Farhan Akhtar was a red-hot director with Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya and Don when he decided to rock the mic with Socha hai, serenade young India with Tum ho toh and made them crave for another Rock On!!. Eight years after the cult hit, the man is ready to face the box office with Rock On!! 2 on November 11. And he won’t stop at that. The 42-year-old is in the line-up for the fourth edition of Enchanted Valley Carnival at Aamby Valley City on December 17-18. Keeping him company are the likes of Flo Rida, Alan Walker, Arijit Singh....

But first, the man who “grew up on a healthy diet of The Beatles” took on a few music-related questions over email from t2.

This will be your first Enchanted Valley Carnival. Excited? There is also camping involved...

I think it’s the coming together of two kinds of interesting things. When I see the line-up of people who are going to play there, it’s pretty incredible, and the stuff that’s going to happen over two days… I’m really happy. And more than playing — of course that is going be a lot of fun — I will witness all the other acts that are coming in. I’m going there as much as a performer as a fan.

Just the opportunity to go out and have fun has become such a rarity, so it’s really nice and if that can be done with music, with everything else that you’re throwing in there for people to come down and let their hair down and have a great memorable weekend. I think it’s probably one of the best things for someone who is looking for a getaway.
 
So what got you interested in singing in the first place? 

I just think it was the environment at home. Music was a very integral part of my growing up; I was learning music for many years when I was a child. Both Mom (Honey Irani) and Dad (Javed Akhtar) have an association with music, so there was always some record playing at home or we had people coming over and doing some nice performances. It was a crazy artistic vibe at home and that got me interested in music from a very young age. A dear friend of my mother used to play the guitar and I used to be fascinated by him. I loved the sound of the guitar and loved the fact that you just need this one instrument. It’s such a versatile instrument, to be able to create music and to just sing along and get other people involved as well, so that’s really where my love for music began. And, of course over time, I took it up and continued.

What kind of music did you grow up on?

I grew up on a healthy diet of The Beatles!

Was it easy to choose between acting-direction and music?

They are all a part of who I am. They all make up what you consider to be this person called Farhan. It’s very difficult for me to segregate these things (acting, direction and singing) in my self. But I do enjoy them all tremendously.

Were you worried when you lent your voice to the Rock On!! songs in 2008… about how people would receive the tracks?

When we made the first one, nobody knew what was going to happen to it. What happened to that film was truly on its own merit, so all we can do is try and be as honest as we were in making the first one… be as sincere, be as dedicated to it.

When it comes to the marriage of music and lyrics, did your father ever offer advice?

Definitely, especially when it comes to writing in Hindi. He has told me that English offers you a lot more flexibility in terms of metering, in terms of rhyme and obviously gives you a lot more flexibility than writing in Hindi and writing in Urdu because it comes from a poetic tradition. There is a very serious kind of a structure that needs to be followed and you can’t really mess around with it. And, of course, over time, there are many examples and even when you want to keep that up, on film songs, there is a structure that needs to be followed and I would always question it as to why can’t it be like this or why can’t it be like that. He would explain it not just to me but to all of us — to Shankar, to Ehsaan, to Loy, to everyone who is in the room — and it’s incredible… it’s true. I mean, English writing… the form offers you a lot more freedom to be able to write however you want to write. With Urdu, there is a very serious traditional structure that needs to be followed if you want to be considered a good writer.
 
How do you think your music has evolved between lending vocals to Rock On!! and the upcoming Rock On!! 2?

Well, I think there definitely has been… first, a rekindling of a serious amount of love that happened with us wanting to sing and wanting to play than the first Rock On!!. And the last eight years have been a journey in that direction, whether it’s us performing or writing my own songs, composing my own songs. That is something that really has happened through the last eight years… it happened because of the experience with the first film. It’s kind of been a fictional band of sorts, yet it still gives you a sense of the joy of creating music. 

Farhan Akhtar rocks because.... Tell t2@abp.in