When he was bunking

Manpriya Singh

Even those who harbour a clear and snobbish disdain for catchy and meaningless lyrics can’t help but give it to Badshah for a few things. Remember this artiste almost nicknamed all the disc jockeys of the nation to DJ Wale Babu. His songs connect and entertain and how—a fact corroborated by his presence in every alternate single hitting the chartbusters.

We expect a lot of word play coming from the rapper, but what we don’t expect is a lot of insight into the psychology of the young and a few bits about his personal life.

“I learnt a lot during college days at PEC. Those are the most memorable days of my life,” he settles down to take a volley of questions from all sections of the press a few hours before his performance at Elante Mall in the evening.

Speaking of PEC he has gone through his fair share of what every youngster in Chandigarh has, “Tasting paranthas in the wee hours at Sector 17 and Sector 11, food in the DAV College, girl’s hostel.”

And of all the things he misses about hostel life, food is the last thing. “I don’t miss the hostel food at all. In fact, I gave the hostel food a neat miss even while I was there.” Which he pretty much did to lectures as well, as he admits to being, “a no bencher, first or last whatever. As I’d always be outside the class.”

Wherein he probably learnt a lot more. “I learnt team spirit, made a lot of friends, learnt how to cheat. That was the phase where a lot of character building happened.” The songs, the lyrics, the word play, most of it come from his education, the fact that he reads. “I don’t read these days though, because there’s no time.”

Catch him at…

In Chandigarh as a part of the promotions for his Punjabi outing Do Dooni Punj as a producer, though he can’t talk about his future plans, he definitely drops in a few hints.

“You’ll soon see me acting in a lead role. It’s a Hindi film and is a comedy.” The rest, he is not allowed to share. As for production, what makes them know how to back a project is a complex process, but, “There are certain boxes that you tick off. There are some tactics, some concepts involved and then there’s a gut feeling. But there’s nothing you can say for sure, it’s gone to fetch the revenues back.”

At this point chips in Amrit Mann, “You learn a lot from a movie that hasn’t done well either.”

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…Because he is Badshah

• Ask him about his strong affinity for luxury brands, half a dozen of which he is sporting at any given public interaction and he quips, “It’s a mental disorder. Bahut kharaab aadat hai. But it’s okay that’s the only bad habit I have. A lot of people have a lot many worse addictions. Mine is still relatively harmless.”
• Be it love, life in general or luxury labels, there is a fair amount of reverse psychology at play and the one he understands completely. “Bahut saari cheezein toh maine ego main hi khareed li. For instance my Merc. I remember going for a test drive in a Swift when the sales person asked about what car I came in. Then suddenly he says that their car has gone for servicing.”