MUMBAI: The legendary Lesle Lewis, apart from being timeless with his voice and compositions, brought to the fore, a fresh young talent from the heart of hinterlands, an amazingly talented singer, Sandeep Khaund with the single, Junoon Pyaar Ka.

Speaking about promoting the budding singer he said, “I am promoting young artists because somebody promoted me when I was young. When I was young somebody pushed me up and here I am today on this platform. I think if someone has talent I will definitely promote them and I am sure they will make it to the heights someday. But if there’s no talent there’s no point in boosting. Of course, it is my duty to give them a platform, a chance to come forward. The rest has to be done by them.”

Sandeep began learning music at a tender age of six from his vocalist mother and Guru, Pranati Khaund, a vocalist for AIR (All India Radio) for over four and a half decades. After being part of various music festivals spanning the nation and doing television shows across home state Assam, Sandeep Khaund armed with a Mechanical Engineering degree and an MBA decided to follow his heart and pursue music.

Singer Lesle Lewis who wrote and composed Junoon Pyaar Ka for Sandeep Khaund really liked the way Sandeep performed this song. He said, “I am thrilled by his performance. As he is a young artist he has stage fear and is nervous of people. But I think even I was like that at school when I was young. I went through the same path of what he is going through now. I hope he will gradually get better with time and performances ahead.”

Junoon Pyaar Ka started Sandeep’s sister, Sanjeeta and Sandeep approached Anup Jalota and wanted a fresh and vibrant independent artiste single, he, in turn, directed them to Lesle Lewis and the seeds of Junoon Pyaar Ka were born. When asked the young artist of how it feels being promoted by the legend he explained, “I feel really lucky for this opportunity that Anup Ji gave me to meet Lesle sir. Anup Ji is like a family friend to us. I am also glad that Lesle sir liked my voice in first go, tested my voice and customized a song based on it. I tried my best to do it and the result is here.”

During the occasion, Sandeep’s sister Sanjeeta also expressed her happiness saying, “It is a proud moment for me. I’m happy because he wanted to do music though he is an MBA. But music is in our blood and life. My mother is a singer and I sing. It is inherited. Sandeep earlier has done a lot of songs in Guwahati. He did an album recently in Hindi called A Skip To Reality. This time he really wanted something big and was striving for it for a long time. I am so glad he did it finally what he wanted and now he is being promoted by a legendary singer. Lesle sir is an icon for us. He has guided us whenever we have asked him for help. He is truly our strength and a great helping hand.”

The song Junoon Pyaar Ka is a romantic single shot in a city of dream, Mumbai. It shows how a guy loves a girl but she does not take it seriously and leaves. He finds music as a way to connect with the girl again. Ultimately he becomes successful in locating her.

Sandeep also explained about the radio clipping merged in the song saying, “As a singer, he is performing it live in Turning Fork. So if she (the girl) catches him on TV or radio will be connected with him. The reason behind using her name in the radio announcement is to reach her somehow. Otherwise, it will be hard to get her back. I took radio as a mean as it is older and is still continuing.”

At the launch of this love song Sandeep also shared about his memories and how he stepped into music. He said, “I was trained by my mother and Guru Pranati Khaund who has been with AIR and TV for about four and a half decade. I took Indian classic training and it is my base. It keeps me to the roots.  I have earlier performed with my mother and sister bhajans in my own territory. Now I’m totally in a new sphere. I feel music has no boundary it is an expression and can be expressed in any languages. When I’m alone I mostly listen to ghazals which I also spoke about with Lesle sir. But he told me it is always good to recheck to get recognized by the people.”

The launch at the Hard Rock View saw live performances by Sandeep Khaund, Lesle Lewis, Shibani Kashyap, Mudasir Ali and Anup Jalota. There were other known faces who graced the occasion with their presence like Amit Singh, Kavya, Khushi Mukherjee and the trio Navneet, Yuvraj and Nishant the people behind the video.

We wish the budding singer Sandeep Khaund good luck in his musical journey.