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Ater 'Filhaal' (2002) and 'Mumbai Cutting' (2010), you are back to acting in a film, titled 'Aisa Hai Jahaan'. When you talk about your dream 'jahan', what would you want there? I am greedy for funds to do the kind of work I want to do. I belong to a group of musicians who started off doing independent music. Suddenly, we have come across an industry that is so muscled with money that we can't do our kind of work unless someone funds us.
An independent artist also has to worry about being pulled down by peers... That's a very Indian problem. Our entertainment industry, of which 99% has been taken over by films, celebrates mediocrity. If you have to get through good institutes like IIT, you have to first get good marks. So it is in sports. But the entertainment industry has no benchmarks and parameters.
Don't you get disillusioned? I'm not disillusioned but I'm disappointed. If I'm still lasting, if Shantanu Moitra and Shubha Mudgal are doing their kind of work, I can't get disillusioned. My eyes opened since I started judging a reality singing competition for a Bengali TV channel. There is abundance of good talent there. But why are they not getting supported?
As a judge, you ask the contestants to do 'riyaaz'. But the industry norms are very different... You don't need 'riyaaz'. You need auto-tune.
But you don't say so as a judge. I believe they will be the flag-bearers of change. We have come from a generation of Hrishkesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee, Basu Bhattacharya. In the last 10 years, films are being made by a certain think-tank. So, the music is very similar. Now, we are at a cusp. Our voice needs to be heard. It's like the emperor's new clothes. Someone has to say that the emperor is nude!
Why is it that despite being Shah Rukh Khan's first playback singer (that was in school), you never worked in his movies? It didn't happen. It's not just Shah Rukh. I have done ads for Pradeep Sarkar. Dibakar Banerjee's first video was with me. Vidya (Balan) has also worked with me.
But why are you absent in their films? I haven't really asked them. Maybe, they've seen me as a guy who gave them a break. How do they now ask me to work for them?
You are branded as arrogant... I am humble but I take pride in my music. I have been slammed as a sexist. There was a slander campaign against me when I wrote a letter to composer Ram Sampath telling him that I wanted credit because my composition of 'Satyamev Jayate' in 2000 sounded similar to what he did much later.
There are accusations of copyright violation against Sampath again for 'Rangabati'. That time, someone else said it. This is happening all over the place. This guy has been in the headlines twice over. I can tell you the source of all the biggest Bollywood hits. Unfortunately, in India, copyright has become the right to copy. People are employing ghost-composers. No singer gets paid for a song in Bollywood.
Is there a problem with the industry's spinal cord? If someone doesn't get a pay cheque for a month's work, he will protest. Why can't singers ask to get paid? There is a problem of plenty and insecurity. Education is an issue. Since I am a doctor, I can fall back on that if I face problems for speaking my mind. But the rest don't have that option. Another issue is that unlike education, food and electricity, entertainment is dispensable.
It's said that stars and rockers hate you, but the audiences love you. [Laughs] That's true about me. The truth is that I am part of an industry that is completely fake.
Shouldn't music aspirants be told this? Why do you think I always talk about the need for funding? When you switch on the television, you hear a certain kind of music because spots are being bought. If I had funding, I would buy those spots too. I would be able to support them. Then, people can hear all kinds of music and choose.
Silencing other voices is more the rule because it ensures monopoly... Absolutely. Yet, I believe a collective voice will get heard. These kids can make their stuff and put it up online. There are others who will support them. I know these kids refuse to get corrupted. Greed and compulsions don't allow room for speaking their mind... I have nothing left to prove. I am at a crossroads, where I need to make my voice heard along with the millions of others who ought to be heard. Look at how Shoojit Sircar gave space to Anupam Roy in 'Piku'. Now, the industry has a new sound. I know there are many more Shoojit Sircars who want to support new voices. My biggest worry is that 20 years later, when the history of Indian music will be catalogued, the biggest singer of our time will be Honey Singh. But our talented folk singers hardly get their space. We have become too self-centred.
There is a fear factor too... The refrain is, 'If I say something, I will not be signed on by the producer'. I was once asked how I still get so many shows without having singing for movies. People have systematically worked to silence me. The mainstream cannot stand me.
