“I was born in Chandigarh, just like everyone in Bollywood wants to be,” says Siddharth Sood, a Punjabi who grew up in Delhi, studied in Pune and found his identity as a wedding rapper in Mumbai.
In 1996, when Eminem released his first album, Siddharth was attempting to impress two girls at the same time. His efforts usually involved cranking up Eminem on his car stereo, and rapping along. The only problem was, he didn’t know the words and usually just made them up. When he realised that one of the girls was duly impressed with this, he kept at it, making up words and rapping about things around him.
Years later, he realised he was doing what is called freestyle rap and took to the stage. During a show in Mumbai, he was spotted by a wedding planner who asked him if he would perform at weddings. His response at that time was, “If you pay me, I’ll sing in your bathroom.”
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For his first gig, he had to take a bus from Pune to Mumbai to perform at the wedding. For the second, a private taxi arrived to drive him all the way. It was a non-AC taxi, but he says he was still suitably impressed. Soon, he upgraded to air-conditioned taxis and things just kept getting better from there. “When you perform for rich people, you get free flights, free food and free alcohol,” he says happily.
In 2009, he gave up doing pub gigs and took up wedding rapping full time. He has performed at several private parties, anniversary celebrations, kitty parties and even a baby shower. “I don’t know why they wanted a rapper at a baby shower, but they did,” he says, a little amused, a little bemused. He has also performed at destination weddings and pool parties in places all over the world, including Madrid, Bangkok, Colombo and Hong Kong. “There’s little you can do at pool parties,” he says, “So they call me to make fun of people.”
His act usually involves instantaneously coming up with lyrics about the bridal party. He understands meter and rhythm, and comes up with rhyming lyrics to poke fun at the men. He doesn’t do the same with the women and instead, calls the bride’s friend Madhuri Dixit and her aunt, Angelina Jolie.
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He loves what he does and says that he feels rather jealous of himself when he looks at his Facebook page. Reality, however, involves dragging his luggage across airports and worrying about getting his suits dry-cleaned on time. During the wedding season, his life gets very hectic and he practically lives on the road, travelling from one wedding in Goa to another in Bali. But he does what he does because he loves weddings and “that’s where all the dal makhni is”.