Song for champions

As the Indian Olympic contingent is fighting to win glory for the country in Rio, rapper Fakira (Ahran Chaudhary) who is the brain behind the official theme song for India for the Rio Olympics Born a Champion talks about his song, why our athletes are unable to achieve high rankings on such prestigious platforms, his relationship with Bollywood megastar Akshay Kumar and more.   

The model-turned-actor wrote this track a few years ago when he was in the Himalayas healing from an injury. He says, “I have always been an athlete, I used to participate in various sporting activities during my school days. I also took training as a ring fighter but due to an injury I could not pursue it. I wrote this song while recovering from that injury.”

According to him, the track narrates the story of every athlete, his/her struggle and their quest to succeed. “The track captures the undying spirit of sportsmanship, the essence of the fight an athlete goes through in his life to prove his talent to others, but more importantly with himself. Every time, he/she is playing a game, he/she is not just fighting with the opponent with an aim to win but also with the numerous others (like neighbours, relatives, systems, etc) who believed that he/she will never win or make the country proud.”

The Indian contingent is yet to open their medal account at the ongoing Rio Olympics, indicating the failure of our system and not the athletes, points out Ahran. “When a sportsman loses his battle on such a big platform, it is not his failure. It is because of the system. Imagine, a country with a population like ours has been unable to get a single medal till now. It is due to the lack of international level training for our athletes. We have read numerous stories of their struggles and sacrifices for their dream to make our country proud but lack of infrastructure and funds are the true reason behind our failure.”

Ahran teamed up with two friends — composer Aditya Dev of Bajirao Mastani fame and cinematographer Vishal Seth — to create the music video. The video was officially launched by the sports minister of India, Vijay Goel on August 5. “Coming from an athletic background, I understand the pressure the Indian contingent would be under to prove themselves in Rio. I wanted to encourage and motivate them. We never thought that our music will become the theme song for India,” shares Ahran, who chose Fakira as a pseudonym to pay tribute to his great grandfather. He says, “It’s a great honour to get the opportunity to voice my thoughts and sentiments through this song for the heroes of our country. Our sportsmen have made us proud on many occasions and we want to tell them that we are standing in support with all our wishes for their success.”

A big fan of rappers like Eminem and Jay Z, Ahran who was featured in the popular Indian song Jaguar by Bohemia says, “I like rapping as a medium of music because it gives an opportunity to express your true feelings. I have been penning my thoughts for sometime and I am planning to come out with more singles in the future. But all of them will be rap music only, as I personally don’t feel connected with the typical Bollywood love songs.”

Ahran, who started his Bollywood career opposite Akshay Kumar in a negative role in the movie Singh is Bling, gives the credit for his success to the Khiladi. “I first met Akshay Kumar on the sets of Khatron Ke Khiladi season 4 and since then he has been a strong support in my life. He was also the driving force behind the making of the video. Whatever I am in Bollywood today is because of him. He is a true mentor and has motivated me at every step.”