‘I chose freedom by doing my own thing’: Sanam Puri

As the frontman of pop-rock band Sanam, Sanam Puri is quite the sensation. 

However, he mostly releases works on the project’s YouTube channel, in the indie space. The young artiste is just out with Vishal-Shekhar’s composition Fakira in Punit Malhotra’s Student Of The Year 2 (SOTY2), after working with the duo in Dhat Teri Ki (Gori Tere Pyaar Mein) and Ishq Bulava (Hasee Toh Phasee). His last release as a playback singer was five years ago — Barbaad Raat in Humshakals. Remind him this and he gasps and laughs, “I almost forgot about that!” 

Sanam tells us why he has been away from film music, and what to look forward to from the band.

After club bangers such as The Jawani Song, Mumbai Dilli Di Kudiyaan and The Hook Up Song, Fakira is one of the soulful tracks in SOTY2. Tell us about rendering it...

It was fun. When I heard the song, I was like, ‘Oh, my zone!’ because I love good melodies. And I did it for Vishal-Shekhar — it’s amazing to be guided by them. It’s outstanding how quickly they can come up with melodies. And, they didn’t give me a brief or anything. They just gave me my space, let me be, and said, ‘Just do your thing.’

Why doesn’t one hear more from you in Bollywood?

Playback singing was never my thing because it’s dependent on so many people. I’ve seen singers who wake up each day to be told by composers that they would call them but they don’t and then you can’t sleep at night because what if they call you and you miss the opportunity? You’re just living an anxious life, and I did not want to live that. I wanted to feel free. And I chose freedom by doing my own thing with the band. I also don’t like being controlled — do this and do that. My brain gets blocked. Fakira was an exception because of the relation I have with Vishal-Shekhar.

Tiger Shroff and Ananya Panday in the song Fakira from Student Of The Year 2

Would you make an exception for someone else?

Maybe! I don’t know. Also, I’ve grown up listening to international music and I could never fully accept the idea of one face but someone else’s voice. Besides, the actor and the singer walk always with all the glory and composers don’t get the credit as much. Honestly, there are other artistes who can sing a song but the tune can only be created by the composer. I feel guilty when I’m appreciated more than the creators. I compose songs, so, I know the feeling.

How do you look at your journey from the SQS Project to becoming YouTube sensations?

It’s been amazing; not just happy-happy but literally experiencing everything — every emotion and life itself. And there’s so much that’s going to happen in the future as well. We haven’t done enough yet.

A number of indie artistes also give their compositions for movies. Does Sanam have such plans?

Sure, but I’m clear that the four of us in the band (songwriter and lead guitarist Samar Puri, bassist Venky S or Venkat Subramaniyam and drummer-music arranger Keshav Dhanraj) have to be visible individually as well. I somehow cannot see things being unfair to an artiste in terms of getting the credit for their work. 

What can one look forward to from the band?

We’ve done rendition of old songs (Lag Ja Gale and Kuch Na Kaho with Shirley Setia among others) but all of us have wanted to release our own music. And that’s what we’re going to do this year. I can’t reveal what but we won’t be limiting ourselves to just pop-rock. It will be very different from everything that we have done so far. There are also a lot of live gigs that we look forward to.