Legendary singer of the sub-continent Runa Laila has been singing professionally for more than five decades. She has sung more than 10,000 songs written in 18 different languages. She’s involved in various philanthropic activities also. This acclaimed artiste was born on 17 November 1952. It was her birthday last Friday. She talked to Prothom Alo recently about birthday and more.
Where have you been? We couldn’t contact you over phone…
I came to Kolkata this morning to perform at the Coke Studio concert. I’m supposed to perform on 18 November. I have some other work to do too.
So you'll be celebrating your birthday in Kolkata this year…
I have no choice. This event was fixed long back. That’s why I pre-recorded a television programme for my birthday in Dhaka, before coming here. Channel-I has made a special programme.
Last year you had told Prothom Alo that you were just 17. Have you grown older since then, or are you still there?
I didn’t age even a day. I’m still stuck right there (laughs).
What’s the secret of halting your age?
If you can retain youth in your heart, your age stops there too. It’s very simple (laughs).
What do you feel like doing with this young heart of yours?
Nothing more than what I have been doing already. Just enjoying life.
What does life mean to you?
The meaning of life is to take everything positively. If you are positive yourself, everything’s fine. You have to have mental strength. If you have mental strength, you can overcome all obstacles. My life is my singing and my family. My life just surrounds my family.
You were talking about obstacles but everyone knows of your success. Did you have an easy journey?
Many obstacles came my way in this life, but one thing is that I never had to ask anyone for work. I didn’t have to say, 'give me work'. Thanks to Allah, everyone came to me on their own with offers of work. If there are any obstacles, the Almighty takes care of it. After all, He is out there looking over everything.
How have you faced the obstacles in your life? Have you ever been depressed?
I never fell apart. I had a lot of faith in the Almighty. I always thought to myself, if I have talent, I’ll move past all the difficulties. The biggest strength I had was the love and respect coming from people. It in no way let me lose my heart or fall into depression. And, the most important thing is that my family always stood by my side.
The audience loved you for your songs. But they didn’t know anything about the underhand politics behind the scenes in this industry. How did you get over that?
There had been many reports in the media then about the fact that I had to face all sorts of difficulties. So, just as the audience knew about my singing, they also knew about what was happening to me. My family also knew. There were so many reports, that I didn’t even have to tell anyone.
The audience didn’t either find it difficult to understand why it was happening to me. I never got agitated or scared about these negative things. I always had this belief that those who are spreading negativity about me will realise their mistake one day.
I always believed, Allah is watching over everything and you get the results of your good or evil deeds right in this world. So I never cursed anyone from my heart and I never will. I have always said good things about those who went against me. I am just focused on myself, my singing and I’m my living happily with my family. So, it doesn’t matter to me who said what. I don’t care either.
I have always taken the straight path. I never caused harm to anyone, nor did I have the intention. I don’t have any such intention now either, nor will I ever have it in future. I will be helpful to people as much as I can, no matter how bad they were to me. I never had any urge to take revenge and I never will. I am not that kind of person.
Where did you learn such a way of thinking?
When children are young, they learn life's lessons from their parents. They teach us which path to follow, which path is easy and which is twisted. We grow up following the path they show us. We have learned not to harm anyone but be helpful if possible. We three siblings have followed that all our lives. And still do.
Who had the most influence on your life, your father or your mother?
My mother used to be with me all the time. I started singing at a very young age. My father used to be there too. They both had supported me. My elder sister and brother had supported me as well. But, my mother had to toil the most. I became who I am with everyone’s support.
We heard that when you moved to Bangladesh and started singing here you were faced with huge obstacles. What happened back then?
I was carrying on with my singing and everything was going smooth. After a certain incident, all the artistes boycotted me midway through the seventies. Suddenly they decided that none of them would perform with me. Nobody would share the same stage with me. No musician could play with me! Nor could any studio do my recordings!
What was the reason behind this?
There’s no point in talking about the reason now. To be honest, I didn’t even find any reason till now. Some of them might have been angry with me. But, one thing was hurting me a lot at that time. The time I was boycotted, my elder sister’s was diagnosed with cancer and her condition was bad. She was in a critical condition then. I was so worried about that, but still went to their organisation’s events and all.
Yet, what I just can't understand what happened to me after that. Parvez (Masud Parvez) took initiative saying, “What is this boycott? I don’t care about it. I am the producer and I will have the song recorded by anyone I wish. There’s no one to say anything to me here.”
I had a co-artiste who saw me in the studio and stormed out throwing the books away. That artiste said, “I wouldn’t have even come if I knew that I would be singing with Runa Laila.” Anyways, finally I recorded the song alone though it was supposed to be a duet. The incident occurred at Ipsa Studio.
For how long did the boycott continue?
Not for so long. Everyone saw that I was doing playbacks in cinemas and nobody was following the boycott. Musicians were playing with me, even music directors were working. There was no gain from the boycott. Then everything went back to normal at one point. Well, now I have to go to the rehearsal. I spoken a lot!
Thanks for giving us time even amid such a busy schedule.
Thanks to you too.
*This interview appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Nourin Ahmed Monisha.