He’s crooned and enthralled music lovers with his mesmerising voice, as part of his band Lagori. After having lent vocals to countless tunes on stage for eight years, this songster has now made his Bollywood debut by rendering a duet with popular singer Vasundhara Das. Meet Lagori’s whacky and talented vocalist Tejas Shankar, who’s the voice behind the track Dil Yeh Dhun Gaa Raha Hain from the recently released Hindi film Paranthe Wali Gali.
Ask him about his tryst with the B-town project and he says, “My band’s bassist Shalini Mohan plays for Vasundhara’s projects. So when Vasundhara was on the lookout for a male singer for her upcoming movie project as a music director, Shalini mentioned my name to her. That’s how the song happened. Parathas were cooked and galis discovered.”
The song, composed by Vasundhara is a love ballad. When Tejas was recording the song, he admits that he didn’t feel like he was singing for a Bollywood flick. But when he told a couple of friends about it, the B-town excitement kicked in. “When they found out that I was recording a song with Vasundhara, they flipped because she is a celebrity in her own right! She is a really understanding musician and a sweet person. When the movie promos came out and when it released in theatres, I felt really good that I’d sung for a Hindi film. Being more of a performing artiste, who spends most of his time on stage, this experience was a different, yet a lovely one,” he adds.
From being the first band to perform on Brigade Road to being featured on one of the country’s best music shows, The Dewarists, his band has come a long way. “Right now, Lagori is musically the most important thing in my life. To be able to make music and hit the stage with four other amazing people is all I could’ve have asked for. We all love each other and that is precisely why, in such a short time, we have managed to involve a good amount of people in the musical game of Lagori,” he says.
A true-blue Jayanagar huduga, Tejas is someone who lives and breathes music. His musical inspirations range from Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pink Floyd and The Doors to Ustad Rashid Khan, Radiohead and Eddie Vedder. “I plan to start work on a solo project that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. This summer, I’ll be busy composing and making new music,” he says on a tuneful note.
