How did a musical journey start and what were your early days like ?
Okay , so I grew up in a family of musicians . I think most people know that I am the fourthgeneration music composer in my family . My great grandfather also was a musician . My grandfather , Pandit Ram Prasad Sharma , he has been a music composer himself , a trumpet player , and more importantly , he ’ s trained more than 5,000 musicians over a span of 40 , 50 years , especially those aspiring musicians who came and later on became a big part of the Hindi film music industry . And then my father , Naresh Sharma , who has been a very highly acclaimed music arranger , he ’ s done music arrangements for more than 200 films . So that ’ s the kind of environment I grew up in . I grew up in an environment where music was considered sacrosanct . Every instrument was considered to be sacred . I would grow up as a kid , all I ’ ve seen is directors and music composers coming to my house to work with my father , to take notes from him , to take arrangements from him . So that ’ s the kind of environment I grew up in . I grew up in an environment where music was considered to be literally on the level of worship .
And if you do music , I was always told it has to be done properly . There are no shortcuts to it , there is no easy route to it . It is a ‘ tapasya ’, it is a sacrifice . And if you ’ re ready to do it , then touch the instrument . So that ’ s the kind of environment I grew up and I was very inspired by these energies around me and being surrounded by so many musicians in the family itself . At the age of eleven , I decided to start learning music . I started learning at the age of eleven and I was initially training to be a concert pianist . I wanted to be a concert pianist . At the age of 16 , I decided to learn to actually be a Hindi film composer . It was the works of the great Madan Mohan Sab , Laxmikant- Pyarelal and composers like these , whose works I was introduced to my father when I was a teenager . My father would make me sit down and he would claim me the works of all these great composers . And that ’ s when I felt that this is something , this is really magic and this is what I want to do in life .
And at the age of 16 , I decided to be a Hindi film music composer . I started working towards it and yeah , I continued my training . I started assisting my father by the time I was 18 . I was this chief assistant when he was scoring background scores back then . And yes , at 19 , thanks to God , I got a chance to do my first film . That was Zeher with Mohit Suri and after that never looked back again . So that ’ s how my beginning has been .
Next was music always on the forefront of your mind as a career path ?
I would definitely like to say that I never had any plan B . I think music is not something that we choose , but rather music chooses us . I see it that way . There has to be a certain amount of madness , a certain amount of , I would say free spiritedness to do music because it is the path of creativity . It ’ s like getting into nothingness and getting something out of there . So there was never any plan B for me , and it was always going to be music as if I was born for this reason . And I give the same advice to music younger composers today , aspiring composers , I tell them that , give it this your all . Don ’ t keep any apprehension in your mind , otherwise you ’ ll never be able to put your complete being into what this art asks for . So it was the same for me as well .
Did you have a genre of music that you are most inclined towards that has influenced your musical trajectory ?
Okay , so I ’ ve been trained in jazz , Piano under my teacher and my mentor , Mr . Tony Pinto . And initially those progressions were very big influence on my music . If you listen to the music of Anwar , if you listen to Tose Naina Laage , or if you listen to the music of Bas Ek Pal , a lot of those progressions are something which kind of influenced my music . Obviously , I was very fond of the world genre as well , which was I was introduced to that probably when I was in college and listening to artists like So , Susheela Raman and jazz artists like Miles Davis , Oscar Peterson , Chick Corea , the kind of modes that they would explore . It was very inspirational for me . I think it ’ s not that I ’ ve never been a purist . I think Hindi film music demands you that you dwell into various different avenues and you create hybrids of your own depending on your own sensibilities . So that ’ s how my music has been . I think over the years it ’ s evolved also a lot and that ’ s a natural thing to be . But yes , I was definitely influenced a lot by jazz and world music elements even today in my sensibilities as a musician .
Next you had mentioned in a previous interview that deep down you have always wanted to be a singer but wasn ’ t ready to accept the fact . Have some of the ideologies and perspectives changed as time progressed ? I ’ m not sure , actually , because that ’ s not true . I don ’ t know when I said something to that and how it came across , but matter of fact is that I ’ ve never wanted to be a singer . That ’ s not something that I saw as my primary calling in life . Definitely it is a part
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