The ample songs they sang were not lost in the sea of music because they possessed a certain unique yet imperishable quality. In fact, singers like Shreya Ghoshal were, and are still, doing so well at their jobs that their voices did not need the extra push. While their point may be valid in the current scenario, such wasn’t the case until a few years ago. In a recent discussion on Film Companion, a few female singers were quick to point out the sexism that lingers on in the music industry in terms of opportunities. Shreya, in that case, enjoyed the best of times. We hold our music sacred and when it dies a slow death as we can see today, it hurts us who have grown up on a constant diet of Hindi film music. Firstly, we are the only ones who boast of song and dance as a part of our films, here they are a part of the narrative. The Indian film music industry is unique in a lot of ways. The Queen of Melody, The Nightingale of India, these superlatives have always been reserved for greats like Lata Mangeshkar and to this we can just say that Shreya was probably born a little too late. Of course, it wasn’t just me singing praises for Shreya and listening to Devdas’ cassette on loop, we were all in the same boat. A teenager hopelessly in love with Shah Rukh Khan, I didn’t know that I would come out of the film with great respect for the girl who sang for Paro. The same happened when I first heard Shreya Ghoshal’s voice in Devdas’ “Silsila Yeh Chahat Ka”. All I know is when I hear a melodious voice that makes me instantly look up and ignore all the noise around, it makes me appreciate the gift that is truly special. It is almost impossible to not fall in love with Shreya’s feminine voice that can probably be compared to crystals.