Is it because of your educational 'baggage'? I don't bother about what they think. I don't want to bring anyone down. We all can co-exist.
What about other Indi-pop singers, including Adnan Sami and KK, whose independent works have got lost? They surface only when Bollywood gives them an offer. The lure of Bollywood wasn't big but all the avenues for non-film work were shut to them.
Did you feel they were becoming pawns in the Bollywood game, and got dropped like hot potatoes after their need got over? True. I didn't want to ride piggyback on Bollywood. Recently on the show, there was a tiff between Monali Thakur and me. She told Shantanu to let folk artists sing in his films whenever he got the opportunity. I protested, saying why should they have to sing in films to be who they are? Why do they need a producer to use them for his own ends and then chuck them out when he feels their need is over? I was not anti-film; I am pro-artist. All film promotions are done around music. But do they centre around the artist? No. The scratch version of every film song has been sung by at least five/six singers. None of them know whose version will finally make the cut.
But they badmouth composers/producers and talk about injustice till they get the next Bollywood offer... Exactly. When I composed the music for 'Aisa Yeh Jahaan', I was doing my music. I may not be the most well-known artist in the country. I might not be as rich as Arijit Singh or Sonu Nigam, but I take pride in having done things my way. Yet, I am sure all these singers will get back to Indi-pop again.
Isn't that more because Bollywood has found an Arijit Singh and not because of their pride in Indi-pop? [Smiles] There are people who are doing their own music. Folk artist Kalikaprasad doesn't need to depend on films. But it's not just the singers' or composers' job alone. The audience needs to support them too.
Independent singers in Bengal are now giving bigger hits in films... Capitalism has taken over music. If a label has to come out of an album of film songs of mine or Anupam's, the movie's producers will pay for it. But if it's an independent album, the label has to pay for it.
Do you discuss this with fellow musicians? They do it within closed doors and then sing for films. They must be pandering to some composer. The problem is with ego trips. 'Yeh samne jhuka kyun nahi!' Whether a person is giving salami determines whether he/she will get an assignment. I know a composer has to go to an actor every day to give salami. Every actor is giving salami to someone.
Is it a salami culture? [Laughs] Yes, it is.
So, you should tell aspirants to learn to be good ego masseurs, along with doing their 'riyaaz'... [Laughs] I am still very hopeful.
An independent artist also has to worry about being pulled down by peers... That's a very Indian problem. Our entertainment industry, of which 99% has been taken over by films, celebrates mediocrity. If you have to get through good institutes like IIT, you have to first get good marks. So it is in sports. But the entertainment industry has no benchmarks and parameters.
Don't you get disillusioned? I'm not disillusioned but I'm disappointed. If I'm still lasting, if Shantanu Moitra and Shubha Mudgal are doing their kind of work, I can't get disillusioned. My eyes opened since I started judging a reality singing competition for a Bengali TV channel. There is abundance of good talent there. But why are they not getting supported?
As a judge, you ask the contestants to do 'riyaaz'. But the industry norms are very different... You don't need 'riyaaz'. You need auto-tune.
But you don't say so as a judge. I believe they will be the flag-bearers of change. We have come from a generation of Hrishkesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee, Basu Bhattacharya. In the last 10 years, films are being made by a certain think-tank. So, the music is very similar. Now, we are at a cusp. Our voice needs to be heard. It's like the emperor's new clothes. Someone has to say that the emperor is nude!
Why is it that despite being Shah Rukh Khan's first playback singer (that was in school), you never worked in his movies? It didn't happen. It's not just Shah Rukh. I have done ads for Pradeep Sarkar. Dibakar Banerjee's first video was with me. Vidya (Balan) has also worked with me.
But why are you absent in their films? I haven't really asked them. Maybe, they've seen me as a guy who gave them a break. How do they now ask me to work for them?
You are branded as arrogant... I am humble but I take pride in my music. I have been slammed as a sexist. There was a slander campaign against me when I wrote a letter to composer Ram Sampath telling him that I wanted credit because my composition of 'Satyamev Jayate' in 2000 sounded similar to what he did much later.
