The original pop icon...

The art of the start:

I was playing music before I started this whole thing with the Bombay Vikings, doing a lot of rock. All of a sudden there was this change and I went into a little bit of jazz and stuff. I started with some advertising as well and when the idea of doing something came about, I didn't really think of anything much… I was just going out to different studios and arranging vocals. Then some of us got together and formed a band… you know, a couple of kids from school who were into music, and we formed a band that would not really do covers but a bit of everything…

Going beyond rock:

We were just getting out of that phase of rock and metal music. So we formed the band and we called it Vikings and we became quite famous. We started doing gigs outside Sweden. I was living in Sweden since the age of fourteen and a half and I was doing my studies there and we started going to different parts of the continent and there was a lot of change in the music that we used to do. We would only play our own music there… never covers.

 
The song which changed it all:

Once I was on a train and a friend of mine had sent me Aradhana on VHS. I didn't watch a lot of movies then but that song, Meri Sapno Ki Rani Kab Aaye Gi Tu… I was listening to this song and outside the window, there was a road and a car was going, just like the song...So, I started humming that song and you know once a song gets into your head, it never gets out. So I took out my guitar and I started playing the chords and all my friends started asking me… What is this? Which language is this? And I said Hindi and they really liked it… They said, ‘wow man, we should do something with this’ so when I came back home, where I had a small little studio, I started working on it and from there what I did with the Bombay Vikings in India, that started off.

Leaving Sweden behind:

I think it was 1991 when Bombay Vikings was officially founded and we were together till 1995 and after that we decided to dismantle the band. In Sweden things were quite difficult as even though there isn't a large population, there was quite a bit of competition. Music as you know is their second biggest import and it is tough there. Every second home, there is a musician there. So we had to go our own ways… we had to meet reality… We had to open up our own production houses and today everybody is doing very well; some are in television shows, some have their own music production company, some are in advertising.. So everyone is busy in their own world and making good money and making a good living. I was the only one who did something that I never thought would have happened, that is to come back to my own country. We had our entire life in Sweden and to leave all of that behind and to start a new life, is very difficult and music did that for me, and songs like Kya Surat Hai worked in India and brought me back to my country so I am very happy with the way things turned out.

Performing Live:

The most difficult part when you are in a band and performing live is keeping people entertained for hours on end. In the first 20 seconds if they don’t like you then its over…However recording also has its own challenges. I did a lot of recording and performing in Sweden, as I had a recording studio there before I came to India. These days even though things have become really cheap, it still takes a lot of money to record your own music. It would still take you around Rs. 8000 an hour to hire some good studios and produce your music.

Tales of tomorrow:

At the end of the day, music is a product. Earlier if you were good, you just needed a little bit of exposure to become a big name. Today you need big exposure to become a big name… Music sadly has reached a situation today that you have to get into Bollywood if you want to be a musician. There is no other way. Of course there are benefits as well, as some people like Hrithik Roshan can understand the work that I put into a song and really push the song in a particular direction as in Raghupati Raghav in Krrish 3… But overall I want to compete with the world, make some English songs and do my own thing..

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