Express News Service
The first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the supremely-talented singer Benny Dayal, is the term ‘swag.’ He defines it, personifies it and it helps that he’s one of the most sensuous male voices in the industry today with a face to match.
A week ago, his latest release, ‘Sher Khul Gaye’, from Siddharth Anand’s Fighter featuring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone saw him share the track with Vishal & Shekhar and Shilpa Rao; and already has more than 30 million views and counting on YouTube alone. Benny is a rockstar and you can’t deny it.
But Benny is no new name to fame. He has won several awards for songs like ‘Pappu Can’t Dance’ from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008) and ‘Kaise Mujhe’ from Ghajini (2008), incidentally both composed by AR Rahman, with whom he has had several hits to date.
The singer-composer was born and raised in Abu Dhabi, UAE and went on to complete his bachelor’s and masters degree from Madras Christian College, Chennai. He has sung over 3,500 songs since his debut in 2002 with the song ‘Maya Maya’ in Rajinikanth-starrer Baba and was also a member of the South Indian pop ensemble band S5. He now also performs with his band Funktuation and has released a solo, earlier this year, ‘Mehki’, as a single from an upcoming album.
Funktuation, the bandA man of many talents
With ‘Sher Khul Gaye’ getting so much attention in such a short period, we ask Benny what the last few months of 2023 looked like in terms of his career. “Just before this, I released a track for Battlegrounds Mobile India that I composed, ‘Jeeto’, that has already been streamed over 15 million times. There was also the Bollywood Music Project which returned for the third edition after a break of two years, thanks to the COVID-19 lockdowns,” Benny adds.
But this year, it was his Malayalam hits that got him more attention. Being Malayali by ethnicity, this must be a big deal, we enquire. “Of course it was. I didn’t have too many Hindi or Tamil releases this year, but all my Malayalam songs were immediate hits. I sang for King of Kotha, RDX, Kasargold and Otta and all the songs are now hits. I am so thankful to the industry for the love and appreciation,” he tells us.
And will we be seeing any more releases in other languages? “Yes, there are the songs from Tiger 3 in Tamil and Telugu and I have a whole bunch of my music coming out soon too,” Benny enthuses. Known for his dexterous voice that easily aligns with both Western styles of music, film music and Indian classical music with equal ease, we are always left wondering where this journey started.
“I was actually in my final year of school, I was 17 and I knew that singing makes me happy. I was singing in choirs by then and in bands and I fought for it. Thankfully, my fights were fruitful and today I am here, as a singer, happy with what I am doing. If I was not a singer, I’m not sure what I would have become as the joy I find in singing is permanent, while every other joy seems temporary,” the multifaceted artiste explains.
We, however, know that this is a lie and remind him that he can also dance well. “I can dance, I won’t deny it, but I don’t think I can make a career out of it. I think one should do things that they’re good at. My life policy is do one thing and do it well,” he says and bursts into peals of unbridled laughter.
Language not a barrier
Known for his flair with languages, Benny is not someone who was prepared for such a multilingual career. Singing in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati; the singer is always open to a challenge. “I learnt to be comfortable with languages on the job. I didn’t come into the industry with a catalogue of languages ready. I just told myself that if I needed to do it and wanted to do it, I would find a way to do it,” he avers.
And how do you compose your own music? “I create the stencil. If I hear a nice beat, on social media or in an elevator or anywhere for that matter, I’ll do a voice recording and then ensure I use it later when we compose our music. I take inspiration from here and there. I compose my music by ear. In Funktuation, we’re nine people doing what three people could do and we love the creative energy. I’d have it no other way,” he says.
Also, one cannot but wonder how the singer manages to look so dapper all the time! “You’re being too kind. But it’s simple, I follow one rule: dress like a million bucks while outside, but dress like a gardener at home,” he replies with a smile. And finally, what can we look forward to in 2024? “Well, there’s lots. Quite a few film song releases, the remaining of my solo album and a brand new album from Funktuation, ‘Funk Vazhga’,” he concludes. Follow channel on WhatsApp
The first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the supremely-talented singer Benny Dayal, is the term ‘swag.’ He defines it, personifies it and it helps that he’s one of the most sensuous male voices in the industry today with a face to match.
