Kailash: As I said my father was a pandit and there were always religious saints coming to our house. They all had predicted that I would make it big one day. When I came to Mumbai I was not aware of Bollywood also and I never thought this would be the place where I would make big in life.

I had learnt music from many singers, I think at least 13-14. Most of them always said that my voice was not good enough for singing. I should stick to writing songs rather than singing but my family and friends convinced me that I was good. I had come to Mumbai in search of two musicians to make an album. I met them in Mumbai but they were of the 'dude' mentality and hi-fi people unlike me.

They were Naresh and Paresh Kamath. They introduced me to Salim-Sulieman and Salim was the person who heard my voice and said I would make it big. He asked me to sing a jingle for an advertisement. I thought it was a song for some airline promotion. When it was aired on television I found it was the promotion of the Cricket World Cup.

I was so amateur that I asked them how much should I charge for my assignment? They only told me that I should charge Rs 5,000 and that was my first major earning in the music world. After that I have sung almost 500 jingles till date.

Roop: How did you feel earning Rs 5,000 for the first jingle?

Kailash: First earning will be your first earning. You get a very different pleasure from that money. I started dreaming of making it big after that. Naresh and Paresh Kamath then helped me to open a bank account to deposit the cheque.

Roop: How did you start singing in films?