‘I ENJOYED MUSIC, NEVER WANTED TO BE A MUSICIAN’

A ghazal enthusiast, Papon is all set to experiment with this genre, but with a twist

Angraag Mahanta aKa Papon has managed to carve a niche for himself in Bollywood, thanks to hits such as Jiyein Kyun (Dum Maaro Dum; 2011), Kyun (Barfi!; 2012) and Moh Moh Ke Dhaage (Dum Laga Ke Haisha; 2015), to name a few. Besides this, he is credited for bringing Assamese folk music to the forefront and making it more mainstream.

With such massive fan following and the fact that he is the son of popular Assamese folk musicians, Khagen Mahanta and Archana Mahanta, one would assume that being a musician was a childhood dream for Papon. But not many know that this wasn’t the case.

“I enjoyed music, but I never wanted to be a musician,” Papon reveals, adding, “There was just so much pressure and expectations from me, just because how big my parents were as musicians. I knew that people would criticise and analyse anything I do. They still do. Back then, I probably never wanted to do music just because of this reason.”

And that’s why, Papon never really listened to a lot of old Bollywood numbers. “You have so many singers recalling songs from the past from Bollywood, I never did that,” he explains.

However, things soon changed as he finally decided to pursue music. After singing a variety of songs across various genres, Papon is now ready to try his luck with the genre that he first fell in love with — ghazals.

“I have grown up listening to ghazals and always sort of doubted whether I’ll be able to sing them or not. But I realised [I could], because I was told by someone that I have the soul for ghazals. So, I’m working on a ghazal album, but it will be ghazals in a different attire — ghazals in 2020 and how they should sound like,” he explains.

“Maybe I thought that people would take me seriously, because my hair has got a bit white. Maybe I thought I would have age by my side and that’s why I have decided to do a ghazal album,” the 44-year-old quips.