Success has its share of Alzheimer’s: Raftaar

“I was born in Kerala but grew up in a hostel in Haryana. That’s why I am good at Punjabi, Haryanvi and Hindi and enjoy rapping in these languages. I am my own parent when it comes to rapping and do impromptu stuff. Being a rapper, you have to be good at improvising, like you give me a word and I have to rhyme it quickly and then make sense out of the rhyme.

That is why I changed my name to Raftaar. Because of all this, people don’t realise I'm a Malayali. After Malaika Arora Khan revealed that I am a Malayali on India’s Got Talent, my Facebook and Twitter pages were filled with queries. In fact, some even thought I have signed on some Malayalam movie and was promoting it!” says Raftaar.

Raftaar was a dance choreographer who rose to fame through Dance India Dance before joining Mafia Mundeer, then RDB and now Manj Musik. Yet, when he received a text to join Jhalak Dikhla Jaa Reloaded, he thought it was a prank. “Later, my manager informed me that it was a genuine offer, and here I am! It has been a fantastic ride. Jhalak is not a show where people come in just to compete. It’s for people who have already made it big and want to polish their dancing skills. I’ve made some amazing friends and learned so many new moves,” he explains.

However, Raftaar says his journey in the music industry wasn’t all roses and doesn’t mince his words when talking about his fallout with Yo Yo Honey Singh. “Mafia Mundeer was a family started by all of us, but, like the classic group fallout story, we all had our differences. Badshah, J-Star and I are still tight. Honey, however, has forgotten his roots and often forgets to give credit to people who have actually done the work. I worked with him for two years on many projects and he gave a statement to a newspaper saying he only met me once. Hello bhaijaan, you have said my name from your mouth in many songs, plus we are in two music videos together! I think success has its share of Alzheimer’s! No, I don’t have any personal grudges against him. But, he is not the true hip-hop artist that he claims to be and that’s why I challenge him.”

He adds, “Mine is a rags to riches story or as I term it, ‘zero to infinity’. I worked hard and still didn’t get the credit, so I started back from scratch. Nindy Kaur and Manjeet Ral have anchored and supported me like family and I will always be indebted to them. I became stronger as my brother base grew (I don’t call anyone my fan) and developed the ‘Can’t stop. Won’t stop’ attitude. I had to fight to save hip hop culture in the desi music industry. I hate it when people in India throw in an American or English accent while rapping without even a passport in possession. They are trying too hard to be an angrej. I rap about being proud to be a desi. Our rap culture needs to expand. It needs to be about conveying a message as well and not just roaming around with girls in fancy cars and having alcohol in lounges. While writing a normal song, we just pen four lines and then we have a chorus and some lines again. But rap is about storytelling and requires extra effort to write.”

Referring to his upcoming works he says, “I have lots of new singles coming out. I have a project with Manj Musik and Nindy Kaur for Akshay Kumar’s Bling Bling Mr. Singh. I want to be like Chris Brown meets Jay Z. Chris is a singer, a dancer, a complete powerhouse on stage and Jay Z is not just a popular musician, but also a lyrical genius, a business mogul, who knows how to be classy. India is still not open to the idea of a rapper or singer who can also dance. My act will broaden the spectrum and hopefully pave the way for similar artistes.”