Singer Mohammed Irfan is happy with the success of his recent singles, "Re mana" and "Belafz baatein". The 36-year-old, who is primarily known for his Bollywood hits, feels non-film music has once again come to the limelight, allowing singers like him to showcase their true range.

"I feel these two forms have always been working in parallel, but now since the pandemic has struck and theatres were shut down, it definitely gave a big opening for artistes to showcase independent work. It's great for artistes to bring out their own music for listeners and it also gives the audiences a wide variety to choose from as every artiste has his or her own flavour to serve," he told IANS.

"Film music has always been the most popular form since decades, but having said that pop and non-film music, too, has a huge following -- right from Lucky Ali, Adnan Sami, Colonial Cousins, Euphoria, from the nineties till today," he added.

Talking about his recent single, "Belafz baatein", Irfan has been receiving rave reviews for his performance, and the singer feels that the love from the audience is the most authentic way to gauge a song's success, and insists the number of views or likes are not the right approach to do the same.

"According to me, the most authentic way to know whether your song is being well-received or not, is fan-mails and messages and direct response of people. Currently, the kind of response I'm receiving for 'Belafz baatein' is absolutely heartening. I know that the number of views is also very high on YouTube and other streaming platforms, and I'm happy about it, but the most important thing is the love and appreciation I've been receiving for 'Belafz baatein'," he said.

"I strongly feel that these numbers cannot create that impact on a listener's heart or mind, which a genuine piece of art does. That is the only thing that connects an artiste to his or her audiences and that connection lasts very long too," Irfan said.