With so many songs to choose from, how did you zero in on your setlist to celebrate 20 years of music (at Gyan Manch, from September 19)?

It’s not just about music but all the things I’ve been associated with — cinema, music, my inspirations. We’re dividing the show into four days. On the first day (September 19) I’m announcing the new album, which I’ve done after almost 10 years, and singing songs from that. It’s called Unoshaat — the album and the show. The show will also feature some of my earlier songs that are mature and close to (the concept of) Unoshaat. The show will be austere and scholarly with an old-world charm to it. I’ll be reading from diaries.

The second show (September 20) is called Neel Cinema, which will be more colourful and exciting. It’s about the songs that Neel has created and I’ve been associated with. It’ll feature Somlata, Rupankar, Ujjaini and other young singers.

The third day (September 21) is called Only Dylan featuring myself, Rahul Guha Roy, Neel and Durjoy Choudhury. The first half will be more acoustic and about Dylan’s protest music and the second half will be totally electric and about his rock ’’ roll phase.

The last day (September 22) will be Purono Anjan. Again two-fold. Neel and me singing on a guitar, the way we had started out in 1993. The second half becomes full band, the way our band had come in... in 2003.

Why this long pause since your last solo album Rong Pencil (2001)?

Because I felt I was getting repetitive. My first four albums — Shunte Ki Chao, Purono Guitar and Keu Gaan Gaay and Chalo Bodlai — I think were quite good. Post-that, I tried to experiment and do something different with Kolkata Sholo and Oshomoy. Somehow I was getting repetitive, although the albums were selling. But to write 10 songs every year and for them to be equally good was becoming difficult. I couldn’t turn out anything as good as Ranjana or Brishti or Samson, so I decided to stop writing.

Given your wide range of influences, how did you arrive at the sound for Unoshaat?

Unoshaat is about a 59-year-old guy whereas a bulk of my work has been 20-plus, even though I started singing at 39. I felt the urge to write something completely different and the process started after Dutta Vs Dutta and Galileo. I felt I had matured as a filmmaker, as a person, as a performer. I was ready to say things a 60-year-old guy would say. The fallacy or fun part of being 20 right through from 39 to 59 made for my popularity. Neel heard the songs and felt he shouldn’t participate, so Amyt (Datta) has played and developed a very austere, stark and mature sound. Not the young, rock ’’ roll, light-hearted Anjan Dutt.

Your songs have been about characters, streets and stories of Calcutta and Darjeeling. Have your subjects changed in Unoshaat?

Yes, they’re no longer about cafes and nostalgia about people I grew up with. They’re no longer stories and ballads. It’s about commentaries on the times that I’m not very happy about — the mediocrity around, the political stagnancy... more philosophical. There are seven songs. One about change and where it’s leading us, a song about why I still sing, what I leave behind for the next generation...

How come you’ve never done music direction/ composing for a film?

Because I felt that music for cinema can’t just be a personal expression but as far as my music is concerned, it’s been very personal. It needs someone with a broader and more commercial perspective. Some people had asked me, very strangely, to compose for their films but I did not. Subrata Sen and some others had but I didn’t. Often when Neel was getting work (in the initial years), he’d be asked if I would join him but I’ve never wanted to.

Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?

Yes, I was around 24, really inspired by Dylan and Cohen, who I was trying to imitate and write in English. And then I felt that I also wanted to write about my city as a part of being intellectually hip. That’s when I wrote Alibaba, then Horipodo and then Ranjana. Three songs I wrote back to back. I wrote it for fun, sang it in college and threw them away. Later when I consciously decided to sing, I rewrote them.

What gave you the confidence at 39 to start out as a singer?

It wasn’t confidence but a necessity that I opted for. Films that I was working in were art films so I had no work and no chances to direct at that point either. So I just saw this as an option inspired by Suman who was a great phenomenon and I felt there might be some who wouldn’t be able to afford him, so would afford me and I’d have some pocket money. I didn’t know it was going to be such a huge success.

Do you remember your first performance on stage as a musician?

Yes, August 1993 at Padatik. Shyamanand Jalan heard I was trying out various things and he let out that space. So Neel, who was in school then, and I with two very battered guitars did a show before an audience of 30. But since I was an actor, my performance was loved. Many of my film friends had come for it. Immediately afterwards Suman Mukhopadhyay got me a show at JU, where he was studying, for Rs 5,000 and I did a two-hour show.

Kabir Suman was as much your influence as he was your contemporary and rival…

It was actually the reverse. My third show at Gyan Manch, Kabir Suman came to see and was tremendously aroused. My fourth show was with him at Maidan where he had called me. So we were actually performing like brothers. A chunk of audience thought us to be rivals but actually he supported me a lot in getting my songs recorded, giving me shows and suggestions. He would identify with my music even though his was political and mine was more personal.

You still play at college fests and youth pubs. What continues to be your youth connect?

It’s been the nature of my songs — angst, void, pain, emotion, love — the young identified with. I also had a children audience. Parents and kids would share the album. In fact, one of the biggest challenges I face is to keep being young on stage. The reason I have the dark glasses, the hat and the band I’ve devised is to be energetic and youthful on stage. Something I learnt very seriously from rock ’’ roll stars from the Seventies. And retaining that energy is probably what has kept me going unlike my contemporaries.

And how would you deal with all the female attention?

Initially it was troublesome. There were all these calls coming in which I had never faced as an arthouse actor. Girls calling up and saying ‘I’ll commit suicide if I don’t meet you right now.’ Initially I’d get perturbed, try to figure out where they are and connect with their parents, report it to the police. Then I realised it was all rubbish. They were just pranks. Now with a son on stage, it would also balance out the attention: that’s okay, he’s a father!

A crazy fan moment you recall?

There was a German chap called Christian Schultz who was a die-hard fan and followed my work when he was working here as an engineer. He wanted to meet me and I kept shrugging it off and then I realised I had done something very wrong. My father didn’t want me to be a film actor and I had said no, I want to be famous. Now that I was famous I felt bad that I had behaved that way. When I tried to connect with him I found that he had been hospitalised and had gone back. Later I connected with him on mail and now we’re good friends. After that incident I’ve never misbehaved with my fans. It made me very grounded.

That one musician on your wishlist you want to meet someday?

I’m very jealous of Neel that he got to see Dylan live on stage and I still haven’t. So yes, meeting Dylan of course and maybe I will someday. I wouldn’t know what to tell him though, I’d probably start crying!

A chunk of audience thought us to be rivals but actually he (Kabir Suman) supported me a lot in getting my songs recorded, giving me shows and suggestions. He would identify with my music even though his was political and mine was more personal

A song that defines you?

Ranjana. It’s funny and wacky and honest. It reflects the kind of person I am, the guy who walks away and doesn’t cling on and gives freedom to the other. I’m very non-violent and would definitely walk away from violence even if it comes to my best love. I would never be able to stand up and fight. Definitely not the conventional brave, sentimental, breezy romantic but funny.

ANJAN 20

Gyan Manch, 7pm

September 19
Unoshaat
(music from his new album)

September 20
Neel Cinema
(Anjan and Neel’s film songs featuring Rupankar, Somlata, Ujjaini and others)

September 21
Only Dylan
(A tribute to Bob Dylan)

September 22
Purono Anjan
(An evening of celebrating Anjan Dutt’s classics)

(Tickets available at the venue)