BOLLYWOOD HOLLYWOOD TELEVISION ‘ASTITVA WAS LITERALLY STARTED IN A BEDROOM’
Ten years on, with success at home and abroad, the Delhi-based band dreams bigger
Most college bands are formed with the dream of making it big in the music industry. For Delhi-based multi-genre Hindi band Astitva, that dream has been fulfilled. The band has seen a meteoric rise since it was formed 10 years ago — the dreams have got bigger.
“The band was literally started in our bedroom,” says Salman Khan Niazi, lead vocalist. “It was just Zaman (Salman’s brother and lead guitarist) and I, in the beginning. We came from a very strong music background, with three generations of celebrated musicians in the family. I trained in Indian classical music, while Zaman chose Western classical.”
Salman continues, “It was in Ramjas College that we met our drummer Ayush Gupta, a senior. Kamal (keyboardist) and James (bass guitarist) were from different bands, but once we started jamming together, we knew we had the perfect team.”
Wins at inter-college competitions were followed by live gigs, and the big deal — composing the anthem for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and work in Bollywood. They’ve had overseas shows as well, and their recently released track, Dil Banjaara, got more than a million views in less than a week.
The band members still enjoy performing for the college crowds more than anything else. “The joy of performing for the college audience is unparalleled,” says Zaman. “These performances remind us of all the work we’ve put into coming where we have.” British singer and songwriter Cat Stevens, who later went by the name Yusuf Islam, was escorted from a diverted trans-Atlantic flight and refused entry into America by FBI agents. His name showed up on a US watchlist after United Airlines Flight 919 had taken off from London. The flight landed in Maine, where Islam, who was travelling with his 21-year-old daughter, was detained and questioned.