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Baba Sehgal comes back in a new avatar

A HOUSEHOLD NAME: Rap singer Baba Sehgal in New Delhi. — Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

After taking a break of four years, Baba Sehgal - who became a household name with his foot-tapping rap music - comes back now in a new avatar. Baba will not just be singing his earlier genre of music but also enacting a meaningful role in a Hindi film and conducting television shows. However, his priority would be to re-launch himself as an original rapper who gave funky music to youngsters in the 1990s when people could not distinguish rap from pop. Now, when rap is everywhere from MTV to music albums, he wants to cash in on his flair for popping out catchy sentences.

Synonymous with the chartbusting number "Thanda Thanda Pani", Baba, who was at YMCA in New Delhi on Thursday, said: "Even though I was doing shows for Broadway in New York, I am grateful to my fans for remembering me and my music. In my second innings I will be coming out with an album. To be in the race for a longer duration rather than bring out an album whose shelf life is just a week, I will be singing rap in my usual style but the wording will be in Hindi and the arrangement will be done by a 15-year-old guy based in London, who is aware of the latest trends abroad."

Baba said though he would be singing rap, he would be distancing himself from his contemporaries in the West. "Rap is basically protest music but I will not be raising public's concerns like bad roads or indulging in foul mouthing as done in the West."

Saying that basically he was a performer who enjoyed displaying histrionics on the big screen, Baba said he would be starring in a villainous role in the Hindi film "Thodi Masti Thodi Dhoom" with Hrishita Bhatt and Sanjay Kapoor. He will also be playing the lead character in Star Plus serial "Le Jayenge Le Jayenge" and anchoring "Sare Ga Me Pa" music show on Zee Punjabi.

Expressing unhappiness over remix albums lasting only a few days, Baba said that only big companies were surviving while the small ones were biting the dust. He said an artiste's creativity could only be tapped by those dealing in the business of music when they ensured his mind was hassle-free. "In the West they completely take care of the singer's problems. Here an artiste is overburdened with issues like non-payment of mobile phone bill. Moreover, they do not receive the promised sum." -- Madhur Tankha

-- Madhur Tankha

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