Pum and `Chaand Sifarish' from movie `Fanaa', which fetched him Filmfare and IIFA awards.

"I have been very lucky for getting supportive composers. Even on days when I had a sore throat, my composers have managed the song. Like Shankar, Ehsan and Loy did with my title track in Shahrukh Khan starrer Don," Shaan said.

Even though he has been highly successful in singing for Saif Ali Khan, he doesn't have any personal choice to sing for a particular actor.

His songs have fetched him numerous awards including one Filmfare, IIFA and two Zee Cine awards for best playback singing. But it doesn't mean much for Shaan.