All the songs I have sung so far have been important for me. But I’ll always remember my first break — the song Tose Naina Lagey from the film Anwar in 2007. A few months after the song was recorded I was at a cyber cafe in Mumbai and I heard my song being played on the radio and a young boy sitting next to me was humming along. I was overjoyed. The song soon became a huge hit.

Another significant turning point was singing Khuda Jaane, picturised on Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor in Bachna Ae Haseeno, which was released last year. It gave me a real taste of success. Even now, wherever I go I’m flooded with requests to sing the song.

At present I’m working with a lot of young talents in the industry. Some of my upcoming films include Aage Se Right (Indrajit Nattooji), Hadippa (Anurag Singh), Yahoo (Ken Ghosh) and Kill Chabra (Onir). I am really excited about working with these directors because not only do they bring in freshness to the script, they also ensure high standards of production.

All my songs are special for me because a lot of hard work goes into them. Soft romantic numbers are my forte but that does not mean that I will not sing other types of compositions. I have just stepped into the industry and have a long way to go before I establish myself. At this point of my career, I cannot be picky.

(As told to Sushmita Biswas)