After touching down in Mumbai on Wednesday night, Hollywood actor Elijah Wood met with the press for a little while on Thursday evening before heading off for his gig at the club Trilogy. While Wood is known for his role in films like The Lord of the Rings, he is here in India in his avatar as a DJ, and apart from Mumbai, will also perform in Delhi and Hyderabad along with his collaborator Zach Cowie. Wood and Cowie deejay under the moniker Wooden Wisdom.
One of the first questions that Elijah was asked was naturally, why India? “Why India? Because I’ve always wanted to come here,” he replied. “There’s something very magical and exotic about it from afar. We’re here for a very limited time but I want to explore the county as much as I can. It’s my first time here.”
The actor/DJ seemed especially fascinated with the auto-rickshaws on the road, claiming that riding one was a major part of his agenda during his India visit. “(I want to explore) food, records and rickshaw rides,” Wood said. “I want to steal a rickshaw and go about town! Not ride one as a passenger.”
On the subject of rickshaws, it was reported that Elijah had already hitched a ride around town in one of these — a story that the actor laughed off as untrue. “Actually a lot of stuff has been fabricated about my trip here!” he said, laughing. “I never said that I’ll collaborate with Bollywood musicians. My knowledge of Bollywood is very limited. Also, I never sat in a rickshaw. We got here just last night! I do want to try it and take it home with me,” he added.
While collaborating with Bollywood composers is not on the anvil for now, Wood and Cowie had selected some Bollywood tunes to incorporate into their set here (in Hyderabad, they reportedly intend to mix some Telugu chartbusters). While we were told that I Am A Disco Dancer and Bappi Lahiri’s other tunes are a favourite of the duo, Wood himself refused to divulge the B’wood songs that would make it to his Trilogy set. “Our music tries to revive the essence of the ’70s and ’80s. Indian music is complicated. There are so many instruments and tunes. But we have incorporated a Bollywood essence,” was all Wood shared.
As for a question about how Wooden Wisdom would describe their music, Elijah said, “Well we don’t make music — we play music inspired from our travels. We picked up a whole lot of records from Turkey. Our music has influences from Poland, New York of course, Africa and now, India.”
