Same old party song... stupid party song... clichéd party song... begins the catchy and hilarious spoof song, Every Bollywood Party Song by AIB, starring the ever intense Irrfan Khan in a new avatar with flashy clothes and a swag!
Aparody of Rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh’s Party All Night, the voice behind the online sensation, takes a jibe at the Bollywood party song formula — an auto tune melody, endlessly repeated lyrics — comes from our very own Kerala.
When singer, lyricist, music producer and composer Arjun Nair was approached to render his voice for the song, he was more than happy to be a part of the project. “Tanmay and I have known each other for a while now as AIB and Voctronica, a band I’m part of, have collaborated before on a project — A Tribute to Indian Classic Ads. So Tanmay approached me saying that he wanted to make this spoof video that takes a stab at what Bollywood is portraying as a typical party song and he wanted me to be on board as someone who can be both the voice artist/ singer to recreate the feel of the original track. The whole song was completed in February, though it was released only recently. Since I have just recreated the mood of the original song, I would call it more of a voice artist performance than a singer performance, unlike other projects where you ‘sing’ sing. It was a lot of fun.”
“Personally, I too think that many of the Bollywood songs these days don’t see a variety of music being played out, and there isn’t much emphasis on the lyrics. It’s ironic that great lyrics have to sit into the Honey Singh template of a song for people to like it! When someone like Irrfan Khan is there in a video like this, it sends out a message to the audience that we can do better,” says Arjun, who is based out of Mumbai now.
Arjun is the founding partner and director for Aur Maango Productions, a founding member of the Hindie Band ‘Rang’ and a performer for Sony Music’s Live Act Voctronica (India’s First All-Vocal Orchestra). He has also composed for Anurag Basu’s short film along with working on several jingles, advertisements and scratches for brands.
“Before taking up music full time, I was product managing domain names for the Directi Group of Companies and I used to pursue music simultaneously. Quitting a well paying corporate job to follow an unconventional career was unusual for a Kerala boy. But it helps me sleep better at night!” he chips.
Referring to his Kerala lineage, he says, “I’m a pure Malayali. My father, Dr K.N. Ramesh Nair, is a Pulmonologist, who was with the Navy originally. For the past ten years, after taking his retirement, he has been running his private practice in Kochi. We are from Palakkad originally, but both my parents are settled in Kochi. I also did my schooling in Kochi. I work in Hindi, because it reaches out to a wider audience and I am comfortable working in the language. But people here always say that people from Kerala and Tamil Nadu know their music inside out. So we always keep in touch with the music at home.”
Being India’s only vocal bass player, Arjun was also featured with guitar maestro Rashid Ali recently. “I prefer to be known for my music production more than for my singing. It comes to me naturally, just like thinking is for other people. In this capacity, I have some projects coming up soon.”
“I have a single I have produced coming up with Pandit Niladiri Kumar and Rashid Ali this month. I have also written and composed a song for KK — Udne Chala He, which will be coming out this month at Kingfisher World Backstage. Rang’s first album is coming out in this quarter, which we have been working on for some time now. I also have some film projects coming up soon and they should be out next year,” he shares.
