The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Habba' may prove lucky for him

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 10, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Habba' may prove lucky for him

Special Correspondent

Bangalore boy is waiting to meet celebrities this weekend

Bangalore: How do celebrity musicians treat young fans? Ask 15-year old Aniruddh Dutta, Standard X student of Bishop Cotton Boys' School and you will know. He has been interviewing famous musicians since he was seven and this unusual hobby may even become his profession some day.

In eight years, Aniruddha has held serious conversations with some of the biggest names in music. They include Ustad Zakir Hussain, Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Shankar Mahadevan, L. Subramaniam, Hariharan, Daler Mehandi, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and more. He was especially delighted at coming face-to-face with A.R. Rahman.

"I was after him for five years without success. And then suddenly we were together, sitting and talking. It was a dream come true," he says.

Aniruddha's most recent interview was with a celebrity of a different kind; the star of the soap The Bold and The Beautiful, Ronn Moss, who came to release his rock album. "Meeting Ronn is a story by itself," says the young man.

"After waiting the entire morning, I left a note and never really expected a reply. But my father got a call in the evening from Ronn's international agent while I was in my computer class. We met late in the evening... the chat was about Ronn's music and not his role as Ridge Forrester in the serial," he says.

"All the great musicians have been very nice to me," admits Aniruddha. "But some have put me on more alert than others. Zakir Hussain grilled me before I could ask him the first question. I told him I should be the one asking questions but the Ustad replied he made his own rules. But it was worth it; I had asked for 10 minutes of his time and he gave me 45. What I learnt in those 45 minutes is worth a lifetime," he says.

As a seven-year-old Aniruddha had interviewed the Colonial Cousins, Hariharan and Leslie Lewis. After the interview he had demanded that they sing with him.

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