March 10th

Exclusive interview with Mohit Chauhan, lead singer of the group Silk Route and singer of top songs including Masakali from Delhi 6, Khoon Chala from Rang de Basanti, Tum Se Hi from Jab We Met, and many more!

Download the show mp3 from here: www.wmucradio.com

In 1997, Mohit Chauhan, the lead singer of the group Silk Route came together with two other very diverse musicians, and released the group’s debut album, Boondein. The single, Dooba Dooba was accompanied by a calculated experimental video of the trio performing the song underwater (literally) in a sinking Volkswagen and succeeded in bagging a host of awards including, ‘Best Debut’, ‘Best Music Video’ and significantly ‘Best Song’ in the increasingly popular, MTV style, Channel V awards.

Mohit Chauhan now performs as a solo artist after the band Silk Route was disbanded in 2007.

Singing in both Hindi, English and Pahari, Mohit has created his very own brand of ‘World music’ making him one of the most interesting and unique singers to emerge from India in the last 10 years with a huge following the world over.

In the last decade, Mohit has become a force to reckon with in the contemporary Indian music scene. His sheer talent and originality of compositions has provided him with huge commercial successes. The most recent came in the form of a composition by Oscar winner A R Rahman called Masakali from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi 6.

In 2008 alone, Mohit notched up many film hits like Kuch Khaas hai from Madhur Bhandarkar’s film Fashion, Ek Meetha sa Dard from Shyam Benegal’s film Welcome to Sajjanpur, Ankhon hi Aankhon mein from Sanjay Dutt starrer EMI and more. 2007 saw Mohit score a commercial winner in Tum Se Hi from the Bollywood blockbuster Jab We Met.

Mohit’s earlier hits ahve been Khoon Chala from Oscar winner A R Rehman’s Rang De Basanti, released in 2006. In 2005, Mohit’s compositions Guncha and Paintra from the offbeat film Main Meri Patni aur Woh brought him widespread accolades. The year before, in 2004, his rendition of Romi saheb in Main Madhuri Dixit Banana Chahti Hoon directed by Ram Gopal Verma and Zara Nazar utha ke from the film Let’s Enjoy … had the nation singing with him. Earlier, Mohit’s compositions in films like Urf Professor and Kalpana Lajmi’s Kyon had been received well.

2008 also marked the release of Mohit’s first solo album, Kala:m. Kala:m is an anthology of six poems penned byformer President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. The poems have been rendered and composed into songs by Mohit. The album was released under the music label Ninaad.

And all through this journey from solo songs to complete background scores and compositions for some of the more successful Hindi films, Mohit has kept his promise of brilliance. The days of throwing his voice to the gurgling sounds of river Beas in Himachal as a student, still find a place in his renditions. His timbered voice has the power to catch the cackling of the fire, the silent movement of the wind, the abandon of the river and even the soft notes of the morning rain. Perhaps, a result of the musical inheritance that Mohit got from his grandfather Rana Krishan Singh. As Mohit himself describes it, “The beauty and silence of the hills and sounds of the gurgling streams and the whistling winds left a deep impression on my mind during my formative years in Nahan, Kullu and Solan in Himachal. It is still finding expression in my compositions.’

Despite being part of the spreading contemporary music industry, Mohit has been quick to distance himself now as far as possible from the current glut. The visual and musical aesthetics of his songs have given him a distinct stature in the industry.

Apart from songs, Mohit has also been doing work for the advertising industry. Among his well known work in the recent past are jingles are Nescafe classic `Gorgeous Hamesha’ for Parachute and Alpenliebe.

Mohit is currently adding finsihing touches to his first solo album in Hindi. The album will be released worlwide in a month’s time.