The well-renowned band Sanam who has taken the music scene by storm and has captivated audiences worldwide, is well known for their soulful renditions of classic Bollywood songs and their original compositions.

Sanam lead by vocalist Sanam Puri along with Samar Puri on lead guitar, Venky S on bass guitar, and Keshav Dhanraj on drums, has garnered a massive fan base both in India and abroad. Any live concert by the boys promises to be an evening filled with soulful melodies, electrifying performances, and an atmosphere of sheer musical magic. The boys unique blend of contemporary pop, rock, and Sufi music, all delivered with their signature style and captivating stage presence is an experience to witness. 

Kiran Holkar met up with the band to know more about their journey and how they still manage to enthrall their fans.

So tell us how it all started?

Sanam: Let me explain in short we met each other at Muscat. Samar and Venky were batchmates and just to inform you that I am junior to all of them. So yes, when we met at Muscat in 2003, all of us moved back to India and met Keshav in 2009 in Mumbai. Venky was the one who introduced us to Keshu as we call him, because Venky and Keshu used to play together in another band. After that we came together and won a competition called Supastars which was organized by Times Music and after winning we were just “this is it”, so since 2010 we all were together, like more than 13 years now.

Do you have any one special  memories of these years?

Samar: We were shooting in Maldives where we shot 3 videos within 4-5 days and it wasn’t easy to shoot these songs because of the massive heat and most of the shoot was in daytime. Sanam:  Sometimes after five minutes of shooting in the sunlight suddenly it used to start raining, we used to take shelter.

Keshav: Whenever it rains and when it used to stay longer, we use to go and shoot another song and when we see sunlight we used to return to shoot the one where we left off and we were making some of the songs at hotel after completing the video shoot “like now just work on the music”

How do you maintain the balance between making original compositions and doing cover?

Sanam: I don’t think we maintain balance at all right now. We are just renditions and we are trying to start balancing within more original. I’m not going to say anything now, it's a surprise to ourselves because every time we say something it never happens. 

What are the thoughts you consider before recreating a song?

Sanam: Depending on the song, like “Mere Mehabob", to give a start and what kind of sound should the song have and to give the right kind of intensity.

Venky: I think there is no particular way that we go about finding which zone we want to go and rearranging. Something we get arrangement very quickly like we did “Oohh Mere Dil Ke Chain”. We just got it very quick and there are some songs like “Aur Iss Dil Mey” which were we done a different version first, then now the version that we have put out is very different from what we originally did, so its like that.

What inspires you while making your music?

Sanam: There are a lot of things and situations for me I cannot compose If I’m not happy.  It's important feel both emotion at same time to feel sad you feel like you are down and then you understand the importance of happiness and change you know from sadness to happiness what inspires you and then you have so many realization  that you had “oh my god why was I sad about this” because we all are artist we do get ideas of every little thing that we experience . There is no definite answer to that.

Keshav- I would say the games if Sanam doesn’t have his pool of games

Sanam: Yeah I have been playing video games since I was 5 years old. It's a big part of my life and it's something that relieves me and I play for like 10-15 hours. Otherwise, I don’t feel normal.  

Who is your favourite singer in the new generation?

Sanam: That’s so difficult I  actually don’t listen to anybody from this generation.

What is your key ingredient that makes your song more unique?

Sanam: Our intentions like we want to do something for the people and all of us are naturally caring and if we see someone not feeling good or feeling down we just want to be there to help them. I think that because naturally we had that reflection on music. We even get messages from the people saying that they were suffering and lots of cancer patients said they couldn’t take the pain but they listen to our songs. They feel like they will easily go through pain and these are the things that make them feel what we are doing is important and we have a purpose for what we are doing and sometimes things come out naturally that we don't even realize .

Keshav: I would say the simplicity of the music, because a lot of the people around the world didn’t know the language but they got connected through music.  

How excited are you all for today's concert?

Sanam: We always love to perform for all our fans here in Mumbai, you know because the crowd here is really interactive and that's what matters to us, it gives us a lot of energy and yeah we are super excited.

Which is the best place you've ever performed?

Keshav: Maldives was a very unique experience for us, there was this sea of people, you can see it in the drone shots which were taken at that time. It was massive.

Venky: It was in Male. They were celebrating their 50 years of Independence, we were playing for the President and the First Lady. We dedicated a song for the First Lady and so on and so forth. That was a great experience.

Tell me what is more challenging: singing a cover or original song?

Samar: Well the way Sanam composes his songs it becomes difficult for him to sing it sometimes, that's what he becomes on the creative level.

Sanam: I guess it's kind of true when I compose I somehow end up composing something that I myself struggle to sing, but covers and renditions that we have done have been comparatively easier but I'm not going to say all of them are easy, some of the songs are really really challenging for us some of the old renditions, and that's because of the compositions, they were way more complex they sound simple but when you start to execute them you understand that they are not actually that simple to execute though.

Who is your favorite band or artist?

Keshav: I usually say Michael Jackson as he is an all time legend.

Samar: For me during school and college it was U2.

Sanam: For me it's Japanese composer Ryo Nagamatsu. i just love him since the time I started gaming, he has given incredible music for games.

Venky: My personal favorite band is The Doors, Wilson Steve is my favorite artist, I listen to a lot of jazz, soul and blues.

Which was the last concert you all attended?

Sanam: Oh yes Bruno mars was the one we attended at Amsterdam,

Venky: It was a nice opening act, Anderson Paak was also there, I think we have also attended 5 Seconds Of Summer, recently they are all fantastic bands.

AI is taking over music, what is your opinion on it and how do you see the future?

Sanam: I see the future is completely out of our control, we have to adapt to the change. I mean AI you know it's inevitable, things are going to happen that we won't be able to stop and if we are gonna keep on resisting oh why is this happening and you wanna keep trying to fight it, it's not gonna help anybody.

Keshav: I think something like Google, before that we only had books and print to refer to. Suddenly you need to just type it on and find everything, so this is something like that, it's a big step but how you use it is the thing. Like chat gpt also, you might just get a lot of information. Yeah you need that, but you gotta put a lot of soul in it, it's just how you use it. I see people are using that to put in their own stuff and make something creative out of it. I'm sure some good stuff will happen but otherwise it would be very blank just like if you leave it to AI to do it, It kida lacks.

Sanam: Yeah you can't replicate the singers soul and voice and music, you can only do it at a certain limit after that you know human touch is what will always remain human.

Recently Rickey Kej won the Grammy, do you think artists supporting climate change and environmental issues would help?

Venky: Yes I particularly feel so, I have like friends who are like, I actually have a ex girlfriend who got a Grammy because she worked on Ricky Kej’s album and she is a fantastic singer and I have a feeling that there is a lot of need, of artist to actually speak up about environmental issues and I think Summer is the best person to tell you about how calamity looks like because he has experienced it.

Sanan: Oh yeah he was in Himachal...

Samar: It wasn't easy for us because you see everything happening around the trees, roads, shops all falling down. It was very scary for us. I couldn't sleep at night. We were stuck at this hotel and couldn't leave and every night the land was shaking. It was scary but we made it somehow.

Sanam- and none of us was able to get in touch with him.

As you guys are siblings and whole as a band do you come down to conflicts often?

Sanam: Arguments I would say rather discussions. Initially we would start as an argument, but it is very natural because there is no conflict there is no scope of improvement either because we are always challenging each other towards becoming better versions of ourselves so I think it's a consent battle.

Keshav: The amount of time we spend with each other like over the last 15 years we tend to understand each other even though we are in a situation where we might have a better idea the way we put it across is much more mature now that we understand each other better.

Interviewed By Kiran Holkar