There are actually two albums. Apne khilaaf is the first song to be released.
I had always wanted to shoot it like this. I’ve been doing ghazal covers for quite some time. Around 2012, I did a modern version of Ranjish hi sahi for
At that time, I don’t think many people from our generation were doing ghazals. Now you see baithaks happening everywhere. But when I did it, it was a very different step. To create a different sound for ghazals, I brought in drums, piano and electric guitar. I wasn’t sure how it would be received.But I had to convince MTV because of my love for ghazals. I remember it being appreciated across India and even in places like Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Then I did an entire episode featuring legendary and iconic ghazals in my own style. I wanted to change the sound. What I’m doing now is part of that journey. Jagjit Singh changed the sound of ghazals by bringing in the guitar and other contemporary elements. So the question for me became: where does that sound go now? How do we modernise it while keeping it relevant to the times we live in? The sound worked, so I stayed with it. But I knew I had to create my own original compositions. This project is the first step in that direction.
How did this album evolve?
The technicalities of ghazal writing are very different from songwriting. There is the qaafiya and the radeef. I’ve also asked the poets I’m working with on the next album to write for today’s times. I keep telling poets to write about how young people experience relationships today. There is heartbreak, there is pain but there is also acceptance. People move on differently now. We need to document that in our ghazals. We cannot keep writing exactly the way Mirza Ghalib did. We’re also living in a generation shaped by hip-hop and rap. People are more straightforward now. They want honesty. They don’t want excessive ornamentation. My entire reason for doing this is simple: ghazals are a beautiful form, and I want our children to enjoy them. I don’t want them to feel that ghazals belong only to their parents or grandparents.
There’s a growing conversation on social media about people missing the soul in today’s film music. What’s your take on that?
Once an art form becomes a business, demand and supply start influencing everything. Instead of a few people sitting together to create something they genuinely feel, you have a system producing large volumes of content, whether it’s albums or film music. Commercialisation makes things more business-friendly but sometimes that’s where art gets lost. When I make a song, I look at it as a piece of art. I want to make sure the original feeling that sparked the idea remains intact from beginning to end. But if your primary goal is to create a hit, then the storytelling doesn’t matter as much. Many people today spend more energy on packaging than on developing their skills, talent or craft. When the content itself isn’t strong enough, packaging becomes the focus. Everything becomes about selling. Art shouldn’t work like that.
What are some of the changes in music that genuinely excite you?
I don’t really believe in the idea of receiving your due. How do you even measure that? For me, the exciting part is that I’ve spent my life doing what I love while continuing to create different things. I don’t know whether I’ve received my due or not. I still have a long way to go.
Youth is always exciting. That’s why we look forward to it. When you’re young, you don’t even fully know what you’re capable of offering yet. The world is waiting to see what emerges. I feel young Indian musicians have far greater creative possibilities than what we’re currently hearing. I believe there will come a time when young Indian musicians will create music that the entire world wants to listen to. We haven’t fully reached that point yet.
