Do you like to dance?!” t2 asks Anupam Roy while chatting in his new home in Lake Gardens. Reference to the context: His dance-floor scorcher Byapok fan, a Bengali version of Jabra fan anthem for Shah Rukh Khan’s April 15 biggie Fan. The singer-songwriter-composer pauses for a few seconds before breaking into a broad grin. “No, I don’t,” he replies. This is the first time Anupam has sung a dance number, and that too for an SRK film! “It took me four hours,” he says, settling down for a chat. 

So what’s with this no-dancing stance?!
I don’t mind dancing. But I haven’t done it yet. Never danced anywhere. Didn’t even do those bhashan dances. Whatever little I do is on stage (moving to the rhythm). Oh no, wait. 

I did match steps to the song I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys at my bachelor party recently. I invented some dance moves there (laughs out loud). 

[Wife Piya chips in]

Piya: It would be nice if he danced a bit, but then he just doesn’t. I’m constantly telling him to! 

Anupam: Now I’ll try to dance. Jibone aar ektu naach aante hobe. 

Piya: And the bhashan dance I feel is the most uninhibited form of dance. 

The Hindi song Jabra fan anthem opens with the line, ‘My parents don’t get it….’ Can you identify with that situation? 
Once upon a time I was a Westlife fan, and I did put up a Westlife poster in my room. I actually took a colour printout and got it framed. My parents found it a bit crazy. 

Was this the only instance or did you put up several other posters of celebs in your room?
Yes, there were posters of Travis, Kate Winslet, Oasis and Jurgen Klinsmann. Now, I have these fridge magnets depicting the album covers of 11 Pink Floyd albums.  

What was it about the songs of Oasis and Pink Floyd that hooked you? 
I was really impressed by Noel Gallagher’s songwriting, the melodies, and Liam’s voice. I like Pink Floyd’s songs and did a very fan-like thing. I made an email id that had the word ‘Floyd’ in it (Anupam’s Twitter handle is @aroyfloyd). This is what a fan does. I like music that I can connect with… that is thought-provoking. 

What do you think of this idea of being a fan?
The idea of being a fan often defies logic. For example, I’m a Liverpool fan. They have not been playing well and yet I support them. I started supporting Germany since the 1990 World Cup, and have been loyal to them. 

As a fan, what kind of things have you done to connect with your heroes?
I have a Liverpool scarf which I bought in London about four years ago. I remember, the day I bought the scarf, there was a match between Chelsea and Liverpool, and I did get a few smiles when Chelsea fans saw me walking around London wearing a Liverpool scarf.

When in New York, I had really hoped that I would run into Woody Allen. I walked in and around Central Park. Another time I visited the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco hoping to meet Lawrence Ferlinghetti (poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers). I asked around and got to know that he frequents a particular cafe. I even went to that cafe, but finally didn’t get to meet him. I really wanted to meet him, but it didn’t happen. 

Have you tried to reach out to your heroes through Twitter?
I have tried reaching out to Sting on Twitter, but haven’t got any response yet. I’ve tried tweeting to Polly Samson, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour’s wife, but didn’t get a retweet. But I did get a reply from Andy Dunlop, the guitarist of one of my fave bands, Travis. I tweeted to him that I really liked the guitar parts in the Travis song Writing to Reach You. And he replied! 

What have your fans done for you?
A girl came down from north Bengal and waited for me for a few hours in front of my Behala home. I wasn’t home then. Another guy inked my name on his arms. He has my name tattooed. He told me that he has two gods  — Mesut Ozil (star footballer for Germany and Arsenal) and me, though I fail to see the connection! And I get lots of letters and messages from fans on Facebook and Twitter. 

How did Byapok fan (192,406 sing-alongs on YouTube, and counting) come to you?
I got a call from Yash Raj Films a few days ago. They asked me to come immediately to Mumbai to record a song for the SRK film Fan. Our housewarming was on February 10, and I left for Bombay the next day. I met Vishal Dadlani (Vishal-Shekhar have scored the Fan number), and he told me that he liked my work in Piku. Byapok fan is a typical tapori song and I found out that singing such a song, which I did for the first time in my career, is quite difficult. But I had a lot of fun recording it. One of my fans said that after listening to the song he imagined himself doing the ‘fan dance’ for me!

Are you an SRK fan?
I really like him. He is very smart… acts and speaks really well. I saw him in Circus first, and really liked him in Swades. Recently I met him at an awards ceremony. He was the anchor and was calling out the names of the  nominees. Finally, when I was coming down from the stage after getting an award, he said, ‘God bless you Anupam’. This I’ll remember forever. And on top of it all I got to sing a song for his film. To be around him is something else. Bhabai jaye na! I feel so thankful.  

So will you be doing more dance numbers?
I’m open to singing all kinds of songs. But I don’t feel I can compose dance-floor numbers. That’s not my area of expertise. This is what my views are now. Of course I might feel something else later and change my opinion (smiles). And talking of dance songs, I am also attracted to a certain kind rhythm pattern which we find in Daft Punk songs.   

Coming to your new home now, did you decide to move to Lake Gardens so that you could be close to the studio where you do a lot of your work?
Of course it is more convenient for me now. I can now walk to the studio. It’s been exactly one week since we started living here. You know, it doesn’t take a lot of time to come to Lake Gardens from Behala in the afternoon, maybe 30 minutes. But when I would return home at night it would take me around an hour. I like this para. Anindyada (Chandrabindoo man Anindya Chattopadhyay) lives nearby. Tonyda’s (Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury) office is nearby. 

Having moved to a new home, what are some of the changes you have faced till now?
Now we have to do everything, from buying things for the house to dealing with people. Expenses are shooting up. Which is probably why I’m making more calls to producers now, so that they clear my pending payments (laughs). Both of us are very happily doing the housework now. I’m constantly cleaning things and washing my hands. I might have OCD! I’ve not had a chance to interact with the people in my para, but I have phuchkas nearby and talk to the person manning the Mother Dairy booth. 
 
Are you also working on a solo album?
Yes. I’m not thinking about the commercial side of things, or the length of the songs. It might be dark too.... 

But 2015 was really good for you. Piku was a huge hit, along with Bela Sheshe... how can you write dark songs now?!
But then when you love something, forces around you pull you away from the thing you love. So a lot of songs can come from that khobh. Now, as a composer-songwriter, I have to deliver and produce constantly, for different people. I’m making songs to suit situations and characters. So I am constantly meeting requirements of others. Meanwhile, we are all trying to connect with the youth through our songs. However, I can’t make a very youth-centric soundtrack because there aren’t any films being made for the youth. The characters are mostly senior.... The album will give me the space to deliver a new sound and experiment. The album will have songs that I have written in the last two years. We have started working on the arrangement.   

Your band has completed five years. And recently you explored folk music as well...
Yes, and we have many plans. We are now doing videography in concerts. Last year we performed at Coke Studio (with Babul Supriyo, Javed Akhtar and a host of musicians) and it was an amazing experience. We did two songs, I Wanna Fly (also featuring Sharmilee, Babul Supriyo and Javed Akhtar) and Moner Manush (based on the Lalon Fakir song; Javed Akhtar translated Lalon’s lyrics, while Anupam wrote and composed a section in the song called Mai wahan ja chuka hoon). Moner Manush (2,263,167 sing-alongs on YouTube) was my first brush with folk music. It has encouraged me to work more on folk. The Hindi lyrics extend Lalon’s thoughts. Also, it was a new thing for me to have Javed Akhtar putting words to my music.  

Arindam Chatterjee
Share a 50-word review of Anupam’s song Byapok fan at t2@abp.in