He says, music is his religion, his sadhna (devotion), his passion and his life. For Salim Merchant, the younger one from the Salim-Sulaiman composer duo, music is what wakes him up and puts him to sleep every day, "I am humming a tune even as I retire for the day," he says. The 43-year-old musician and music director who is known, along with his elder brother Sulaiman, for melodies such as Shukaran Allah (Kurbaan), Tujh Mein Rab Dikta Hai (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), and the decade-old inspiring tune Chak De (Chak De India), is donning a new role. Salim turns RJ with his show #Salim on 92.7 Big FM.
Salim picks the most popular songs from Hindi cinema's bygone era and shares the story behind the making of the song and trivia that cannot be found on the internet. "It is the first time I am hosting a radio show," enthuses Salim. "I have always been fascinated with RJs, these are the people who play music and bring so much joy to listeners.So I was really excited to host this show. On #Salim I talk about trend-setting songs. While most shows predominantly talk about actors and music directors, I will be focusing on the lyricists and musicians as well," says Salim.
On air during weekdays at tea-time, between 5pm and 7pm, Salim is heard narrating fascinating stories behind memorable hits. One such story was about the popular song Allah ke Banday. "Not many people know that Allah Ke Banday was composed by Vishal-Shekhar and not by Kailash Kher. Vishal and Shekhar both are friends, so I just picked up the phone and called Vishal while I was recording the show. I put his call on speaker and told him I want my listeners to know the story behind Allah ke Banday and he told us what really happened," he says. Though he has been a popular face on television as a judge on shows such as Indian Idol and Voice of India, Salim agrees radio has its set of challenges because he has to entirely depend on his voice. But that doesn't mean, the composer has to rehearse for recordings, he defiantly says, "Nahin, nahin (laughs) by the grace of God I have the ability to communicate with my fans, so I am very comfortable on air. But yes, it is challenging because your thoughts, views, feelings and emotions, everything has to be expressed without any visual aid." Whether on the small screen or radio, the composer innovates to get better every day be it his voice or music. It's also happened many times, that the unplugged version of some of his songs sounded so much better that he wanted to record these all over again. "Ali Maula from Kurbaan was one such song. The version on MTV Unplugged was so much better that I seriously wanted to recreate it," he says.
Talking about how the music industry is changing, the composer shares why he loathes the revival of old tunes as remixed versions. "In India if something works, people follow the trend blindly. It's really sad. I think Karan Johar started with Disco Deewane (from Student of the Year), since then everyone is copying that trend. I don't know what's going on but I think it's a safe route taken by producers and record labels. It's the idea of these people who control the music industry, composers give in to it because they want to go ahead in their career," says Salim.
Apart from the radio show Salim has been busy with a new music collaboration project sponsored by a well-known brand. He is teaming up with the likes of Manganiyar singer Mame Khan and the music band Swarathma. He is also prepping up for live shows in Abu Dhabi and the USA. Between all of this, Salim takes out time to reply to his fans on Twitter. "We are who we are because of our fans. People have given us so much love and we truly cannot thank them enough. The only thing we can do is acknowledge them on social media by responding to them," signs off the composer.
ayeshatabassum@newindianexpress.com
@aishatax