Taking the note a notch higher

Gurnaaz Kaur

Singer, songwriter and composer Arko Pravo Mukherjee is thrilled at the success of his  composition Teri Mitti from Akshay Kumar’s Kesari. This may have been his fourth time with Akshay but it is his first patriotic song. The lyrics are penned by Manoj Muntashir and the song is sung by B Praak. 

It’s a team victory, says Arko. Overwhelmed by the reactions from fans and colleagues, this song holds a special place for him. “I’ve received a lot of love for my previous songs as well but this time it was five times more. Twitter, Instagram were flooded for all three of us. Even Karan Johar was teary-eyed after listening to the song.” Arko says Teri Mitti is a tribute to our brave soldiers and motherland. 

In praise of Manoj’s fresh approach to the song, he says there is no competition among musicians as such. If at all, it’s a healthy one and helps everyone raise the standard of their work. “Eventually, music has to win.”

After crooning some of the recent best soulful tracks in Bollywood, such as Sahti Rey, Abhi Abhi, Nazm Nazm and Tere Sang Yaara, Arko has taken up work in his mothertongue Bengali. In these six years, besides Hindi, he has composed music for Telegu, English and Spanish films. “We were in talks for a while but for some or the other reasons, things didn’t materialise. And last when I visited Kolkata, I met the filmmakers and now I have three back-to-back releases here.” The opportunity gives him time to spend with family. 

Talking of family, Arko comes from an academic family. He has studied medicine and was a gold medallist. His love for music landed him in Bollywood. This self-taught singer had no knowledge of Hindi language or for that matter the technicalities of making music. “During my school and college days, I wrote and sang in English for a band, but when I decided to take it up as a full-time profession, I first learnt the language. My understanding is; weak lyrics kill a song. Language is a skill but writing a song is a gift. That’s something no one can teach. My songs come from a space of personal emotions. Even now I sometimes have to be doubly sure because in Hindi inanimate objects have gender and that’s not the case in English or Bengali,” he smiles.

Its 25 years of making music that has readied him for understanding composition, tune, melody, etc. Ask him to sing a raga, he says he won’t be able to. “It’s all practical learning. I’ve read a lot and learnt by listening, so you can say I am self-taught musician.”

Less is more for Arko who has done 30 songs in six years. His focus is quality and making sure at least one of his songs each year is among the top five songs of the year. But this is not it; there are bigger goals he has to accomplish. He wants to make a mark as an independent artiste in the English music industry. 

“My song Reeva makes me the first Indian to enter the US world chart. And this year I am going to pay more attention on my projects in Los Angeles.”

Enjoying and respecting what he does, he will also be releasing some singles this year. “A lot of hard work has gone into them. We’ve made videos with some popular TV actors.”

gurnaaz@tribunemail.com