Ila Arun has always been her own person. She has lived her life to the fullest and has always inspired people around her to do the same. From singing some absolute chartbusters to showing her acting prowess on the big screen, she has done it all with the utmost panache. Ila's straightforwardness and candid way of looking at life has always been admired by thousands and now with her memoir out in bookstores, her fans and followers are getting to know her in an even better way.
In an exclusive conversation with International Business Times, India, Ila talks about working on her memoir 'Parde Ke Peechhey', her career, and much more.
The singer spoke about the memoir as an extended version of herself and as a reflection of the kind of person that she is. She said, "If I cannot be myself in what I write then the whole is nothing but lie."
Ila further went on to add, "I was hesitant in narrating this one chapter called Award and Reward, but then I thought I must honestly comment on this eyewash of award and reward, and then I wrote it, so I hope it is taken in a good spirit."
Ila Arun has always made some spectacular career choices; she has done all that she wanted to do and has simply avoided the things she did not want. Her choice of songs and roles in films have been discussed widely, and while she has been appreciated widely, she has also had to face criticism; however, none of it has ever bogged her down, and she has only emerged stronger from each of these situations. Looking back at the choices she has made in her career, Ila said, "I believe what I could not do, or sometimes I have had to say no (to certain projects) for certain reasons; I stick by my decisions; there is no regret!
When her memoir was announced, her fans were absolutely elated, but some were extremely surprised as to why she made the decision to put her story out there for people to get to know her better, right now.
Ila mentioned, "I think the timing is correct because Penguin has asked me to do this book for the last two years, but I have been doing a lot of other things. I have adapted Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" into "Ajaatshatru," which is doing very well. Then I received an award from the Maharaja of Jodhpur. My song 'Charkha' did very well on Instagram and is an amalgamation of folk and western. So, I have been busy doing a lot of interesting things; it has been quite a satisfying journey. So, I think the way people love me, they would also love to read my memoir and learn from my experiences, good or bad. I am very happy with readers loving 'Pardey Ke Peechey'."
Talking about the process of working on the memoir, she mentioned, "My memories are very fresh in my mind, I can see it all exactly the way I am writing, so I was always overwhelmed but I never exaggerated my memories. I narrated the exact things to Anjula Bedi and slowly the book started taking shape."
Over the last couple of days, there has been a reel that is going viral on Instagram. The reel features Ila's daughter, Ishitta Arun, singing the very popular song 'Resham Ka' at the former's book launch. Ila addressed the heartwarming incident and said, "Ishita singing Resham Ka Rumaal as a surprise on my book launch was really a surprise. As she is funny and as soon as I saw her coming down from the audience, I was really nervous so that she would not start doing a reel or something funny that put me in an awkward situation but on the contrary she sang my song, I would always tell her since her childhood that she has got the talent, she could do full justice to my songs but she never tried singing my songs but when she did it that day I was extremely proud."
She further added, "It was an emotional moment for me and it was a very good gesture from her side. "
