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Man in transit
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He’s busy party-hopping because he loves his music and goes on “dancing holidays”. Nikhil Chinnappa’s life is what many youngsters would envy, finds BHUMIKA K.
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Photo: K. Gopinathan
Silver tongue Nikhil Chinnappa: ’I lead an extraordinarily hedonistic life and I love it’
He’s always on the move. Whether he’s going from one party to another (non-political… the dancing kind), whether he’s going from one city to the other, from Ibiza to London, whether he’s DJ-ing, VJ-ing or RJ-ing.
Nikhil Chinnappa is like a cat on hot coals. And the hot coals here, is music. Otherwise why would anyone fly 17 hours from London and back to be in Bangalore for a three-hour party? “It was so worth it,” Nikhil assures me. He catches up on sleep mostly on his flights, because most days he’s partying till 5 a.m. “My life is in transit.”
With a job that’s every teen’s dream, this MTV VJ from Bangalore is never at a loss of words and answers. He was in the city for the pre-event Sunburn 2007 party. Sunburn 2007 on December 28 and 29 in Goa will be the first of its kind electronic music party with international participants.“There’s been a huge amount of interest in Sunburn. People who’ve come to know of it have been cancelling plans to go to Thailand and Sri Lanka to be in Goa for it.” Nikhil was in Bangalore only over a week ago to celebrate the first anniversary of Submerge at Fuga. Submerge, a platform that Nikhil, and girlfriend and fellow-VJ Pearl started off in 2003, is a breakthrough concept that has revolutionised the clubbing music scene in India.
Tired of the same old music playing at most clubs, DJs got together to play the music they wanted to – the best and cutting edge house and progressive music from the global scene, that was hot off the press and not many had the privilege to hear yet. “You can see from the website ( www.submerge.in) that there’s a strong sense of community… people are making friends that last beyond the dance floor.”
He says there aren’t too many people in India who understand this music. “I don’t want the whole world to be listening to this music… different music means different things to people. I don’t want to shove it down people’s throats if they don’t like it.” But he insists that if you haven’t really heard it, at least come and give it a listen. “House music has given me such great joy, I want to share it with others.”
And to the uninitiated, Nikhil explains that house music is essentially dance music played in clubs all over the world. “It’s that dhin-chak-dhin-chak music…you know? It actually has four beats that give it that sound – four kick drums and four high-hatchets.”
“Dance music has changed dramatically world over. People now dance for the music and with the music. It’s not necessary to have a partner. Long ago when I had once danced on the floor alone, I was looked down upon as a loser and a stag on the floor. I know it’s almost sounding evangelistic as I talk like this…” he trails off laughing.
Today’s generation gets “bored” of their job very often. But Nikhil Chinnappa hasn’t tired in 10 years of VJing and DJing. “I have found ways to entertain myself. It will be naïve of me to tell others ‘Find an interesting job’ but you need to find a sense of balance.” Is his life balanced? “I lead an extraordinarily hedonistic life and I love it,” he declares. Why does he wear silver rings on all his fingers? “Because I love silver.” And why no earrings? “Because I don’t like earrings…. life is as simple as that.”
A qualified scuba diving freak, he’s completed 49 dives and wants to start a scuba diving school. He’d love to fly a plane before he dies. He wants to start an internet-based business to sell single tracks and not entire albums on the net (therefore cheaper), encouraging people to pay for their music, cutting down piracy. He calls Bangalore home despite living in Mumbai for 10 years, and can speak “swalpa-swalpa” Kannada and Coorgi.
And what’s Nikhil the actor doing? “Nothing,” he says vociferously. “I’m not an actor. I attempted it for friends…But I have no Bollywood aspirations.” Isn’t VJing also about acting? “No, It’s a lot to do with communicating. Of course it does work as a stepping stone for some people to become actors.”
Nikhil is now also back to his first love – radio. He’s doing a show on Radio One in Mumbai, and is also exploring opportunities to start a radio station with a friend in the Maldives. He also wishes that between all of Bangalore’s 11 FM channels, there were at least five different genres of music being played; unfortunately they are all the same, except for Radio Indigo, he says. And what has he to say of the RJs? A deep sigh and distraught “No comments” follows. “I don’t know which school they went to… but they seem to think talking in a singsong manner is good!” Exasperation.
So where did he learn to VJ? “It came from listening to people… that’s when you’ll know when to keep quiet.” The public Nikhil is talkative because that’s when he’s supposed to talk; but the private Nikhil is very quiet, he insists. Even when he’s with Pearl. “The best quality of a show host is to know when to shut up.”
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