Band of Boys's musical rendezvous with Hollywood

Well into their 30s, members of India's first boy band still prefer being called boys as the raw energy with which they kickstarted their musical journey is seen still going strong in their latest track for Hollywood flick From Paris With Love, starring John Travolta.

"It all happened by chance," Karan Oberoi, member of Band of Boys, told PTI during a visit to the capital recently.

"A member of the Hinduja group, which is bringing the movie to India, approached us and asked us if we could come up with a title track for the movie. We watched the movie and at the end of it we looked at each other and said 'Let's do it!'"

The band, which released its first album 'Yeh Bhi, Woh Bhi' in 2002, comprises Karan Oberoi, Sherrin Varghese, Chin2 Bhosle and Siddharth Haldipur.

With hit tracks like 'Meri Neend' and 'Gori' in their kitty, everyone thought the band was here to stay, but much to the surprise and dismay of many they took an almost three year break, only to make a come-back with this project.

"A lot of people questioned us about the long gap after our last album. It's just that we needed our breathing space. We had to focus on our careers apart from music. But we hadn't completely cut ourselves off from music. We have been frequently doing shows," says Sherrin, adding that despite a break after their last album it took only two days for them to come up with 'Paris Ke Jalwe' for the Travolta starrer.

"The music came to us spontaneously. The track is progressive in nature. It is semi-Bollywood but the racy, edgy and adrenaline side of it gives it the Hollywood feel. The best part is the blend of catchy words like 'tod-phod' which gives the song the kick.

Although it took only two days for us to come up with this, a lot of hard work was involved. We had a lot of differences and clash of opinion we had to overcome for this," he explains.

According to the band members this is the first attempt by a purely Indian or Asian band to compose and sing the title track of a Hollywood movie for its India release, second only to the Pakistani band Strings who did a title track for Spiderman with their number 'Najane Kyun'.

"Over the years India has become a bigger market for Hollywood movies. I call the process 'Bollywoodisation of Hollywood.' For bands like us this process creates new avenues for us thus giving us more exposure. This project, for example, is a step in a new direction," Siddharth told PTI.

So, did they get a chance to see Travolta?

"Not yet. We were too busy performing... or so we would like to believe," laughs Sherrin, quickly adding that the Hollywood actor was the "ultimate hero" of any guy and they would love to meet him.

All the "boys," apart from being members of the band, are also well known faces in the media. Karan, for example, has acted in a number of soaps.

So how do they manage to balance both lives?

"Even when we are not playing gigs we are together most of the times. Trust me sometimes it's a relief to be apart, otherwise we will drive each other insane!" laughs Siddharth.

"But on a more serious note, when are together, we are not just bringing our talents together but our capacity to put up with each other is also tested and in the process we discover our core strengths."

Adds Karan, "We all have different strengths and weakness. We compensate for each others flaws. Working together isn't easy. It's, in fact, arduous. All of us have different tastes leading to clashes of egos but we try to transcend petty issues and work towards the common aim of making good music which we eventually manage."

The band has two more Hollywood ventures on their table but refused to reveal more except that they were "big productions." That apart, the band is gearing up to focus on being more conspicuous in the music scene.

"We are presently addressing the problem of not being seen or heard too often. We are quelling apprehensions over the future of our band. We might have matured as a band but beyond that we are the same restless dudes, we'll still be in the music scene even 50 years from now and even then we'll remain boys," says Sherrin.