When Euphoria burst into the Indipop scene in 1998 with “Dhoom”, it was the best place to be in at the right time. That was the era of musicians outside the Hindi film fraternity trying to make a mark, the decade of Alisha Chinoy, Sunita Rao, Baba Sehgal, Lucky Ali, Sonu Nigam, Daler Mehndi and the Colonial Cousins. Record companies were making money from supporting non-film artistes, and the latter found a ready platform.
Aided by a beautifully shot video — directed by Pradeep Sarkar and about a young woman finding love, life and colour in the streets of Banaras — ‘Dhoom pichuck’, the title track, went on to become one of the memorable ones among the hundreds that one saw. With a sound that fused elements of rock and Indian folk, the Euphoria sound came with a freshness that didn’t die out even several albums later. “Phir Dhoom” came in 2000 and brought with it ‘Maeri', while “Gully” (2003) included tracks like ‘Ab na jaa', ‘Raja rani' and ‘Aana tu meri gully'. With “Mehfuz”, which came out in 2006, their music underwent an audible shift, proving Euphoria could do mature and melancholy as well as peppy.
Five years down the line, Euphoria is now out with their new album, “Item”, released on Universal Music. Dr. Palash Sen, Euphoria's founding member and lead vocalist, admits it hasn't been easy bringing out a non-film music album in 2011. The video for the title track has had its premier on Yahoo! Movies and YouTube. There's an active Facebook following too. But television isn't pop music's medium anymore — leading music channels like MTV and 9XM have apparently refused to play a non-film music video. Sen calls it an assault of the “film mafia.”
Music, per se
When we meet him at his Greater Kailash – II residence in New Delhi, Sen explains, “The real problem is film music, because what's happened is that one day the film guys woke up and said, ‘Let's promote our film via music'. Earlier, if you remember, film trailers used to be action, emotion and dialogues. Now it's only music; they only come out with a music video. If you see, it's something they took from Indian pop only — bringing out a music video and putting it up. What happened is that record labels realised that if a producer was willing to put in that much money to promote his film via the music, there was no need for record companies to get in non-film music and spend their own money. Music is still there, but it's just a vehicle for a film. It's not being made for music per se.”
The fans, he says, have kept them going.
“If even in 2011 people know our songs it means the music is being followed, it's just that it's not getting the right backing. We can just hope that things will improve. It should improve for people like Lucky Ali, or Indian Ocean, or Rabbi Shergill. All these guys are non-film guys. Even the guys who're actually into films now, people like Mohit (Chauhan) or Neeraj (Shridhar) are non-film guys. If all of them get the support to take out their own albums, I'm sure they'd be much happier. I know it. Nobody wants to be a slave to someone else's whim and fancy,” says Sen.
He now wants to make a presentation before the Union Information & Broadcasting Ministry on this count. “We want to ask what an artiste who's not part of the film fraternity should do, if there's a guideline we could follow. For example, MTV has asked us to come and shoot MTV Unplugged. So, if we're good enough to be on their programme, why isn't our video good enough to be on their channel?”
Taking shape
It was while studying at University College of Medical Sciences in the Capital that Euphoria was formed, around a decade before “Dhoom” happened.
“It was a fun band,” Sen recalls. “There was no ambition as such. We used to rehearse on Sundays. Very early on in life I realised that the easiest way to impress the girls was to make a band, so we just formed the band. The problem was, the girls only got impressed when you're on stage, they don't get impressed when you get off the stage,” he smiles.
They would have been true blue head bangers, playing Rock and Heavy Metal, if timely pragmatism hadn't intervened. “We were a completely English Rock band. I understood one day that none of the Indian bands ever made a significant mark in India, even people like Parikrama or Indus Creed. They could never make that kind of an impact because they were singing in a language that was not the people's language. I understood it one day that we are doing an alien music form in an alien language. I realised it was not going to work,” says Palash.
This realisation dawned in 1994-95 and Euphoria's music changed track completely. “Having 15, 20 or 150 people listening to your music is not a following. A following is when at least half the country listens to you, knows what you are, who you are. What was really missing in the music was the roots. It was Rock but it had to be Indi Rock, and that's when we changed,” he recalls.
Not all were impressed. “We've faced slack all our lives — all the Rock bands feel we're sell-outs, the film industry says ‘What kind of music is this!'. It was a huge risk, but I like taking risks. We'll never regret that decision.”
Standouts
Ask him to jog his memory and pick out concerts that refuse to fade out, and Palash recalls Euphoria's first concert after “Dhoom” came out, in New Delhi's Lady Shri Ram College for Women, when a crowd of 5,000 started chanting “Dhoom pichuck dhoom” when the band was walking in. Then there was performing at the UN General Assembly in 2001. “That night changed my life because I realised what we've achieved — we were the first band to get into the United Nations General Assembly!”
Despite the euphoric journey, Sen refers to himself as “a doctor who sings.”
“I'm very clear about that. I don't have any illusions of grandeur about myself. I've been blessed with a talent but I'm a very average guy,” he says. Some things have changed though. “Earlier my patients used to come to show themselves to me, now they come to see me,” he smiles.
"iTEM" NUMBERS
"The Euphoria sound cannot be changed, because we've made it our own. It's our signature sound. But within that we're trying to make some changes, significant ones. When it comes to ‘Item' what's really different is the fact that we're talking about issues.
All the previous albums were about girls and love, this is about issues. It's the first time I'm writing about religion, corruption, the Prime Minister, terrorism… Nine issues that modern-day India faces. Navarasa, if you may call it that. As soon as you start writing about issues, the sound automatically changes; it cannot be balladish, it cannot be love. It has to be something a little more edgy," says Palash about how "Item" stands in relation to Euphoria's previous albums.
Songs on the album range from “Ram Ali”, based on religion and belief, to “Gumsum”, which they say was written for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to “Jeene Do”, about the common man's agony over terrorism, politics and death.
The title track is their spoof on Bollywood and its “item number” fixation.
