'This is the best time to be a rock musician in this country'

Rock band Parikrama has a special connection with Lucknow. In their journey spanning over two decades, not only have they played in the city umpteen number of times, they've even built connections here. The band's organist, Subir Malik, who himself has a lot of friends and relatives in the city , tells us, “If I start, the list will be endless.We have a lot of connections in Lucknow.The band's most loyal fan is from the city .His name is Piyush Abhay Singh, and he handles everything for us when we are here.In fact, one of our first concerts as a band was in IIM-Lucknow in 1991, and since then we've performed there about ten times. I remember it was one of the coolest shows ever, even though it was in a small lawn packed between two buildings. It was a very nice setting."
In fact, the band's fondness for the institute led two members to sign their first Bollywood project. “IIM-L was the only reason that our vocalist Nitin and guitarist Sonam, for the first time in their lives, actually took up a Bollywood project ­ the Manjunath biopic. We were following Manjunath's story like most people in the country . Knowing the story , the fact that he was from IIM-L and being given the creative freedom that we wanted, we took it up," says Subir.
So any more Bollywood projects in the pipeline? “None, and we aren't even trying for it. As Parikrama, we've never done Bollywood and will never do also.Sonam and Nitin do a lot of individual projects, and the movie was also treated like that. Nobody went out of their way and we made rock songs like we always do (for the movie). Just that we had to get singers to sing in Hindi, since we cannot express ourselves very well singing in the language,“ says Subir. Any particular reason for completely ruling out Bollywood? “Well, you see, my daughters listen to Bollywood and bands like One Direction and all, which I just cannot relate to, but that's fine. I've never forced them to listen to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.Similarly , I cannot express myself or see myself as one of the guys in Bollywood in any way . We're very happy doing what we're doing," he says.
So in a country where Bollywood music dominates the industry , how did a band like Parikrama manage to come such a long way? Explains Subir, “We started this band for the simple love of playing classic rock. I was all set to join my family business of motor spare parts and had just four months to myself. I found these guys from various bands and we got together. In the beginning, we used to play mostly covers, since that was the idea. From day one, we had clear rules and regulations which exist even now. We had and still have this rule that nobody touches a drop of liquor before going on stage. Whether it is the time of sound check, or the concert wrap up, we follow discipline, and these things have attributed to the longevity of the band."
He adds, “I don't like to use the word `survive'. I hate it when people say that you've `survived' for 23 years. What `survived'? We're doing pretty darn good and working on our own terms. We still get calls to perform in marriages and new year gigs for ten times the amount, and we refuse them, coz we don't want to burn ourselves out.“
According to Subir, the county has started embracing its own rock culture, with a little credit to Bollywood.“There's a misconception that India does not have a dominant rock culture.One needs to understand that so many songs in Bollywood now are out and out rock. Take for example the title theme of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Composers like Shankar Ehsaan Loy , Amit Trivedi, Ram Sampath, all of them use rock sounds in their music so dominantly . We are in a country where probably 90 per cent of the people don't understand English, so how do you expect them to relate to a rock song in English?“ he says, adding, “Songs by these composers have become so famous because they are sung in a language that the masses understand, and of course, the Bollywood backing is there. You release a song called Shiela ki Jawaani, take out Katrina Kaif from the video and put a normal model instead. The song's reach will become two per cent of where it is today . In India, people are so crazy about Bollywood. Ninety-nine per cent people will relate Shiela ki Jawaani to Katrina Kaif, not to the singer or the composers. It is essentially the face of the lady that is selling the product, and of course, you cannot take the credit away from the composer and the singer who've done a wonderful job in their own field. If you take Shiela ki Jawaani to the West, maybe one percent will like it because of the beats, while the rest wouldn't be able to relate to it coz they don't understand the language.“
Subir's glad about the fact that new avenues have opened up for the rock genre in the country . He attributes it to increased exposure to new genres of music.“If you look at the last 4-5 years, so many avenues have opened up not only for rock but also for independent music. Today , you have at least 200 music festivals.paanch saal pehle, ek bhi shaayad hi hota tha, and most of these festivals are not doing Bollywood. We're getting a signal that this is the best time to be a rock musician in this country," he says. But in spite of all the increased opportunities, Subir doesn't recommend aspiring musicians to take up music as a fulltime career. “Only playing rock music cannot get you the bread and butter in the long run. When kids are young, they're all fiery and passionate. When age catches up, people then start realising about their future and till when they will continue doing rock `n' roll. One can do 30-40 gigs in a year as a release or fun thing, and of course, earn from it too. But do related things ­like sessions, documentaries, freelancing with other bands, irrespective of genres. Even our drummer, Srijan went and did a gig with Honey Singh, just for fun and decent money .We've also done new year gigs a long time ago when we needed the money , but not under the name of Parikrama, coz it meant good money , which we needed to buy new instruments. We followed this thinking back then when we started out as a band. One of the rules which was spelt very clearly was that we'll never make this as a career, and that advice is 101per cent valid even today," he says.