Music composer/singer Anand Bhaskar has come a long way from his band ‘Anand Bhaskar Collective’. He has proved himself to be far more talented singer than just a guitarist or vocalist. The band specializes in blending carnatic music with rock. Bhaskar’s classically trained voice blends well syncing violin notes and electric guitar riffs. The band that has played all over the country and overseas at major festivals, and describes its sound as alternative rock and fusion.

The band has had many lineup changes down the years and it presently consists of five members namely Anand on vocals, Hrishi Giridhar (guitar), Shravan Sridhar (violin), Neelkanth Patel aka Neel (bass and backing vocals) and Shishir Tao (drums).

To date the band has released two albums ‘Samsara’ (2012), ‘Excuse Me’ (2017) and have become crowd pullers at any major gig and are loved for their menu of independent rock and Hindi-rock.

Inspired by heavyweights like Alter Bridge, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, The Local Train, Thaikkudam Bridge, the band mostly spends time producing new tracks and learning new production techniques or new piano chords. 

In conversation with Verus Ferreira, Anand Bhaskar candidly talks about music in general, his music albums and his latest song for the soundtrack for Disney+ Hotstar's web series 'Masoom'.

Let’s go back in time. Tell us how music happened to you.

I think I was three or four years old when I was in like Nursery or KG and our music teacher asked us who can sing and I shamelessly raised my hand and she said, “Okay come sing”.And then I went and sang in front of the class. I was just having fun and then when I was done, I hear this huge applause behind, when I turned around and see all the teachers in the school. It was a Junior school, so all the teachers in the Junior school were standing behind me and they were clapping. Basically, what happened was that my music ma’am had gone out and called all the Teachers because she thought I was a good singer.

What made you quit your job and enter into music full time? What were the circumstances back then and the risks involved?

I have always wanted to become a professional musician. And I think I had that dream when I was a kid, I like when people ask what you want to be in future, I will always want to be a musician.I think somewhere along the line you know, the whole idea of going to college and then getting a secure job and everything that dream got lost. And I think in 2014 when I was heading the strategy and planning division for advertising agency, I kind of got into little bit of an argument with the person I was reporting to. Infact it was not even an argument they made like a remark on my personal life and I was actually very dedicated as an employee.That’s when I realized that working in an agency and reporting to somebody is always going to be a thankless job. I was working 18 hours a day and sometimes 7 days a week and no appreciation for the kind of hard work I was putting in.Eventually it reached a point where I realized that this is not happening. I don't know what I'm doing with my life. I need to really sort of sit back and prioritize and really rethink about my options. I called my wife Nidhi Sethia and said “Listen, I don't think I am fit for a job. I don't think I should continue here because it is crazy. I like I hate it here and I really don't know what to do”.

So my wife said, “You always wanted to do music full time, Give it a shot and I asked her so what we do about money, rent stuff like that and she said I can handle.She was also working in a production house back then so she gave me the support. by saying that.You know for a few months, she handled the finances alone and so I pursued my dreams and I am really thankful for that.She did not even hesitate for a second before she could say that you live your dreams and I’ll support you and its only because of her I am where I am today So that’s how I got in to Music. Well, that risk involved was that I already in my early thirties and I was the vice president of the company.So, not making that money& that I had very decent salary and it was giving up stable and substantial salary to start working as a freelancer in your early thirties so that was the risk. I think in that decision and so the first four or five months, I remember we were struggling quite a lot financially, but then once I started getting singing assignment for ads and stuff and I think things started getting better and I think within less than Before that year ended the first year at the starting music before that year ended I already surpassed my salary as vice president in the job that I have quit so I think all and all,it worked out.

There have been a few lineup changes in the band as I understand. Can you tell us about your current band lineup and what part does each member play in the band?

So, the current lineup in Anand Bhaskar collective is Rishi Girdhar on guitars, Shishir Thakur on drums, Neelkanth Patel on base and I on vocals and violin duties are usually flexible, but it's usually Ajay Jayanti in the team for Masoom, who plays violin for the band.

You're a rock band, with Hindi vocals, were there any apprehensions on making it into the music industry as a Hindi rock band back in 2012 when you started out? What music do you get inspired by?

I am usually inspired by all kinds of music but I feel you now I feel that rock music inspired me the most. Because there is an energy about rock music that is undeniable and I feel that I'll always be a rock musician and I'm in no matter what genre of music I am composing.

What’s your songwriting process like?

My song writing process usually starts with the vocal melody and because I am a singer.But when I was a kid, I have always wanted to be a drummer - percussionist and singing was a second choice for me. Sometimes, I even start with the rhythm of the song for the drummer group of the song, but more often than not it's usually to vocal melody because that's important that the melody of the song has to have a high recall value. So, I start with the melody and then I move to chords and also the melody and puts me in a particular state of mind. Like, if the melody determines what mood the song should be in and moods determine the theme and the theme determines the lyrics and chords and you know the ground then the basic guitar parts come in and then we flesh out the song like that.

