All of us who grew up in the 90s, feel nostalgic hearing about Euphoria! 25 years! What’s the feeling like?
25 years of Euphoria is being celebrated in such a way – if it’s not a milestone then what is it. An artist who is not endorsed or backed by Bollywood, any label or film producer has survived for 25 years. That itself is the greatest compliment anyone can get and that’s the kind of success I would wish for everyone. Not being in films or not being signed by labels could have been a drawback for us and it’s also affected our following in a lot of ways. If you’re not that hyped, you are not that heard of, but Euphoria never stopped playing or creating music. We are the only independent artists that have 8 full length albums or forty music videos. But that’s like parallel universe. The only blessing is that the person who has followed Euphoria once, have followed us for 25 years. This legacy has been passed on from someone to the next generation because when we do live shows, we have 16-17 year old kids singing ‘Maeri’.Having said that, I’m glad that we were not in news always.
Joh bahot zyada surkhiyon mein rehta hai woh bahot jaldi gayab bhi ho jaata hai
(A person who is always in news, also fades out soon). So, I’m going to thank the people of this country and the media. The media never let us down, even though, we were not ‘paid for’ artists. But 90s was the time you got heard or supported for merit. Right now, you have to be propped up. That’s why we have lasted for 25 years because we were propped up with emotions, not with money.
But why would you say that you weren’t backed by Bollywood or labels? Why could you never fit in?
Music is about independence, he or she has to express himself the way you want to. Without any chains, or bounds. I didn’t want to be a sellout. The music we’ve done, may not be the best music ever in the country or the best songs, but that is what I wanted to express creatively. I’m a middle class boy and I wanted to have that middle class thought in all the middle class people. Because this country, the burden of this country is actually being managed by middle class people. The very rich, they don’t care. The very poor also don’t care. Euphoria was always a middle class band. The middle class people understand that our struggle and our words, our emotions are part of their journey too. Which is why they stay with us. That is the happiest thing in my life that whatever songs we’ve made are a part of people’s life and that’s because those stories were not ‘made up’. It wasn’t like an item song which was made-up. We just made what our heart said, we never thought about the kind of money it will make. In these times, if we had written ‘Maeri’, nobody would have heard it. Because we would need massive promotions for it. There’s one artist who told me I have money but I can use only 1 percent of that money to make the song, the rest will be used for promotions.
Euphoria is still playing live and has huge number of fans coming to watch still, that must be reassuring?
You have to be relevant according to the times but the connectivity of music, emotions is the same. The demography has changed. People are still endorsing and listening to good music, if that wasn’t the case, why would we still be playing or Lucky Ali still be playing. But for me, I need to make at least one person proud, which is my mother. I told my mother that I’m leaving the medical field for music, I promise you that I’ll always make you proud. My life is dedicated to creativity. You’ll never see me at parties. You’ll never see me on the red carpet. You’ll never see me doing it. Because all that is a waste of time. Honestly. I mean, it keeps you in the news. Your picture gets everywhere but that’s not my aim. My greed is that I should do good work, whether 5 people appreciate it or 500.
People still remember you in ‘Filhaal’ and loved you in the movie. Why didn’t we see you acting more after that?
Because Bollywood was not my scene. It’s complicated because Bollywood was not for me. Imagine if it’s complicated in the music field, how would movies be.
Tumhein apna ek group banaake rakhna padega. Logon ko khush rakhna hai
, you have to entertain people, keep them happy. I’m not saying that people who are doing it are wrong. I mean, one of the best PR person in the country is my school mate, Shah Rukh Khan. Nobody is like him when it comes to maintaining public relations. It’s not easy that you keep so busy, if you can take care of your public relations and promotions. I’ve been able to do it at a very low level and for me it is literally just about maintaining personal relations, not public. When I entered Bollywood, I realised, I won’t be able to do it. Hence, I really admire people who can do it.
It does come naturally to Shah Rukh Khan, doesn’t it? Has he changed as a person from the school boy he was to now when he’s a superstar?
