You have said that Sifar is a new beginning for you, that you have rediscovered yourself with this album?
Nothing like that. I have been rediscovering myself all along. It’s not something that happens in one album. It’s an ongoing process where you discover some aspect about yourself and you want to change it. For me Sifar is an area from which I or anybody can go ahead, instead of just being stuck in one place. After one, two, three...nine, comes 10, that is zero. If there was no zero you wouldn’t go to 11, 12, 13.... There would be no progress.

You have already made it big with Sunoh, so why this need to start from zero?
I don’t think I have made it big.
But everybody feels you are a phenomenon?
I can’t tell people not to feel that way. In my heart of hearts, I still feel I am nowhere. This is just one of the things I like and which I am doing.
When did you start working on Sifar?
Long time back, even before I started making albums, this music was there in me.
Sunoh happened two years back, right?
Yes. But music has been happening to me from the time I was 13-years-old. So I can’t say that I started working on an album two years back. What all is happening now in terms of culmination of songs is that I have put all that music of the past together to make albums. I was working on Sifar while working on Sunoh. You can’t demarcate time for one album, then next. It’s an ongoing process.
How is Sifar different from Sunoh? What have you experimented with in it?
Sifar has a mature me, in the sense that I have improvised on my past mistakes. I have experimented with new musicians, there are a lot more musicians on this. And it has proven to be a richer experience because I got a chance to work with different cultures. In Sunoh it was only me and my brother who worked on it, though we consulted different people from different areas. In Sunoh we experimented by incorporating different sounds. Even Sifar is an experiment, but with a lot more pople involved in it. Like we have Joe Leguabe from South Africa, and musicians from South of India like Balu Srinivasan from Bangalore, who plays Carnatic violin, and Vivek Raghavan who plays mridangam. And there’s Michael who plays a lot of instruments.
Did the success of Sunoh set some guidelines for your next album?
Sunoh was definitely a stepping stone, the initial buliding block for me to do what I like. But I didn’t plan my next album on the basis of its success. I don’t know where I am going to progress, and how I am going to progress. I focus only on the present. The future depends on how things work out. You cannot plan things really. Aise hi ho jata hai.
Listening to Sifar gives a feeling of deja vu. The sounds are quite similar to Sunoh. Was it intentional since you are identified with that brand of music?
There is a feeling of deja vu, definitely. But it was not intentional. See, the music that is happening through me is how it is happening through me. I am not following any particular trend. It’s what I have with me that I can better. And that’s what I have done. If that’s what you want to call intentional, then yes that’s my intention. To make music to the best of my abilities.
What about remarks that you are repetitive?
None of my songs sound repetitive.
Were you bogged down by the great expectations after Sunoh?
I did think about it. Because when you have won the Channel [V] award and other awards, then everyone keeps telling you that now the expectations are high. But honestly speaking, the background that I come from - which is of a film family - I have seen how people like to cash in on success, and I know how to handle it. I have done my best. If people like it, they like it, if they don’t, they don’t. I’ll only do what I feel happy doing.
Your music was a trendsetter. Has it been copied?
Yes, I heard that some people from Madras, copied my stuff, but it’s cool. I feel good that someone liked my song so much that he made it into a Tamil song.
What would you call your kind of music? Does it fit into the Indi-pop category?
My music is ‘Everybody’s Music’. I don’t belong to any particular genre. But I don’t understand what pop music actually is. There should be no categories. Everybody should express themselves in a way they feel best. I am doing what makes me feel good.
How would you describe the songs in Sifar?
While making this album I had a lot of freedom, like I had for Sunoh. Sifar has soul-searching songs, mostly ballads. There is one satirical song, the song with the African musician. It talks about coming into life and leaving life. My songs are not really about love, love lost or someone remembering someone. They have substance and are thought-provoking.
The songs are about your philosophy of life, right?
I don’t have a philosophy. I am a seeker myself. I don’t have the answers. The answers are there, I have to discover them.
Sunoh and Sifar both start with ‘S’. Any particular reason?
You mean superstition. No way yaar. I am beyond superstition, beyond luck. I think I have worked hard. If it was luck, then I should have made it when I was born itself. Why did I struggle and suffer for 36 years? On second thoughts, I didn’t struggle and suffer, I learnt. I have realised that there is no shortcut to success.
How do you work on your albums?
Oh, we work endlessly and try out variations. Sifar had about 19 different mixes. I have taken just one mix and put it on the album. That’s how we have worked, intensively and intensely. We have time. We have our own studio in London. So there is no pressure on us. But yes we do have to keep a sense of time, because timelessness is an infinite concept.
You said you are a seeker and your thoughts are reflected in the lyrics. Don’t you feel that the listeners of Indi-pop might find it difficult to understand your deep perceptive lyrics.
No I don’t think so. People have accepted my lyrics going by the success of Sunoh.
But Sunoh had very catchy music too.
Did you hear Sifar? It has catchy music too and there is nothing difficult in the lyrics. I don’t like to get into difficulties. Huzoor (Prophet) has said that if there is a difficult way and there is a simple way, take the easier way out, because if you get into difficulties you are inviting problems. I follow that. My lyrics are simple. They are what you and me think. I don’t write poetry, I write stuff that we use in our daily talk. Like the language, Ghar ko main nikla. It’s a lingo used in Bangalore.
