Words come easy

Mona

An evolving actor, composer, entrepreneur, singer –he is all of these, who is making his presence felt in the music world. The sensation Baaki baatein peene baad that he debuted with has struck a chord with the audience. His second single Fursat too is doing well and it’s just the beginning for him.

Life, non-stop

A workaholic, it was only last week that Arjun Kanungo took a break for four days after working constantly for two years. “My work is my passion,” opens up this tall, handsome artiste who has duly learnt classical and western music, is a trained method actor, plays the piano and guitar, holds a degree in media studies and diploma in sound engineering. So, how does he juggle it all? “Oh, I am very single minded,” he shares. He wanted to write his own songs. In fact, Sony Music sent him to Sweden with noted writer Mayur Puri to bring back something different. And, Baaki baatein peene baad, the first of the five numbers that they wrote successfully fought with Bollywood tracks to remain in top 5 for a long time. The track won him an award for the Best Music Debut Non-Film Music. “My friends tease me with ‘award winning artiste tag’, the feeling is yet to sink in,” he admits.

Looking ahead

Three of his singles with Sony are yet to come. He is already working on a web series that traces the journey of a music producer. Why web series and not a telly show or a film? “I want to be in control of whatever I do. Collaboration is good but I don’t want my projects to be guided by solely commercial motives,” says Arjun, who is also a writer for this series which will be out this August.

Charity show

And, that’s not all. With two recording studios in Mumbai, Arjun is also working on a site twofings.com that would have people share two things they care about. And, there is a charity project Donate a Flight. “Artistes travel frequently and organisers provide business class tickets. “If a frequent traveller just changes his class from business to economy, there is substantial amount of money one can save. On a short flight, frequent travellers can do that and the money saved could be used for something like supporting a musician for a year,” shares Arjun, who is working on its logistics as well.

Travelling light

His non- music passions include travelling. Travelling modest, getting to know the country and its people is what he likes. A passion fuelled after he recently enjoyed a chat with a heavily tattooed gangster at a Ramen bar in Bangtok chit chatting about Thailand’s military coup and its conservative society. There sure is more to come, stay tuned...