Bang on target

Jasmine Singh

If you try reaching out on Arjun Kanungo on his mobile phone from 8 am to 10 am, there is a 101 per cent chance that you wouldn’t be able to. This is the time that this tall and good looking singer and music producer gives himself up to the riyaaz. It is only after his vocal chords have been stretched, warmed up and kissed with fresh oxygen, does Arjun returns to buzz of daily schedules. Arjun is a face that you cannot miss on youtube (the dashing man behind the mike crooning away to glory), especially if you have seen and heard his take on Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk, the summer anthem of the year. Currently, his latest single under Sony Music Baaki Baatein Peene Baad featuring rap star Badshah has caught on like forest fire on the social networking sites, with celebrities from the music industry tweeting about it. Need we say, he has shot well!

Shot… the word hits bang on. “My mother Sheila Kanungo is a pistol-shooter Commonwealth games silver medalist 2002. I have always won awards till the national level for the same. But, I guess, my parents thought I wasn’t too good at firing shots! Jokes apart, my folks really encouraged and supported me in the music, the passion. The profession that I chose for myself,” his words gushing out with speed, a speed which has rhythm and sound to it. The conversation takes the obvious course of the success foray of Baaki Baatein Peene Baad. “I am finicky about perfection, everything should go as per the layout,” he says without making light of the statement. “In fact, even a day before the release of the track, I was doing all the last minute checks and re-checks. I wanted it to be perfect.”

And perfect it has turned out, which has already got Arjun working on his next track by the same music company Sony Music. “The track is called Fursat, it will be very much different from the first one,” adds Arjun the Khoon choos le (Bollywood film Go Goa Gone) singer who is thankful for Sony Music to have given him the opportunity. And, now its time to live up to the chance to the fullest without getting caught in the rut. “The best thing about music, which defines me and everyone one else who gets close to it, is that it is best enjoyed in its own rhythm. I make music on the grounds that I see it blooming,” adds the singer who will be coming up with one track every month and goes he is unabashedly critical about himself.

Does this sound like a lot of work in the kitty? He laughs, presumably the first time. “Indeed, I am busy literally like 24X7. Singing, making music, composing, live gigs, hitting the gym… glad my management team is doing a great job.” The singer shares his credit, as he shares with us another task that might find a suitable place in his repertoire - acting! The music producer gets a lot of comments on social networking sites for his good looks as well. We assume Arjun smiles for his voice gets playfully bouncy. “It might happen in the near future. As of now, its lot of music and music.” And while he does that, we wouldn’t try calling him between 8-10 am!