The Man Who Made The Crowd Go Wild!
27th Jan, 2011, Reverie Day Two, 8 pm: An hour before my interview with Mohit Chauhan, I was anxious. Sweaty palms, amateur interview questions in my diary and merely five to ten minutes given by the six feet tall security guards to speak to him, I had no idea how I would be going through with one of my first ever ‘real celebrity interviews’. After listening to him play all my favourite songs live, from his first ever “Dooba Dooba” to his latest blockbusters, ‘Pee Loon’, ‘Yeh Dooriyan,’ ‘Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai’, ‘Masakali’, ‘Tumse Hi’, ‘Guncha’,’ Kuch Khaas Hai’ and ‘Babaji’ and so many more, I could just think of how lucky I am to get an interview with one of India’s top league Bollywood singers (who also happened to be my favourite since I was nine!). So after a lot of pleading to the security guys, and two hours of anticipation until the concert got over; I was finally face to face with Mohit Chauhan himself.
Controlling myself from shrieking with excitement, I ask him if he enjoyed being there on stage. “It’s always great to perform in Delhi”, he says, “a lot of positive energy. The crowd was amazing.” Looking back at where he started, the video of ‘Dooba Dooba’ that was shot underwater comes to my mind. ‘Boondein’ - the album he launched with his band, Silk Route, though a small album debut venture, didn’t fail to leave its mark. The album shot at number one on the album charts featuring songs in Hindi, English and Pahadi and won several awards at the Channel V Awards function in 1998. Whenever we think of Mohit Chauhan, most of who have been his ardent fans, have a parallel thought of the band ‘Silk Route’. But the band broke off almost a decade ago. As much as I love to hear Chauhan sing solo, I can’t help but ask him if the band would ever perform together again. Sadly, he tells me that there are no chances in the near future –“Maybe you all should send in a petition for us to come together again!” Talking about his albums, he tells me about his previous works, Boondein, Fitoor, Kalam and says that he is “busy composing day and night for his upcoming album” that would be out in about two months time. Needless to say, we all look forward to that!
Recently winning a Radio Mirchi Award and a Zee Cine Award, the Himachal born singer is as humble and grounded as one could be. “I feel happy and fortunate and it has something to do with being at the right place at the right point of time, and everything kind of comes in together.” Chauhan says. Although we all know Mohit Chauhan as a top league singer, what we don’t know is that he didn’t have it easy. Chauhan went to college in Bilaspur, Nahan, Mandi and Kulu and graduated with a, Master of Science degree in Geology from Dharamshala College in Himachal. After completing his education, he came to Delhi with his school friend and pianist, Kem Trevidi in 1996. His first Bollywood debut came in 1999 with the movie Road, but his breakthrough in the industry was with A.R. Rehman’s ‘Khoon Chala’ from Rang De Basanti which only came in 2006(almost ten years after his first album!). Curiosity about the infamous A.R. Rehman leads me to ask him- so how is it like to work with the Music Guru? “A.R. Rehman Sahab- He has a vision. It was great working with him at his studio in Chennai. You don’t need anyone around, you know? He has a great sense of humour. He’s an inspiration, definitely for all the music artists in the country.”
Some young college girls try to get in backstage for a picture and are stopped by the security. Chauhan asks them to let the girls in. They excitedly take a picture with him, and I see how he never tires of pleasing his fans. Watching the hushing
No comments:
Post a Comment