Badshah unplugged

Manpriya Singh 

From those who find his lyrics meaningless to those who find his songs infectious— Rapper Badshah is no stranger to fans and critics alike. Love them or hate them but many a wedding dance floors swear by what he has to say. Lyrics that don’t make much sense but nevertheless connect and get the feet tapping. From Punjabi to Haryanvi he has rapped it all, but what he hasn’t perhaps dabbled with is production, which he is all set to with a 10 episode musical web series Lockdown for ZEE5. “I think not many people know that I have produced a Punjabi film before, Ardaas. It did extremely well. I have always wanted to venture into production, not full time but as a vertical option.” He adds, “This show was the perfect platform, with mainstream people and digital stars  and it’s for a creative cause.” 

It’s a cool show! 

Expected to go on floors by the end of the month, the series will have a musician from Bollywood pitted against a Youtuber. “The contrast was huge but the outcome was beautiful. Every episode will have two artistes, one a mainstream success and the other a digital sensation and they have to within 24 hours make, produce a song and make videos. All within a time frame. That’s why it is called Lockdown.” While he has been paired with Jonita, other mainstream artistes include Raftaar, Kailash Kher, Hardy Sandhu. “I wouldn’t say it’s a big show but it’s a cool show.” 

Let’s not talk about my journey!  

Not that he doesn’t want to, it’s just that it’s a long long story. Understandable because he has come a long way! “My journey is a long story. It’s a dukh bhari kahani,” he laughs. But on a serious note, “It’s not been easy.  I have no musical background, nobody from the industry. So it was very difficult to open doors initially. It’s been almost 10 years of struggle. So it’s an altogether different chapter in my life and for another day.” 

Bollywood as he knows it

It’s an industry that has clearly accepted him. But ask him about close friends and he says, “Friends you make in school only. After that it is only colleagues and acquaintances. But yes Bollywood has been kind and I have friendly relations with a lot of people.” 

Punjabi films? 

They say, one must never say never. Well, accordingly he is not saying no to acting offers. “Even though I have been saying no for a while now,” he laughs. “But the offers keep getting lucrative by the day. You never know.” 

My kind of music 

The nation has heard and danced to his kind of music. The one he produces and dishes out to the audience. We wonder if that is the kind of music he likes to unwind with at the end of the day? “I listen to all sorts of good music. I listen to qawwali, a ghazal, old Punjabi songs, new Punjabi songs, old Bollywood songs, new Bollywood songs.” Perhaps, there is no genre that does not find a mention. 

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