Dubai band DHRUV make Bollywood songs rock

Whether you work full time in an office or freelance for a living, finding time to juggle careers can be a tough act in today's work scenario, especially if you happen to be a musician. Making time for rehearsals, working on new songs, composing, song-writing, performing on stage and touring can be daunting and it requires hours of dedicated daily practice - individually and with a band. But this has not deterred members of Dubai-based band DHRUV - Jonathan, Jack, Nithin, Srinath, Abhijeet and Fredy - some of whom hold full-time jobs and also make time to indulge in music, that too on a professional level.
It's their passion for music that drives them, said bass guitarist Jack. "Most of us have day jobs, except Nithin and Jonathan. But no matter how busy we are at our jobs and other commitments, we ensure that we make time to jam regularly. We never take long breaks, irrespective of whether we're gigging or not. Even during slack periods we work, on new material. We never get bored of music," he explained.
The Bollywood rock outfit, as they like their style to be classified as, was formed after a meeting between guitarist Fredy and the band's frontman Srinath (Sri). The guitarist, who landed in Abu Dhabi in 2010, had put up a post on FB seeking opportunities to jam with like-minded musicians. "I was looking for people around me who'd be up for a jam. And it was about three years later that I got a call from Sri asking me if I would be interested in playing guitar for a band. We met up in Dubai with three other members, things clicked between us and we decided to form the band. Sree also explained the concept and how we would be reworking Bollywood music with a rock feel, and compose originals too. That's how DHRUV took off," recalled Fredy.
But the trajectory was slightly different for lead vocalist Sri. DHRUV had been a concept for him since his college days but it only came to fruition after he met Fredy in the UAE and decided to take the idea forward.  
"I was born and brought up in Hyderabad, but I moved to Kerala later where I completed my education. I used to perform on stage during my college days and always had a dream to form a band that would be different. I wanted to create music that would blend Bollywood and rock music successfully.
"In 2008, I moved to Dubai, and I had an undying wish to form a Bollywood rock band here. So, in 2013, Fredy and me got together and founded DHRUV," said Sri.
Tunes with a twist
The band has six members; besides Sri, Jack and Fredy, there's Nithin on guitar, Abhijeet on drums and Jonathan on keyboards. DHRUV strongly believe in live performances and add their personal touch to the compositions that make their act more engaging. "We aim to attract people who essentially want to listen to Bollywood songs, but also like rock music. So, blending both styles successfully, I guess, is our USP, besides we also have our original songs that people like," said Sri.
It's not easy to sell original music to Bollywood-crazed fans who swear by the likes of popular artistes such as Arijit Singh, AR Rahman or Shreya Ghoshal, but DHRUV seem to found a way around that and know how to push their music. "We formed DHRUV to play original material, but having said that, I have to say it's not an easy job, the desi audience is not so forgiving. So, we had to work very hard to get to a level where people started accepting us, and our music style," he added.
When asked how they win the confidence of the audience at live performances Sri said, "We usually start our sets with cover tunes and then move on to deliver some of our original tracks. In this way, the crowd becomes more accepting of us and accepts our original music," he added. "We've always been of the opinion that we will play you something that you like, but you should also like something that we like, something we've created," butted in Jonathan, as he explained the reasoning behind their live sets.

Track record
The band, who have signed on to Hungama Digital Media Entertainment to produce music, has won quite a few accolades since their inception, including an MTV honour and the Zee Middle East's award for original compositions. They recently composed a tribute song to Indian cricket titled INDIA. Moreover, they have performed for Academy Award-winning Indian composer AR Rahman and cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar. When asked how it was performing in front of the maestro, Sri said, "We didn't have a one-on-one interaction with Rahman, although the maestro did give us a standing ovation after we finished. That was a big deal for us."
While listening to and playing rock music is common among budding musicians in India, performing Bollywood tunes can be quite a task, the styles are in contrast with Western music, and even though modern Bollywood music is largely influenced by Western pop these days, the core is essentially Indian.
Musical influences
So how much does one's musical influence come into play when performing Bollywood music?   
"All of us have different influences and tastes in music. When we're not performing, we usually listen to rock, even thrash metal," explained keyboard player Jonathan. "In my case, I grew up listening to and playing gospel music in church. I was greatly influenced by it. However, no matter whatever influences we've had, as a band, it's a collective effort. We keep our personal tastes aside and focus on what will suit the band's music. For instance, if we take a mainstream Bollywood song, like let's say an Arijit Singh hit, we turn the track on its head to give it different sound, our own rock-infused flavour. Now I know that's a tall claim many bands make, but in our case, we've proved it. For instance, we took the AR Rahman hit Nadaan Parindey Ghar Aaja from the movie Rockstar, turned the composition around and played it in our own style in front of the maestro. He liked it and complimented us by saying 'Good stuff'," he added.
Talking about how they choose their music Jonathan said: "Sri is usually the one to select the songs, because at the end of the day, he's the one who will sing it. What we do is change the mix of the song to give it a different sound. We give it a heavier, rock sound because we have the luxury of two guitarists. And Sri is very comfortable with that idiom, the harmonies and the odd time signatures which is a common thing in Indian music. Sri usually chooses songs that suit his husky voice, he has an amazing vocal range. He has a solid tenor voice and can pitch really high."

Adapting to Indian rhythms  
Bollywood is known to use intricate rhythms and complex time signatures, so how does DHRUV deal with that? "Agreed, Bollywood music is complicated, but we listen to a lot of progressive music which has similar rhythmic elements. So that makes it easier for us to adapt to Hindi compositions," explained drummer Abhijeet who has the major task of transcribing and blending complex Indian rhythm structures into the band's compositions.
When asked how they would describe their music to someone who has never heard DHRUV, Sri said: "We have branded our music Bollywood rock, but having said that, our music caters to a wide segment of the audience. We usually start our performance with some mellow and soft tracks, gradually progressing to heavier music, that way we are reaching out to all types of music lovers. I think we can be described as a rock band that covers Bollywood. I guess that's a good way of putting it." When asked how much they would be willing to change their music if they are asked to do so by recording companies to make their music commercially more viable, Sri said. "If you ask us to change our genre we might not do that, it takes away the soul of our music. However, we are open to alterations as long as it conforms to the genre. We want to stay true to our music."
If given a chance, who would DHRUV like to share the stage with? "It would be a dream come true to perform on stage alongside Dream Theater, AR Rahman and Shankar, Eshaan, Loy," said Sri.
No gimmicks in DHRUV's music!
DHRUV do not believe in cloning songs to make them sound like note-to-note versions of cover tunes. "What we do is maintain the essence of the original song. We usually retain the hook, because if you take that away, the audience will not connect to the song. Musically, we keep the song fresh by adding our touch so that we can enjoy playing it while the audience too groove to it. In this way, there's a little bit in the song for them and something for us music-wise," said keyboardist Jonathan. Bollywood tunes today often use loops to attain the desired effect, but DHRUV claim to take immense pride in their music and keep away from any gimmicks. "We can proudly say that all our music is handmade. There's nothing that's crafted in the studio that we use in our performances, we don't speed up tracks - no gimmicks for us. So whatever you hear in our recordings is what you will hear live and that's something we all take immense pride in," he added.
michael@khaleejtimes.com