Veteran playback singer Sonu Nigam has revealed that recording up to 16–17 jingles a day in Delhi — across multiple voices and regional languages — laid the linguistic foundation for a career that now spans more than 6,000 songs in over 32 languages. Speaking in a recent interview, Nigam credited his pre-Mumbai jingle stint as the defining apprenticeship of his musical life.

The Delhi Jingle Years

Long before Sonu Nigam became a household name in Mumbai's film industry, he was grinding through an intensive daily recording schedule in Delhi. 'I started very early, so I got a chance to sing in different languages when I was still in Delhi. I was doing jingles at that point. I hadn't come to Bombay yet, and I was recording in Delhi. I used to record 16-17 jingles in different voices every day,' he said.

That relentless pace, he explained, exposed him to India's full linguistic breadth — from Kashmiri and Haryanvi to Rajasthani, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Manipuri, and Assamese, among many others — well before the Hindi film industry came calling.

A Career Spanning 32-Plus Languages

Nigam's linguistic range, built brick by brick through those early jingle sessions, eventually extended to an extraordinary catalogue. 'I have sung in Odia, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi, Haryanavi, Khasi, Manipuri, Konkani, Garhwali, Kumaoni, Kashmiri, Dogri, and many, many more,' he said. His work has also taken him beyond Indian borders, with recordings in English, Latin, and Dutch.

Notably, this breadth was not the product of formal training in each language but of immersive, high-volume exposure — a method that mirrors how professional session musicians develop versatility across styles and idioms.

Reconnecting with Haryanavi Roots

Most recently, Sonu Nigam revisited one of those early languages with his Haryanavi track 'Chunni', a romantic number featuring vocalist Renuka Panwar. The song was written and composed by Aamin Barodi, with the music video featuring Charmee Zaveri.

Nigam has previously spoken about Haryana's personal significance — he spent part of his childhood there, and the state is closely connected to his family, including his father and sister. 'So yes, because it has been such a long career, I have had lots of opportunities to learn newer styles and sing in different languages,' he added.

Why the Jingle Route Mattered

The jingle industry of the 1980s and 1990s served as an informal conservatory for many of India's most celebrated playback singers, offering high-frequency, multi-genre recording experience that film studios rarely provided to newcomers. For Nigam, it was the equivalent of a linguistic boot camp — one that paid dividends across a career stretching over three decades. His journey from Delhi's ad-jingle studios to becoming one of India's most versatile playback voices underscores how foundational that unglamorous early grind truly was.