Your video for Sunoh, shot in Egypt, was a trail-blazer? How many videos have been shot for Sifar?
One has been shot, another three have been planned. Dekha hai has been shot in America, that is Arizona, Route 66, to be precise. It’s a travel video.
Was it your concept or director Mahesh Mathai’s?
I never interfere in what my friend Mahesh does. Most of the times we think alike since we are childhood friends.
You had first signed up with BMG Crescendo who released Sunoh. Why did you shift to Sony Music with Sifar? Was it right, since BMG was the one which gave you a break?
No one gave me any break. I think I gave them a boost.
But you had said that you did the rounds of different music companies, who weren’t quite receptive, till BMG Crescendo gave you a chance.
Yeah, everyone wanted Sunoh for free. So I gave it to BMG for free. There was no question of a break or anything. BMG didn’t have anything to do with my making the album. They could have done a lot with Sunoh but they didn’t. See, there are Indians everywhere across the world and I wanted my album to reach out to them too. BMG promised me that they would do it. But nothing was done. People from India have been sending my album to those Indians staying abroad. BMG didn’t try giving it international exposure.
Sunoh came up on its own merit. There was no extra money spent on it in terms of publicity. There was the album and there was the video. That’s all. Nothing else. Everything happened on its own.
When I went over to Sony, I was moved by their sincerity. They liked my music, they liked me, and I liked them. Here was not just a corporation which was throwing in tons of money, but it also gave me freedom to do what I want. There was an understanding which was very important for me as an artist. I didn’t want someone breathing down my back asking what are you going to do. Moving over to Sony Music is the best career move I have made. The kind of exposure Sifar has got, only Hindi film music gets that kind of exposure. This is the first album I think, with due respects to everybody, and I don’t want to talk big, which has reached out to the smallest parts of the country. I never imagined that my music could go that far. That feels great.
What do you think clicked about Sunoh?
I think it was simple. It was what everyone, including myself was thinking about at that period of time. Fortunately I was the one who said it. There’s nothing special about it.
Who do you think is competition for you?
Comeptition? I have not come to compete with anybody. I have just come to do my stuff and get out. I don’t want to hurt or harm anyone. I want to give back what I have received from the place I was born. The feelings I have for the country, for my parents, I am expressing them through music.
You call yourself a nomad, why?
Because I love to travel. The moment I get a chance to travel, I am out. That’s the only time I can probably get to be one with whatever is around us. And you can find nature in anything. You don’t have to go to a hill station. People squatting on Mumbai roads is also natural.
So it’s not like you prefer only exotic locales as seen in your video?
No. Why I choose exotic locales is because it makes good video sense. You enjoy seeing new places.
You haven’t made a video in New Zealand where you live?
New Zealand is very bland, it is very beautifully bland. I’d like to shoot a travel video there. A lot of Hindi film producers are shooting there these days. But they go to the same places. They don’t discover new places.
Have you discovered any new places?
Oh man, like hell. Like heaven, I’m sorry. We love travelling. My wife and me. We just take a map and decide that we have to go here. And we end up discovering beautiful places.
You acted in some good films made by Shyam Benegal. Aren’t you getting any acting offers now?
Oh, lots of them. But I have consciously moved away from it. So acting offers and singing offers don’t make any sense now.
But acting was your first choice, right?
No, it was not a choice. It was something I was put into. See Meena khala (Meena Kumari) was an actress, my father was an actor, my grandfather was India’s first choreographer, my mother was an actress, so it was taken for granted that I would also get into acting. I met up with some producers on the insistence of my father. But nobody gave me work. Because I had worked with Shyam Benegal, they thought I was an art film actor. So I gave up without any bad feelings.
Sad, because you were a good actor?
Maybe, but I don’t like to act in films they make these days.
Do Hindi films producers approach you for composing music?
No. They always thought I was a mad person and I’d like to keep it that way.
What does your father have to say about your music?
He likes it. Melody strikes any person. He is happy that mera beta has done something.
Have you given any concerts?
I have, in Delhi, Bangalore, Madras, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and abroad, in Italy. It was just fantastic in Italy. My concert was even shot for an Italian film. I got carried away by the tremendous response of the crowd there.
Tell us abourt your kids. Are you a doting father?
My son Ta’awwaz, who will be three soon, is a dreamer like me. I am happy the way he is turning out to be. He has his own version of my Sunoh song. He sings, Oh sanam, Abba ki kasam. (Smiles.) My little daughter Tasmia, who is just nine-months old, is very sharp and intelligent. She shows great promise. She is going to start speaking soon, her first tooth is coming out. I am looking forward to it.
Have you planned your next album?
I can’t plan. Each day brings its own glories, its own sorrows, and I take things as they come.
I don’t know how long I will have this talent. At the end of the day, wherever I might have reached, I come back home, go to sleep and the next day, it's back to square one. One has to start the day all over again.
Any unfulfilled desire?
I want to learn to do Kirat, that is the recitation of the Koran. That’s my dream.