New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Akhil Sachdeva burst onto the Bollywood music scene with the soulful chartbuster “Humsafar” from the 2017 hit Badrinath Ki Dulhania. While the song catapulted him to instant fame, the acclaimed singer-composer shared that the only pressure he truly felt was the looming fear of being tagged a “one-song wonder” by the industry.

“When I started doing playback and composing for films, I felt that because the first song was a huge, huge, huge success, which is a huge success even now and it still sounds so fresh. But the only pressure I started feeling was that maybe the industry would feel that I'm probably a one-song-wonder,” Akhil told IANS.

The “Tera Ban Jaunga” hitmaker looked back at his journey. While the industry didn’t always give him attention, he focused on self-improvement rather than external validation.

“And I think now, after some time, I realized it's me versus me and me for myself. So, my expectations were that I had to fight with myself, understand myself, become better and stronger because the industry doesn't pay that much attention to me. I focused on myself, initially, but now I don't,” said the singer, who received his Bachelors (with Honours) in Economics from the Delhi College of Arts & Commerce, University of Delhi.

“Badrinath Ki Dulhania” is directed by Shashank Khaitan, who bumped into Akhil at actress Huma Qureshi's Eid dinner.

The film is a spiritual successor to 2014’s Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, the film stars Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt.

It follows the story of an aspiring independent air hostess from a small town who refuses to conform to the patriarchal expectations of her chauvinistic fiancé.

Akhil’s next hit was “Tera Ban Jaunga” from the 2019 blockbuster Kabir Singh starring Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani. The romantic drama is directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga.

A remake of Vanga's own Telugu film Arjun Reddy, follows a doctor who spirals into self-destruction when his girlfriend, played by Kiara Advani, marries someone else.