You have three albums to date. ‘Samsara’, ‘Excuse me’? Can you tell us something about each album and how is each different from the other.

Samsara was an album that I wrote, purely to sort of put my compositions on record and release them so that I don’t regret not releasing them in the future. I have no idea that the album would get picked up over time. A lot of young listeners, it would reach out to them and touch their lives. I had never imagined this. For me it was just some songs that I had written in the bedroom and I somehow saved up some money to record them and release them. Now Samsara is what it is.

I think Samsara and Xcuse Me, the second album are similar in the sense that they both are very hard sounding albums. And back then you know I had a lot of heavy energy within me. I was not satisfied in life and you can see that in the music. It’s very heavy tonally. Xcuse me has more songs that are on the lighter side where I am also not screaming my lungs out. With Samsara, every song except Mera Humsafar is top to bottom heavy. That’s the major difference. If you look at our entire discography, before Main Hoon Zameen, there is ABC before Mein Hoon Zameen and after it as well. Its kinda boast of very limited musicianship as I was writing a lot of music. But, after Main Hoon Zameen, this is when Rishi joined the band. He brought his musicianship to the song and the bond and that’s how you will see that Mein Hoon Zameen sound musically evolved thousand times more than what you hear on Xcuse Me and Samsara.

You also did a few concept songs ‘Main HoonZameen’ and ‘Chewtiya’. Tell us a bit about the songs.

Mein Hoon Zameen is a song about wanting to be whoever you want. So Mein Hoon Zameen, Asmaan Bhi, Mein Zarrahoon, Kehkashabhi. Mein Hukoomhoon, Intezabhi, Mein Hoon Zameen, Asmaan Bhi. Lyrics are written by Anand Kareer and he also directed song as well. And with that song we basically wanted to celebrate the real life heroes in our society who are actually doing things to change around us. And they never do things for credit. Nobody is talking about them, they just do, and only want to improve the world. That is what Main HoonZameen is about.

You recently composed the entire soundtrack for Disney+ Hotstar's latest web series 'Masoom'. Tell us about the experience of making this? Could you please elaborate on what was the narrative all about?

The experience of making it was very smooth primarily because of our Director, Mihir Desai. He is every composer’s dream. He understands music to another level. One of the important aspects of Mihir’s personality is that he cares about what the music is doing for the scene and what kind of music it is that is being written. He is not dictatorial in his music preferences and listens to us as well where we have used a specific instrument or a melody for a scene. He is very open minded about it and listens to our perspective. We are not restricted for any direction. That made the entire experience really comfortable and really enjoyable. As at the end of the day, we are doing what we are as we love it. That’s something which helped us to make the score for Masoom really good and basis the reviews, we are happy that people are loving it too.

Fakira was a song that the bard in the series sings. He is there in the first episode who is the manifestation of Sana’s guilt and how the truth can never be hidden and it will always come out. And I think that’s what Fakira is all about. Jogiye is all about a mother telling her son, to flow like a river. Basically, Jogiye means a traveling saint, flow like the river Chenab, lyrics by Ginny Diwan who has been my long time professional partner in music. She has written 90% of my work. She obviously did a stellar job with the songs and the poetry too.

With Laila Majnu, we had the opportunity to go full retro as the scene demanded it. It had to sound like a song from the 50s. I think the singers, Piyush Kapoor and Shilpa Saroj did a fabulous job. We also have a violin version of the song where my colleague Ajay Jayanti did the male vocals which you will get to hear in the album as well. We had a lot of fun doing that, we were happy with what we could achieve. And, the last song is an out and out devotional song sung by Romi talking about how we all are in search of God in some manner. And how the God above knows whats happening in our hearts and minds. The idea is to surrender yourself to God. Overall that’s what the song is about. And the singer and background singers did a fabulous job with the song.

I also like to talk about my team on the project which included Ginny Diwan on the lyrics, Ajay Jayantiand Rishi Giridhar in the role of additional composers and music producers. Ajay is a brilliant violinist, so he has handled all the strings section very beautifully and Rishi is an amazing guitar player so he has handled all the guitar parts. There is that music production that they have done and Ginny Diwan has done all the lyrics and last but not the least – Prathamesh Dudhane, mixed all the songs for us. That is why they sound that way on the album. What I feel is that I couldn’t have achieved all the accolades that are coming in for the music. I don’t deserve to have them alone. I couldn’t have achieved all of this without my team and colleagues. They are the ones responsible for the way the music sounds. That’s something special which I would like to mention – My team is responsible to bring my musical vision to life. They have been absolutely supportive, invested and involved as much as I have been in the music. The entire process of writing music for Masoom was a blast and a breeze, and not to forget ‘Masoom’ is such a world class show that any composer would feel proud to be associated with the show. I would like to thank Mihir Desai, the director and Gurmeet Singh, the Executive Producer and Disney+ Hotstar& Dreamers and Doers for bringing me on board. It was an amazing experience and I would love to work with the exact same group of people many times again.

