Twitter
Advertisement

‘Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa inspired me to write in Hindi’

Singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad on the bands and artistes that have influenced his music

Latest News
article-main
Prateek Kuhad
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

A musician’s journey is full of various influences he/she picks up over the years. Prateek Kuhad, whose song Tum Jab Paas came out recently, has also picked up various nuances of his music, right from Bollywood to independent artistes to rock music. He shares some of them with After Hrs...

Early influences

My mom introduced me to Cliff Richards and Harry Belafonte as a child. I would listen to Bollywood music as well. My sister was into Savage Garden and Pink Floyd and she would get her stack of English cassettes from a store in Bangalore. I remember not liking Pink Floyd so much when I was really young, but started liking it lot later.

Later, when I went to college in New York, a friend of mine introduced me to singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. I was in my first year of college and I remember being obsessed with Smith’s music -  folksy acoustic tunes. For six months, I only listened to him. He’s one of my biggest inspirations. I started recognising songwriting and words for the first time.

Lyrics and more

I never thought I could write in Hindi. The first three or four songs which I wrote were in English. The one thing that really affected me was the movie Pyaasa by Guru Dutt. It just blew my mind completely. The soundtrack of that movie is insanely good. It’s my favourite soundtrack of all times — specially when it comes to the words — they are stunning. That movie really impacted me and I wanted to write Hindi songs because I was just drawn to the language. I hated Hindi as a child and opted for French instead. Even now, people are surprised that I can write in Hindi. With song writing, it just naturally happened. But I don’t have an excellent vocabulary when it comes to Hindi. I prefer simple words. It’s a mix of Hindi and Urdu.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement