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Music’s new mentor
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Palash Sen will mentor a young band, just as he did his own group, Euphoria, that set the bar for Indian folk-rock, finds DEBAYAN DEB
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RIGHT NOTES Palash Sen (extreme right) with members of his band Euphoria
Almost a decade ago when Palash Sen and his pals of Euphoria rocked the nation with their chart topping debut album Dhoom, it marked the beginning of a new chapter in Indian Rock ’n’ Roll.
After three more studio albums and one hit single, Euphoria is still India’s most loved rock act. In fact Euphoria has managed to find its own firm ground in a country dominated by classical and Bollywood music with its fusion based folk-rock sound.
Lead singer Palash Sen, the main reason behind Euphoria’s success, is busy judging the regional finals of a reality show organised by a leading radio station to find the next big Hindi band in the country.
No dearth of talent
Palash, who will play mentor to the winning band, feels that a band can only be successful if it connects with its audience and if the band has a good leader. Palash has earned quite a reputation for himself as a judge in reality shows with Channel V Popstars and Sab TV’s Fame X, and says: “This is my only chance to give something back to the industry which has given me so much and I am not willing to waste such an opportunity.”
Palash, who literally struggled to shortlist the final bands for the regional rounds, claims “Shows like this always portray the magnitude of talented bands left untapped and these bands should utilise a platform like this to showcase their talent and get a head-start into the industry.”
Euphoria has always managed to redefine their sound of western rock mixed with Indian instruments like the tabla, sitar and dholak and is all set to release its first ever compilation album titled Re-Dhoom which consists of the best 10 Euphoria tracks over the past decade.
With their inspiration ranging from Pink Floyd to Poison to Shubha Mudgal, Euphoria as a band has always been an advocate of original music.
So when questioned about the scope of original compositions for bands who are just starting out, a very thoughtful Palash says: “A band trying to grab the big bucks in India has to face two kinds of audience -- one that attends gigs to listen to bands playing some good covers, and the other that goes to a concert strictly for the original compositions. As a matter of fact a band can establish its identity only if it performs original music from the word go.”
The frontman of Euphoria, who has managed to prove himself as a jack of all trades time and again, has recently finished the shooting for his second movie Mumbai Cutting -- a movie about the Mumbai rains directed by Manish Jha. Palash, who is playing the lead role in this movie, says he chose to act in this film only because of its strong script. This is Palash’s second appearance on the silver screen, the previous one being Meghna Gulzar’s directorial debut Filhaal. As the name suggests, Dr. Palash Sen never has no plans to bid adieu to his first love -- medicine.
In fact a very humble Palash says: “Earlier, I used to go to see people. Now people come to see me.”
Same has been the case for Euphoria too. Masses travel to different parts of the country to see them live.
Though they have always been a band of the fans, their sky-high album sales will prove that Palash or as his band-mates dearly call him, “Polly”, is the face of Indian rock ’n’ roll and Euphoria is the epicentre of our nation’s rock sanctuary.
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