It’s a rainy grey afternoon in Calcutta and we are in Fossils frontman Rupam Islam’s studio in South End Park. The room is packed with singers from several popular bands of the city. The energy in the room is electric. They’re busy shooting the music video for Rupam’s song Adventure, the title track of his new extended play (EP) of the same name. Rupam is dressed in a simple black kurta, ripped denims and sports his signature hairstyle. “It has five songs. This song, Adventure, features renowned new-gen singers. Each one of them is a part of some popular band and they are all talented,” says Rupam.

Off to an adventure

The singers are Suyasha Sengupta of The Ganesh Talkies, Timir Biswas of Fakira, Kaushik Chakraborty of Prithibi, Sayan Mitra of  Eeshaan, Tamal Kanti Halder of AlienZ, Nilanjan Mandal of Shnuopoka, Tushar Debnath of Blood, Ananya ‘Khnada’ Bhattacherjee of Silajit Majumder’s band, Kabir Chattopadhyay of Kabir’N’Shiba and of course Rupam himself. 
Rupsha Dasgupta, Rupam’s wife and manager of Fossils, is directing the video. Clad in a simple printed white kurta and denims, she stands behind the lens and instructs the artistes.

Their young son Rup hugs his mother and stays close to her throughout the shoot. The smoke machine starts. The music plays. And the shot begins. Suyasha, Tamal and Tushar lip-sync a part of the song in front of a microphone. Suyasha bursts out laughing while giving the take. It has a ripple effect. Rupam suggests some changes in the framing of the shot to Rupsha. After five or six takes, they get the perfect shot and Rupam is elated.

How is it like to direct your husband, we ask Rupsha. “It’s not like I’m directing him. He himself has a lot of inputs. We had directed the first video together in 2005. So we know exactly what we want,” she says. Rupam agrees, “We always have this constant, amazing communication between us. We do all work together. She has directed me before, too, in songs like Aalo, In love and war, Aami tomaay bhalobashi.”

Tea and adda

It’s still pouring outside. Hot tea is passed around in small plastic cups.

“Rupamda’s idea was to bring in singers from the older generation as well as some of us, the new kids on the block. The overall experience of shooting Adventure actually turned out to be quite adventurous,” chuckles Suyasha, while taking a drag of her cigarette.

Ask her how it was to collaborate with so many singers and she says, “Ten of us sang one song… all of us have very different singing styles. I got to sing a Bengali song after a long time. I didn’t know all the musicians when we started recording, but we have hung out and shared some camaraderie. Now I know we are not that different.”

“There are so many talented people in this song together that magic is bound to happen,” says Rupam.  “There’s a whole lot of wonderful bands out there that are doing great work,” adds Rupsha.

Smells like teen spirit

Adventure talks about how the older and younger generation have their differences but essentially they are the same. “It’s a youth anthem that talks about how being a youth has nothing to do with age. There’s a youth in people who are older in age too. I’m trying to provoke that and remind them of that spirit through this song,” says Rupam.

Adventure is a step towards helping two generations understand each other better. “It taught me that essentially we are similar in our ways. We may have different ideals but we do share a lot of similar principals,” agrees Suyasha. Rupam continues, “With this being the essence of the song, I thought it should be sung by two generations — I belong to the older generation of Bengali bands and they are young. When we join hands, then the lyrics get communicated better.”

Suyasha adds that she grew up listening to Fossils. “Plus, we (Rupam and Suyasha) both have the same amount of love for Kurt Cobain. That’s how we bonded a couple of years ago and stayed in touch,” she smiles.

The next shot has Ananya and Sayan bringing in a bit of a  “disco” touch in front of the camera. Sayan is made to wear a pair of blingy shades. Three cameras start rolling and they have a ball in front of the camera. Someone suggests Ananya should throw up her hands and wave while lip-syncing her lines. Rupam likes the idea.

Both Rupsha and Rupam insist that there was no pre-decided concept for the video. “Whatever is happening is happening here on set,” says Rupam. “Frankly, we would have loved to do an outdoor shoot for this,” says Rupsha, looking at the rain outside. She adds, “Unfortunately it’s the monsoons and we have to release the video sometime in September. We had to shoot right now.”

They’ve been shooting since morning. “The lunch was fantastic today,” laughs Rupam. “Timir almost slept off. Everyone is in a lazy mood after that but there’s no reflection of that in front of the camera.”

Rupsha interjects, “You were there! You saw how everyone’s having a ball. Timir has single-handedly taken the responsibility to make everyone laugh. Nilanjan, being the quiet one, is mostly the target. Plus, the mansgho-bhaat was superb. To go to an AC floor after that and jump around for the shoot was a little difficult.”

Parting note

Mohanogorer kinare and Adventure are the two remaining songs that complete the EP. “The theme of the album is adventure, so I hope people find that spirit in it. If they do, my attempt will be successful,” says Rupam. Ask him if he went on an adventurous trip when the concept struck and pat comes the reply: “People who can see things with eyes closed don’t need to go out. This is how I think, so I wrote it down.”

Pictures: Arnab Mondal