He’s done it so well. In his late 50s, Shah Rukh had such huge hits. I admire him but at the same time I admire Sunny Deol more. He’s never been a PR person or he’s never been a hyped guy. Having said that, SRK couldn’t have done it if he was not actually good at what he does. There’s no change in Shah Rukh. He would have done well in any other profession because he’s a very intelligent man. He was great at maintaining public relations even in school. We are all really proud of him. I actually joke that I was his first playback singer. We did a play called ‘The Whiz’ and we were both doing different roles, but whenever his part would come, I had to sing for him from the wings. He had it in him, but I knew
mujhse nahi hone wala tha
. The problem is also that…
Go on…
The problem with me was also that, once you become a doctor, you realise that the only truth of life is actually death, which is a very realistic side also. Basically, showbiz is all about dreams and I realised,
main dream wala banda nahi hoon yaar
. I write songs, I express songs and that’s what I love. I also never looked at Bollywood in a big way because I could have never given up on my band. I can’t do it. It’s my family. With Euphoria, I could be myself, I didn’t have to change who I am. A lot of people in the industry cannot do live because it’s so contrived and it’s so produced. Whatever we did in the studio, we could do much better on stage.
It reminds me of Ayushmann Khurrana, who once told me, he would always want to continue his band ‘Ayushmann Bhava’ despite the movies because that keeps him going…
He is amazing! He took part in something called ‘Popstars’ where I was the judge. So, he remains a very good friend of mine since then. Ayushmann has always stayed close to me, he’s travelled with Euphoria. He actually wanted to be a musician. But see, destiny. But that is a very happy part that he has not given up on that side of his life. Even his younger brother Aparshakti was like that. They kept the dream alive.
In that case, well, you have been an inspiration to many and kids who grew up in the 90s, look up to you, or think you’re a legend! What’s your dream at this point?
Legends don’t get work. My dream is to create an independent music industry in this country. I hope I can realise it someday. Because in this country there is no music industry. We have a film industry of which music is a part. If I can create something, if I am a part of it and I can do it, then I will say that my job is done. Because that is going to help the future generations of musicians. Yeah. Which is very difficult right now. The number of people you see independent are much less compared to the ones who are slaves to the system. The system is go to Bollywood, go to the label, give all your money. A few labels are trying to break that also. You know something? Our country, whether it is film or any other entertainment business so-called industries, they are still not organised. There is no minimum wage. Maybe the technicians have started doing something. But actors have no minimum wage. Musicians don’t have contracts. They have to do whatever is being decided, they don’t have any rights. In the film industry, one song is sung by 15 people and then the producer will choose who he wants to sing. Nobody gets paid –
aur un 15 mein Arijit bhi hai, Jubin bhi hai. Aisa nahi hona chahiye. Yeh yahin hota hai,
it never happens to anyone else in the world. You know, actors are choosing who will sing their song. Earlier, singers were chosen based on how their voice will suit an actor, but now that’s not the criteria.
But do you think things are changing now with the OTT coming in and social media flourishing?
You know, India is the only country where
actors ke liye gana koi aur gaa raha hai, stunts koi aur kar raha hai
. If an actor is doing a singing role, he’s chosen because he can sing. But nobody knows how to sing. All these things need to change.
Kids today are very intelligent. The metro cities or people from the youth are not going to the theatres. Most of them, watch it on OTT. All this is making me sound anti-Bollywood, but I’m not. I’m against the way things are being handled here. Why can’t it be organised? Some people are very organised, but that needs to be more. In music, it’s easier to control your career, in acting it’s not. You need 150 people to put you on-screen.
Main toh salaam karta hoon Shah Rukh ko, ke uss bande ne kaise kiya yeh sab
! It’s not that Gen Z does not have brains, they also have brains, but because such mediocre stuff is coming out in India, they’re all turning westwards. Why do you think things changed post Covid? Because people saw so much other content on OTT that they realised
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All said and done, Palash Sen is still remembered since 25 years despite the era of remixes!
We have announced Euphoria at 25 – with Book My Show and TribeVibe. We are doing ten cities across India. That is going to be an inspiring thing for everyone that here was the man who did everything against the tide and despite opposition, I could last for 25 years. The last generation for merit and credit was the 90s! Post that, everything has changed. I’m never going to blame any artist because he’s been told what to do. Let’s find out who’s telling him (Laughs). Suddenly ek hi cheez sun rahe ho baar baar and you get used to it. Eventually, that’s what sells.