CELEBRITY COLUMN | STRIKE A CHORD: ‘Fate introduced me to music’, writes singer Arjun Kanungo

When I was really young, maybe two years old, I remember the first song I really took to was Ek Do Teen from Tezaab. I guess because simple songs are easy for kids to understand (hence nursery rhymes!). But, I never dreamt of becoming a musician while I was growing up; the choice was either to be an architect or entrepreneur, and I almost did become the former. Then, fate introduced me to music, which discovered me instead of it being the other way round. A little over a decade ago, I met some kids from the Julliard School of Music in New York while I was there for my studies. I was 17, and not sure at first if music was my calling. However, I was sure that I wanted the same passion these kids had, too. So, I gave it a shot and took to it like fish to water. Working hard had never seemed easier. I started a recording studio in Mumbai soon after, and within a couple of years, I was the male lead for Asha Bhosle’s tour and performed all over the world with her for two years.

It was only a few years later, in 2012, when I acknowledged (like the Julliard kids) that my passion could be my job, did I realise that I had finally met my calling. Music gave me clarity, which I didn’t have before. Thus began my stint of playback singing in 2013 and 2014. Though I had a hit song, Khoon Choos Le (Go Goa Gone), I felt something was missing. So, I went back to my place of epiphany — New York City. Taking a small break from music, I studied acting at the Lee Strasberg institute. It was there that it hit me that YouTube could be good for me, and I did a few cover videos and put it out. As Universe would have it, I got my first big recording contract.

My first single — Baaki Baatein Peene Baad — went on to become the biggest party song that year. In 2016, my love ballad Fursat was appreciated. As I released Ek Dafaa this year, sampling my favourite song by AR Rahman, Chinnamma, was the highlight for me.

Music has given me a purpose, which is the key to happiness. So, I’m the happiest person in the world. Ironically, I love listening to really sad songs even when I’m happy. Many such songs — I am the Highway (Audioslave), Tu Hi Re (Roja), Gulon Mein Rang Bhare (Haider) — have helped me over the years when I’ve been down. There is a unique beauty in pathos and melancholy. The frivolity of happiness can never have that. Even dance music that is suggestive of deeper themes is more popular statistically. Like David Gemmel aptly said, “All beauty is sad. For it fades.”