There are accusations of copyright violation against Sampath again for 'Rangabati'. That time, someone else said it. This is happening all over the place. This guy has been in the headlines twice over. I can tell you the source of all the biggest Bollywood hits. Unfortunately, in India, copyright has become the right to copy. People are employing ghost-composers. No singer gets paid for a song in Bollywood.
Is there a problem with the industry's spinal cord? If someone doesn't get a pay cheque for a month's work, he will protest. Why can't singers ask to get paid? There is a problem of plenty and insecurity. Education is an issue. Since I am a doctor, I can fall back on that if I face problems for speaking my mind. But the rest don't have that option. Another issue is that unlike education, food and electricity, entertainment is dispensable.
It's said that stars and rockers hate you, but the audiences love you. [Laughs] That's true about me. The truth is that I am part of an industry that is completely fake.
Shouldn't music aspirants be told this? Why do you think I always talk about the need for funding? When you switch on the television, you hear a certain kind of music because spots are being bought. If I had funding, I would buy those spots too. I would be able to support them. Then, people can hear all kinds of music and choose.
Silencing other voices is more the rule because it ensures monopoly... Absolutely. Yet, I believe a collective voice will get heard. These kids can make their stuff and put it up online. There are others who will support them. I know these kids refuse to get corrupted. Greed and compulsions don't allow room for speaking their mind... I have nothing left to prove. I am at a crossroads, where I need to make my voice heard along with the millions of others who ought to be heard. Look at how Shoojit Sircar gave space to Anupam Roy in 'Piku'. Now, the industry has a new sound. I know there are many more Shoojit Sircars who want to support new voices. My biggest worry is that 20 years later, when the history of Indian music will be catalogued, the biggest singer of our time will be Honey Singh. But our talented folk singers hardly get their space. We have become too self-centred.
There is a fear factor too... The refrain is, 'If I say something, I will not be signed on by the producer'. I was once asked how I still get so many shows without having singing for movies. People have systematically worked to silence me. The mainstream cannot stand me.
Is it because of your educational 'baggage'? I don't bother about what they think. I don't want to bring anyone down. We all can co-exist.
What about other Indi-pop singers, including Adnan Sami and KK, whose independent works have got lost? They surface only when Bollywood gives them an offer. The lure of Bollywood wasn't big but all the avenues for non-film work were shut to them.
Did you feel they were becoming pawns in the Bollywood game, and got dropped like hot potatoes after their need got over? True. I didn't want to ride piggyback on Bollywood. Recently on the show, there was a tiff between Monali Thakur and me. She told Shantanu to let folk artists sing in his films whenever he got the opportunity. I protested, saying why should they have to sing in films to be who they are? Why do they need a producer to use them for his own ends and then chuck them out when he feels their need is over? I was not anti-film; I am pro-artist. All film promotions are done around music. But do they centre around the artist? No. The scratch version of every film song has been sung by at least five/six singers. None of them know whose version will finally make the cut.
But they badmouth composers/producers and talk about injustice till they get the next Bollywood offer... Exactly. When I composed the music for 'Aisa Yeh Jahaan', I was doing my music. I may not be the most well-known artist in the country. I might not be as rich as Arijit Singh or Sonu Nigam, but I take pride in having done things my way. Yet, I am sure all these singers will get back to Indi-pop again.
Isn't that more because Bollywood has found an Arijit Singh and not because of their pride in Indi-pop? [Smiles] There are people who are doing their own music. Folk artist Kalikaprasad doesn't need to depend on films. But it's not just the singers' or composers' job alone. The audience needs to support them too.
Independent singers in Bengal are now giving bigger hits in films... Capitalism has taken over music. If a label has to come out of an album of film songs of mine or Anupam's, the movie's producers will pay for it. But if it's an independent album, the label has to pay for it.
Do you discuss this with fellow musicians? They do it within closed doors and then sing for films. They must be pandering to some composer. The problem is with ego trips. 'Yeh samne jhuka kyun nahi!' Whether a person is giving salami determines whether he/she will get an assignment. I know a composer has to go to an actor every day to give salami. Every actor is giving salami to someone.
Is it a salami culture? [Laughs] Yes, it is.
So, you should tell aspirants to learn to be good ego masseurs, along with doing their 'riyaaz'... [Laughs] I am still very hopeful.
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