He is the voice
of angst. Sauntering through the emptiness of
life, trying to find its own peace, challenge its
own troubled destiny. Lucky Ali, troubadour
at large. Poet. Musician. Rock star. Role model
for a generation desperate for love. How is he
coping with stardom? His second hit album in a
row, Will he keep singing? Or will he simply pack
up his bags and journey on, like a luckless
tramp? Find out. How did you enter the
world of music?
I am not a trained musician. I play by the ear,
by my instincts. My friends, my family -- my
father (Mehmood), my aunt Meena Kumari who
was a great poetess -- were all associated with
the film industry. So I grew up surrounded by
poetry, music, movies.
I thought I would be an actor but I soon found
out that was not to be. The industry had changed
by the time I arrived. It was entirely different
from the time my father did his first stint in
the movies. Even he was shocked when he came back
to it after a gap of years. Everything had
changed. People, attitudes, creativity. He could
barely cope. I, of course, fled.
Why did you flee?
The films I wanted to do did not earn me any
money. It was a hard life and I desperately
needed to earn. I wanted to get married. You
cannot do that on art films and my heart bled
every time I thought of doing a commercial movie.
I kept asking myself: Can you do that, man? Can
you do that convincingly? The money was tempting
but I knew it was beyond me. So, finally, one day
I stopped this battle with myself and decided to
move on. To music.
Why music?
I loved music all my life. And since I was not
getting enough work in movies -- the kind of
movies that could afford me a livelihood -- I
thought I would try my hand at it. Like I tried
my hand at many other jobs. I trained as a
horseman in America. It was sheer physical labour
and it made me feel good. To make a living from
hard work. Then I got a job on an oil rig off the
coast of Pondicherry. I was there for a full year
and enjoyed it very much. It was like exercising
without having to go to the gym. But, after some
time, I realised that my ambitions in life were
different from those of the guys out there who
wanted to be crane operators after 14 years! So I
quickly got out.
Then?
Then I went into carpets.
A businessman?
No, no. It was not like that. My childhood friend
cleaned carpets. So I, too, went into cleaning
carpets. I made lots of money that way but, then,
I wanted to start mending and selling
carpets.
Where did you do that?
In Bangalore, Madras.
Why did you go away from Bombay?
Though I was born in Bombay, I was never brought
up here. I was brought up in Mussoorie. I came
here for a year, studied at Bombay Scottish. Then
my parents, my family moved on to Bangalore. So I
went along with them.
When did you get into music?
Around the time I was doing carpets. I was doing
music at the same time. But I was never sure what
I wanted to do with it. It was like a passion. I
enjoyed it very much but I never thought of it as
a career.
What kind of music were you doing?
I cannot put a stamp on it. But it was music of
all kinds.
Original compositions?
Well, I was discovering music. I don't believe I
create anything; I only discover things. I
discovered my form. It may have been there all
along. But I searched for it and found it around
this time; I discovered that I could express
myself in it.
How did stardom happen?
Sunoh was in the making since I was 13,
when I first got my guitar. I started composing
without even knowing how to play! It was like a
lament. A very self-pitying number. My first
track, my beginning. Then I discovered a
different kind of tuning on my guitar. After that
I started discovering chords -- the kind of stuff
you hear in O Sanam. It was all by ear and
by feel.
How did you enter the music industry?
Nitin Dabhade, a friend of mine, came from London
with two friends to meet me. They used to take
Indian artistes from here to perform out there
They met me at the Sun 'n' Sand and offered to
record with me. They talked about a happening
studio they had out in London. So I went to
London -- only to find out that there was no
studio, no nothing. So I said: Chalo, it
was a trip anyway. Meanwhile, I had just married
and someone told me that I had a brother-in-law
in London. But I had no idea what he did. My wife
gave me his address and I dropped in to meet him,
only to discover that he was an engineer in a
recording studio, The Trident, where Queen and
the early Beatles numbers were recorded. Also
Elton John. He asked me what I was doing in
London. I told him how I had been had. So he
asked me about my tracks. I played him O Sanam
and Sunoh. He liked them. Then I forgot
about it all. The day before I left London, he
called me to the studio and played back the
tracks to me -- with a base line he had worked
out. That's how it all started.
You did the whole album in one go?
No, I came back to India and played the tracks to
a few music companies. But it didn't happen. So I
went back to London and did the entire recording.
I showed it to Pran Goyel of BMG there and he
loved it. He suggested I contact BMG in India. I
was married, had no money, because everything had
gone into the recording, and my wife was in the
family way. But the music companies were not
budging. Then, one afternoon, Bashir Sheikh (of
BMG) came and asked me: 'Have you sold the
album?' I said no, not yet. So he said: 'We'll do
it. But they did not have the capacity to make a
video. So I approached my childhood friend,
Mahesh (Mathai). He agreed. I told him I
had no money and would pay him only if the album
worked. After that, I left everything in his
hands and went off to New Zealand, to work on a
horse farm. I forgot all about the album. It is
only much later, when I came back, that I
realised what had happened.
No one called you and told you what was
happening?
I did not even have a phone number out there!
When I called them here, they kept saying: 'It is
doing all right.' But I didn't want to hear all
right; I wanted to hear it was doing great. Then
I began to hear from people in New Zealand. A
beam of ATN used to reach there. That gave us
indications of what was happening. Then I came
back here...
To realise the impact it had made?
Well, I always knew it would work. I had
confidence in my music. But I never thought it
would work so well. It was a great feeling.
How is your new album different from the
first one?
I have completed the circle, Pritish. The circle
which I started at the age of 13.
If you have completed the circle, what
happens after Sifar?
I don't know. I have no idea.
You may move away from music?
Who knows? Life is a journey....
You are doing many concerts?
Yes, that's the new thing. I want to interact
with live audiences. I want to sing out there
with feeling, reach out to those who want to hear
me.
After that?
I have no idea. All I know is who I am. All I
know is that I will never journey away from
myself. I have no illusions about life.
There is a lot of pain, a lot of angst in
your music...
But not anger. I feel sorrowful about a lot of
things around me. "I Siddharth, I wander
aimlessly in this world." That's what a
friend of mine once wrote. That's what I feel.
That's what my music is all about.
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