You also sing in various other languages too. Tell us what work you have done in other languages when it comes to music?

Most of the work I have done in other languages. I have sung in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Assamese. And Bhojpuri. Most of the regional language work I have done is in television commercials. However I have done Telugu film songs and 2 Malayalam film songs and 2 Gujarati film songs as well. That’s most of my playback work in regional. In television commercials I must have sung around 1000 advertisements in various regional languages. That’s the cumulative number.

You’ve done quite a few TV series, advertisements and commercials. Can you give us a rundown of the work you have done.

When it comes to advertisements, I have done some of the biggest ones. I am happy to sing across a list of ad projects that I have done as a singer, that aside I have sung songs for other composers for web series and films. Some of my most notable work is Shabashiyaan with Shilpa Rao in Mission Mangal and the title track of Baaghi 2 – Get ready to Fight. And then, I have sung 2 Malayalam film songs, I have also sung a Telugu film song as well. And I have two Gujarati film songs, one of them will come out very soon. That’s all of my work, as a composer I have done it for a bunch of ads. Work includes composing all the songs in the web series Mirzapur, composing 2 songs for Bomay Begums, composing 2 of them for Pariwar. And I am now doing songs and entire background score for Masoom. In July, I have another web series coming out which is created by Imtiaz Ali. Ajay and I am co-composing the score on this one. I also just did a film called Rat On A Highway starring Randeep Hooda which was unveiled at Cannes.

How do you look at Independent and Bollywood music?

Ironically enough, Bollywood is the biggest source of original music even though it’s released through album labels. I feel there is stellar work in Bollywood and there is absolutely not so good work in Bollywood as well. The same applied to independent music as well. There are some amazing independent musician and then there are some of them who don’t want to work hard and just want to release stuff on Instagram and they want to become popular first and skilled later. The independent music scene has come up a lot in the last 10-20 years. There are so many avenues, multiple artists, and brand deals and also music festivals. I think it’s a great time to be alive for an independent musician, you can actually put out some of the good work and get noticed. There are sync deals happening in movies and OTT where song compositions are being taken and sort of used in the OSTs of these projects.

What according to you what is the most satisfying - TV series, Bollywood or Ad films.

Honestly, I can’t choose because I am very grateful for the life that I have. For the life that I get to do what I love, without thinking about the workload. Without getting stressed about it. That’s something I cannot take for granted. I consider that very important for me. All the work that I get to do across different styles, Bollywood, OTT, independent ad films. I love everything. Everything that I do is satisfying.

What are the psychological rewards and the challenges you have faced in music down the years?

I think the biggest psychological reward would be that there is no boss and employee system. We are working with people who consider you their equal. There’s a lot of mutual respect and that puts you at ease. Secondly, when you see your art come to life, nothing could be a bigger reward than that. The psychological challenge would be crippling anxiety mostly as this is a very intense line of work. Anxiety sometimes as this is a line of work where you have to be the best version of yourself. You have to be at top of the game, basically all the time. Sometimes that can be emotionally draining and exhausting. You have to find ways to counter that, like exercising everyday, making sure you are disciplined about your work. Psychological challenges definitely include anxiety, at least for me.

You released ‘Ufaq’, as a single, when can fans expect the album? 

We love the responses that Ufaq has got. People messaged us saying that this is the classic ABC sound and they were really happy that we went back to it. But, we realized over the past few years that, we would like to move away from the whole heavy sound and stay informational, heavy. We are planning to tone it down for the band slightly so that we can keep up with the times musically.

As far as the album is concerned, we were looking at releasing singles, in the foreseeable future. But personally, I am gravitating towards the idea of an album because from whatever I see of the artist that I love to listen to, everybody is releasing albums as opposed to singles. I think there is a gradual shift in the preference of the listeners, where they would like to listen to an entire album rather than singles and wait for another few weeks for another single.

Lastly, what's next in the store for Anand Bhaskar?

A few films, and my immediate next is a web series titled ‘Doctor Arora’ created by Imtiaz Ali.  That aside, I have also composed the score for a film called ‘Rat On A Highway’ starring Randeep Hooda. That is a psychological thriller so that’s also hopefully coming out soon in the near future.

 Interviewed by Verus Ferreira