Aryans

he impeccable love story of Shahid Kapoor and Hrishita Bhatt struck a chord in millions of heart in 1998 with Aryans’ ‘Aankhon mein tera hi chehra’. Since then, there has been no looking back for this band. The incredibly effervescent, pulsating and astoundingly interactive ‘Aryans’ are still rocking as ever... Recently, we caught up with the enigmatic lead vocalist, DJ Narain of Aryans: Tell us something about your band: Aryans is the most popular pan-Indian pop and rock group established 12 years ago. We have done 850 concerts across the world and launched five albums. We’ve got around 1 crore hits on youtube which is biggest for any band or movie, in itself a national record. We also got nominated by an English channel for the most popular ‘Pop n Rock group’. About the band members: Our band consists of 5 members. Narain and Sadu (lead vocalists), Yakub (guitarist), Sunny (drummer) and Atul (vocalist). How did you decide to establish your ‘own’ band? It was purely incidental. Ours is basically a story of ‘Rock On’. We also used to perform at college fests in Lucknow. That is how I met Sadu in Bhopal. We bonded well and thus formed a band. Year later, ours is the biggest selling and most popular pop group of the country. Do you think Bollywood is overshadowing music bands? I don’t think so, as Bollywood is an ocean and music bands are like ponds. And Aryans is one of the small and beautiful ponds. It is always seen that playback singers don't earn recognition as compared to actors. What do you have to say about it? Actors are like ‘dummy’ Gods and are presented as rock stars in front of the audience. So, singers don’t get that recognition which they actually deserve. In fact, it takes a lot of effort of a singer, composer and music director to create a song. I can still say that singers have a longer shelf life as compared to actors. After 20-30 years, people forget the actors associated with a song and only remember the singers and musicians. For an instance, we recognize all 60’s-70’s songs by the name of Lata Ji, RD Burman Ji etc. And what about the singing reality shows? Do you think they give right platform to budding singers? When the trend of these singing reality shows kicked off, I thought they would help the music fraternity in recognizing the real talent. However, excess supply of anything is bad, and the same happened in this case too. Now, these singers are like ‘bubble gum’ in the music companies and everyone forgets them after a month or two. So, their stardom is short lived. Do you think that there is a switch over from soft romantic songs to raunchy songs like Munni badnam, Sheila ki jawani? (Laughs) When I first heard someone singing ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’, my reaction was ‘What nonsense!’ but then I realised its a song. Well, I can say, it depends on the generation, earlier people used to prefer soft music, now people like disco, DJs and partying kind of music. That is why such songs are becoming more and more popular. Would we get a chance to see you on-camera again after Woodstock Villa? Well, sure, and in a big way. Aryans will continue to rock you! Current and upcoming projects: We’re contemplating a few Bollywood films which people will be able to see in another 6-7 months. We’ll also be coming up with an album in near future. Inspiration for music: Well, it’s definitely ‘The Beatles’, the joy and magic they have in their music is incredible. Favourite Singer: Kishore Kumar and Shaan Favourite Song: It’s ‘Raju’ of Aryans, as it is the actual story of Aryans. It’s about people who don’t have much money but still have big dreams in life. Follow us on Twitter for more stories