Which of your upcoming Bollywood songs are scheduled to catch the airwaves in the months to follow?
I have no clue! I have recorded a few songs for some fairly big production houses but till the time the movie is announced or even get released, I can’ t divulge anything! As you can understand, am bound by a certain contract. So it really becomes difficult to answer such questions because until and unless the makers unveil some details, I can’ t really disclose anything from my end. For the moment, I can only share that the next immediate song people would get to hear me in is for a film called Irada, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi. Neeraj Sridhar has composed the tracklist and the number I have sung is a soulful offering from his kitty—‘ Lodiyan’.
Tell us something about your forthcoming music tours?
I am doing a couple of shows in Kolkata as well as Guwahati shortly and some college concerts over the next few months are also lined up.
Is there any indie album planned or a single on the anvil?
I’ m soon going to start working on a ghazal album and my second EP. I’ m more than halfway through the project. The EP will be called The Story Now EP 2. However, there’ s no working title set for the ghazal album. Besides, I have embarked myself upon a couple of songs and conceived an array of ideas too. Hopefully, I will release those this year. I’ m keeping my fingers crossed!
What about scoring for films in Bollywood? Are you considering offers?
I have already composed tunes for a Hindi movie named Ishqeriya starring Richa Chadda and Neil Nitin Mukesh. But this was four years ago and it still hasn’ t seen the light of the day. I don’ t know what the current status is though. Having said that it’ s definitely something I would love to do. In the meantime, am waiting for some quality engagements to come by. I am quite eager to score film music and that’ s the direction I would like to walk into wholeheartedly. Wish, God sends down something my way soon!
How was the experience of making your debut in Bollywood with a Nagesh Kukunoor directorial vehicle alongwith five other reputed musicians from your fraternity?
It was a very enjoyable stint as I like Nagesh, both as a person as well as a filmmaker. And whosoever of us was involved in the cast whether it’ s me, Sunidhi or Shankar, we were all very happy contriving on a concept like this.
We are trying to revive this project that got stalled due to our lack of dates. It’ s utterly frustrating for all of us to be unable to click at around the same time together because all artistes can’ t be available on a specified day but we are desperately trying to gather things back on track. The working title of the flick was Music Men. Of late I remember having met Shankar( Mahadevan) and he telling me with a firm emphasis that“ we must take out time to complete this project”. Sad but true, getting dates together has been an issue for the director since he has roped in non-actors and professionals who are always busy travelling.
Since you have already made inroads into an Assamese movie Rodor Sithi as an actor, are you in talks for doing another local outing or a Hindi film in future?
There aren’ t any offers brewing on that front for the time being but there is another concept which Nagesh has discussed with me. That’ s a plan for the future to put it in black and white. It’ s a very engrossing story between two individuals. You know acting is something I seriously find delight in. After all, you get to portray someone else, who you are not in real life and that’ s really intriguing to say the least. You slip into another person’ s skin and internalise his character. That’ s a sheer challenge!
Any dream project left to be fulfilled?
I don’ t sing in English much and I’ m still trying to figure out how conveniently I can do that. For I can’ t sound like someone I am not and aping is not an intelligent option here. The reach of English as a lingua franca or a communicative language is so vast that I want my music to be heard far and wide. All said and done, this international tongue reaches out to millions of listeners and I want to work upon a project which involves my kind of folk-inspired music and where I can either croon in English or lend my vocals to another language. I would certainly love to launch this globally.
Who has been your music-idol so far and why?
My dear dad, Khagen Mahanta. He made music out of life. For him, life, nature, food, culture— all contributed to the colourful tapestry of music he made. I guess, I have inherited his viewpoint when it comes to analyzing and assessing music. He taught me how to approach music and life. Technically he was so solid, yet his music had that sweet charm and a balm of warmth, which is why he was so much admired.
In fact it is he who has introduced me to music from all over the world, and made me understand that despite different languages, music is so similar because of its own idiom. Folk songs across the sphere talk about love, humanity, fear and hope.
Musically yes, I have been largely impacted by a lot of other artistes as well. For example, English progressive and psychedelic rockband Pink Floyd for the way they synthesized sounds and have fascinated me productionwise too. I really loved what ace English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel did. I have been also deeply mesmerized by Jagjit Singh and singers like Hariharan. Kishoreda’ s( Kumar) spontaneity and the musical gems of RD Burman, SD Burman and Salil Chowdhury— all have left an indelible impression on my mind. This also explains why I don’ t adhere to one particular style of music.
The Score Magazine
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