A week ago, his latest release, ‘Sher Khul Gaye’, from Siddharth Anand’s Fighter featuring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone saw him share the track with Vishal & Shekhar and Shilpa Rao; and already has more than 30 million views and counting on YouTube alone. Benny is a rockstar and you can’t deny it.
But Benny is no new name to fame. He has won several awards for songs like ‘Pappu Can’t Dance’ from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (2008) and ‘Kaise Mujhe’ from Ghajini (2008), incidentally both composed by AR Rahman, with whom he has had several hits to date. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The singer-composer was born and raised in Abu Dhabi, UAE and went on to complete his bachelor’s and masters degree from Madras Christian College, Chennai. He has sung over 3,500 songs since his debut in 2002 with the song ‘Maya Maya’ in Rajinikanth-starrer Baba and was also a member of the South Indian pop ensemble band S5. He now also performs with his band Funktuation and has released a solo, earlier this year, ‘Mehki’, as a single from an upcoming album.
Funktuation, the bandA man of many talents
With ‘Sher Khul Gaye’ getting so much attention in such a short period, we ask Benny what the last few months of 2023 looked like in terms of his career. “Just before this, I released a track for Battlegrounds Mobile India that I composed, ‘Jeeto’, that has already been streamed over 15 million times. There was also the Bollywood Music Project which returned for the third edition after a break of two years, thanks to the COVID-19 lockdowns,” Benny adds.
But this year, it was his Malayalam hits that got him more attention. Being Malayali by ethnicity, this must be a big deal, we enquire. “Of course it was. I didn’t have too many Hindi or Tamil releases this year, but all my Malayalam songs were immediate hits. I sang for King of Kotha, RDX, Kasargold and Otta and all the songs are now hits. I am so thankful to the industry for the love and appreciation,” he tells us.
And will we be seeing any more releases in other languages? “Yes, there are the songs from Tiger 3 in Tamil and Telugu and I have a whole bunch of my music coming out soon too,” Benny enthuses.
Known for his dexterous voice that easily aligns with both Western styles of music, film music and Indian classical music with equal ease, we are always left wondering where this journey started.
“I was actually in my final year of school, I was 17 and I knew that singing makes me happy. I was singing in choirs by then and in bands and I fought for it. Thankfully, my fights were fruitful and today I am here, as a singer, happy with what I am doing. If I was not a singer, I’m not sure what I would have become as the joy I find in singing is permanent, while every other joy seems temporary,” the multifaceted artiste explains.
We, however, know that this is a lie and remind him that he can also dance well. “I can dance, I won’t deny it, but I don’t think I can make a career out of it. I think one should do things that they’re good at. My life policy is do one thing and do it well,” he says and bursts into peals of unbridled laughter.
Language not a barrier
Known for his flair with languages, Benny is not someone who was prepared for such a multilingual career. Singing in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati; the singer is always open to a challenge. “I learnt to be comfortable with languages on the job. I didn’t come into the industry with a catalogue of languages ready. I just told myself that if I needed to do it and wanted to do it, I would find a way to do it,” he avers.
And how do you compose your own music? “I create the stencil. If I hear a nice beat, on social media or in an elevator or anywhere for that matter, I’ll do a voice recording and then ensure I use it later when we compose our music. I take inspiration from here and there. I compose my music by ear. In Funktuation, we’re nine people doing what three people could do and we love the creative energy. I’d have it no other way,” he says.
Also, one cannot but wonder how the singer manages to look so dapper all the time! “You’re being too kind. But it’s simple, I follow one rule: dress like a million bucks while outside, but dress like a gardener at home,” he replies with a smile. And finally, what can we look forward to in 2024? “Well, there’s lots. Quite a few film song releases, the remaining of my solo album and a brand new album from Funktuation, ‘Funk Vazhga’,” he concludes. Follow channel on WhatsApp
