In the name of love...

Composer Anand Bhaskar tells us how his wife, Nidhi Sethia, helped him take a second shot at his first love, music, which turned his life around

By Karishma Kuenzang

Can meeting the ‘right person’ change your life? Or, is this just a cliché that the right and left swiping millennials will never relate to? For musician Anand Bhaskar, who’s now done the music for both the seasons of Mirzapur, meeting ‘the one’ – Nidhi Sethia, gave him the push to go back to his true calling – music – after a decade in advertising.

She “annoyed” him till he recorded his originals, and his band Anand Bhaskar Collective came together.

Couple goals

The couple tied the knot in April 2013, his debut album released in August 2014, prompting him to quit his job in October 2015. Snide remarks came his way for leaving work early for band practice. By 2018, he had a bankable reputation in the music scene, becoming the go-to person for last-minute jingles and other projects.

“Nidhi would keep saying I can’t let my musical sensibilities go to waste, to the point that it was annoying. I was 33 when

I quit my job and worried about rent kaun dega. She

said I should dedicate at least six months to it, after which I could decide if I wanted to go back to a job,” the now 39-year-old says.

Anand did the rounds of composers’ offices and production houses, when he got a jingle gig for Amul in March 2015 for `10,000, and before long he was doing a jingle with Akshay Kumar and got `1.5 lakh for it. The advertising professional spent the first three years pitching himself and learning production and practising.

“I was aware I had started late in life and there were many kids half my age, who sing 10 times better than me. I needed to do whatever kids were doing but three times over,” he says, adding that smoking and drinking over the years had also taken a toll on his voice.

Not that singing was a new thing for him. He’s been singing since he was three, and even trained in Indian classical music, growing up in a household where his parents played plenty of Malayalam film music, Rafi’s songs, AR Rahman’s Tamil works and, of course, Michael Jackson, which introduced Anand to the world of international music.

“I DON’T BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, BUT ITWAS–MAYBETHE LIGHTING WAS RIGHT” —ANAND BHASKAR

“I even stole money from my dad’s briefcase to buy cassettes,” he sniggers. But he stopped training when he was 17, brainwashed by peers and the society to go for engineering or a masters degree. “I did a BA in Stats, which I’ve never used,” he laughs.

Anand spent two years working in a BPO, before coming to Mumbai to do a Masters in Fashion Management and Technology from NIFT, and then joining Mudra, where he met Nidhi.

Cut the chase

The couple, whose birthdays are five days apart, met in 2005 when Anand wasn’t looking to date anyone and both of them had stayed back late at work one day. “I don’t believe in love at first sight, but it was – maybe the lighting was right,” he laughs.

Then, one night he got drunk and sent her a formal email-style message on Facebook, while he still wasn’t on her friend list, asking her out. But his display picture was a tad old and since Anand didn’t look anything similar to it in real life, she couldn’t recognise him and thought it was a prank. “I had to tell Nidhi I sit

song’ from a woman’s point of view while a fight is on. I’m grateful the directors supported our wacky ideas,” he sighs with relief.

With so much of the indie scene in it, does he consider Mirzapur a commercial project? “I don’t see projects as commercial and non-commercial. I feel music is divided into accessible and inaccessible melodies, which can be produced with indie or film or ad or web series sensibilities. My goal is to make a melody with high recall value, which leaves an impact on the listener’s mind,” he explains.

You definitely have more freedom in web series as the directors are from the new school of thought, he points out, which allows new composers to showcase their talent.

“MYGOALISTOMAKE A MELODY WITH HIGH RECALL VALUE, WHICH LEAVES AN IMPACT ON THE LISTENER’S MIND” —ANAND BHASKAR

“In films, there’s a parallel compulsion to make something commercially successful so producers also take a call on the casting of the singer as there is so much money involved,” he says, before citing the likes of indie musicians Shilpa Surroch and Keka Ghoshal, who are singing for web series. In shows, songs make a comeback and appear again and again and you also check out song and credits, which makes a big difference. Proof of which can be seen as his Youtube subscribers and Instagram followers have shot up, and he’s crossed 200k listeners per month on Spotify from a week ago when it was 30k per month. And it’s also trickling into support for the band!

Looking ahead

Bhaskar is also doing the music for Netflix’s Bombay Begums, which will focus on lyrics. One song has a reggaeton vibe with vocals akin to Nadia Hassan in the ’80s! He’s also rapping in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s anthem, besides working on a solo album with a pop, electronic and hip-hop vibe.

Two albums old, Anand Bhaskar Collective is also working on an EP, called Ufaq. The lyrics of the titular song is being co-written by the couple, their (fifth) song together. And no, it’s not a mushy song, but a high-intensity rock number about determination and reaching for the horizon no matter how long it takes and how becoming strong not just involves hard work but also overcoming your inner evil and toxicity. Just like the story of his life.

karishma.kuenzang@hindustantimes.com Follow @Kkuenzang on Twitter and Instagram

underneath a waterfall in a sheer sari. Rajiv’s illustrious father, Raj Kapoor, had finally managed to bring out the best in his youngest son with Ram Teri, but, unfortunately, his subsequent death abbreviated any chances of further collaborations, which could have taken Chimpu’s career to the next level.

In the mid-1980s Chimpu was signed on by big banners such as Nasir Hussain (Zabardast, 1985), Tito-tony (Aasmaan, 1984) and Saawan Kumar Tak (Preeti , 1986), but Lady Luck kept snubbing him at the box office.

“I UNDERSTOOD WHY NEETU KAPOOR AND CHIMPU GOT ALONG LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE – HIS KAPOOR CHARM WAS INFECTIOUS”

Getting personal

My date for the premiere of Chimpu’s directorial debut under the RK banner Prem Granth (1996) was the feisty veteran actress Nadira. The venue was the FC Mehra-owned Minerva cinema again. Nadira introduced me to Chimpu as her son, and he touched her feet and asked for blessings after acknowledging me with a smile and a “thanks for coming”. If Prem Granth hadn’t gone awry in its plot in the second half, Chimpu would’ve been enthused to direct more films for his home banner.

I met him a couple of times thereafter – once when I dropped in on the sets of Rishi Kapoor’s directorial venture Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999) at RK studios, for which Chimpu was the producer. I witnessed first-hand how close the three brothers were and how they worked in tandem on their collective passion for filmmaking.

I bumped into Chimpu last some years back, when I was having dinner with my friend Santosh Sud and her filmmaker husband Guddu Dhanoa. Chimpu was sitting by himself at another table but the extroverted Kapoor couldn’t refuse Guddu’s invitation to join us. He was in high spirits and regaled us with his stories. Chimpu was no longer the lean youngster of Ram Teri Ganga Maili, but his smile and demeanour were intact. I understood why his sister-in-law Neetu Kapoor and he got along like a house on fire – his Kapoor charm was infectious.

And that’s how I would like to remember him... just as he was that evening – gregarious, large-hearted, bon vivant and a foodie!

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Dinesh Raheja is a reputed film historian, columnist and TV scriptwriter who has been writing on cinema for over three decades

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