/> Arguably Punjab's most successful pop-Bhangra rapper, music producer and now celluloid hero ‘Yo Yo' Honey Singh is heading for Bollywood.

Singh whose latest album International Village is the most successful Punjabi album of all times, is currently ruling the boxoffice with his acting debut Mirza: The Untold Story.

Singh is now all set to head for Bollywood . His track Mujhe neat pilade sajna , his first in Hindi, has been lapped up by producer Sunil Bohra for the Naseeruddin Shah-Vivaan Shah gangster flick Mastaan.

Honey Singh whose fan base in Punjab is arguably larger than any Indian solo performer-musician says he decided to saunter into Bollywood with a song only because a friend asked him.

Says Singh without overt modesty, "I'm happy where I am. But when my friend Sunil Bohra heard and liked my first Hindi song and said he wanted to use it in his Hindi film, I said, take it it's all yours. He came to Delhi , heard my entire catalogue and liked at least 190 of my songs. "

Unknown to Bollywood Honey Singh has acquired the kind of success among Punjabis in India and the UK that make him a star at 25.

"I started my career as a music producer in 2005. In 2006 my single went to be no. 1 in the BBC world charts. I used to sing in English. Then on the audiences' request I began to rap and sing in Punjabi. I was in the UK for 9 years. But now for the last 3 years I've been creating my music in Punjabi. "

And now Singh is extending his reach into Hindi cinema.

Says the rapper, "Bollywood will be a bonus. But I will head to Bollywood only when the offers come with respect for my art. I am not here to sell myself. Whether it's Hindi or Punjabi I will sing only in the language of our country.

Why is it that abroad songs in Spanish and French are sung with such great pride? Why are we so apologetic about singing to the West in Indian languages? "



Honey Singh slams the Bollywood culture of bringing Western artistes like Akon to sing for Hindi films. "Too much value is attached to American and British music in our country.

I want to change that. I started rapping in Punjabi to create a sense of pride in our youth for our own culture. In every part of the world there's pride in its specific culture.

Why are Hindi and Punjabi songs not reaching out worldwide? Why do we invite Western musicians to sing in Hindi films? Every time musicians from Pakistan sing in Bollywood there's an uproar, when Pakistani and Indian artistes are like-minded brothers. Then why should we invite some American singer to do che-che-pe-pe in our country? "

Honey Singh feels we've got what it takes. "We've so much talent here. In France and Germany they speak their own language. But we Indians want to speak and sing in English. There was a time when there was a non-film pop movement started by Alisha Chinai and Baba Sehgal.

It lost its way because it couldn't build its own identity. I want to bring back an identity to independent music in India. Let's sing in Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi , Bhojpuri. Do you know an international remix of a Bhojpuri song Loote la is played in clubs all over the world?

We've lost Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Jagjit Singh. Before we lost the other legends let's take them to an international level. "

As for Akon here's Honey Singh's open challenge. "Arrange a concert on the same day and the time in the same city for Akon and me. See who attracts a bigger crowd. I've seen the connectivity I've with live audiences. Call Akon or Enrique Iglesias.

I'm willing to take them on man-to-man musician-to-musician. I'll hold a concert on the same day and in the same city as them.

If I don't attract twice the number of people as compared with them I'll give up music. It's an open challenge. The only international artiste I'd have feared to take on is Micheal Jackson. "

Honey Singh is confident he has the Indian youngsters to support his endeavour. Singh's latest album International Village has cracked international charts.



Explains the young musician, "If we want to reach international standards we shouldn't ape their language. We should try to compete with their technical standards in recording and presentation.

My fans would always complain that they though they loved my music they didn't find the videos good enough. I decided to take stock of the situation. One music video alone for my song Brown rang cost me 100, 000 dollars.

We shot the video in Dubai and invited mainstream hip-hop video directors from LA. It got 4 million viewings on the internet in just one month. "

Honey Singh's movie career has just taken off. The debut film has turned into the highest-grossing Punjabi film of all times. "My first film Mirza: The Untold Story in which I play the negative role of a gangster, released a few months back. It's the era of Ravan and I want to play grey characters...This is just beginning for me. "