Mumbai, Jan 17 (IANS) In Ravi Chopra's "Baabul" Richa Sharma has crooned the bidaai song in an unending flow of heart-breaking emotions, for a full 15 minutes without any orchestral embellishments. Unfortunately, only a small portion of it was included in the album.

"In fact my composer Aadesh Shrivastava had put one traditional instrument. I had to request him to take it out. It was hampering my flow of musical thoughts," said Richa, whose voice soars across the crooning kingdom in meteoric manoeuvres.

Listen to her do the bidaai song in "Baabul" or the bitiya song in "Umrao Jaan" or go back to the title song of "Baghban" and of course the "Kahin aag lage" song in "Taal", Richa's voice rips a hole in listeners' souls.

"It's funny you say that, because I've been singing since the age of eight.

That's when I did my first religious songs. I still continue to do that.

They're my heartbeat," Richa told IANS.

At one time she wasn't hopeful that she would make a career in film singing.

"Now, of course, I'm doing a lot of film songs. I never thought I'd be singing in films. I just didn't have the heroine's voice. I thought I'd continue to sing that stray religious songs or bhikhari (beggar) song that needed a philosophical rendering in a rangy throat. That's me. Fortunately, A.R. Rahman's 'Kahin aag lage' in 'Taal' was picturised on Aishwarya Rai."

Nonetheless, Richa's ravishing range remains restricted to rangy theme songs. Heroine's voices have so far been associated with one kind of singing. And that's the Lata Mangeshkar role model.

Singers who have emulated her style have always reaped the maximum benefits in the recording room. Those like Alisha Chinai, Jaspinder Nirula and Richa, who have gone against the grain, have been put in the fringes.