Usha Uthup’s second coming?

It’s been quite a few days since the Filmfare Awards took place but it still doesn’t seem to have sunk in for Usha Uthup.
The powerful singer with the unmistakable voice, who finally received an award for Best Playback for her song Darrling from Saat Khoon Maaf, still gets emotional when you speak to her about it. “I cry at the drop of a hat if I start talking about it! My grandchildren are threatening to carry a bucket of towels with me everywhere I go, so they can soak up my tears!” she laughs.For Usha, who has received so much mass acclaim wherever she goes, the award has come as a soothing balm. “I have been working for 42 years. I have my audience, my family with me. It was just that one gesture of appreciation from my fraternity that I craved for,” she says, adding, “My greatest award has always been people’s love for me. This award was the cherry on top of the cake.” Usha says she is often called to judge reality shows and there’s just one thing she tells newcomers. “You have to be honest, be original and believe in yourself. Success will come to you at some level. It may not necessarily manifest itself in the shape of awards, but it will in the form of an audience,” she says.
Usha, who was once a regular in Hindi playback, seems to have reduced her film projects. Ask her why and she begs to differ. “I am doing a lot of songs but somehow, they are not reaching people. For example, I had such a fantastic number Vande Mataram in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham but it didn’t get playtime at all. I did it for Karan Johar. There was a big banner, big actors and my big voice on top of it, yet it went unnoticed. Maybe that’s why people feel I haven’t been singing for too many Bollywood films,” she explains. But now, she’s already made waves with Darrling, and Maya in Don 2. And with her latest Aami Shotti Bolchi in Kahaani, she truly has proved she’s an ageless rockstar! She admits, “It’s a second coming for me in the sense that my music is reaching out to the people again,” she smiles.