Euphoria: Palash Sen
He makes no ‘bones’ about his love for the seven notes. Dr Palash Sen is by qualification an orthopaedic surgeon and by passion a musician.
Dr Palash Sen (he would prefer the prefix, he says) is out with his newest album, Mehfooz, on Saregama. The very different video of the title-track is making waves for its refreshing concept by Pradeep Parineeta Sarkar. We catch up with the Delhi-based doc at the latter’s office and analyze the good doctor’s treatment plan of his music.
Is this a Dr Palash Sen album or an Euphoria one?
Obviously an Euphoria one. I am the writer, music director and lead vocalist but Euphoria has always been a team right from our first album Dhoom in the late ’90s. We are the No.1 live band in India today. My team consists of DJ Bhaduri on the bass, Hitesh Madan on the guitars, Benny Pinto on the keyboard, Ashwin Verma on the drums, Prashant Trived on the tabla and Rakesh on the dholak. There are 12 tracks.
How do you see your evolution from that first album to Mehfooz?
I think that the Indian listener has matured, and therefore so has our music. The rough edges are being smoothened out.
How did the concept of Mehfooz come about?
I would give all the credit for this to my friend Meghna Gulzar, who gave me a break as actor and playback singer in her film Filhaal. Mehfooz means ‘Safe’ or ‘Secure’ and Meghna was planning a film of this name and told me to do a theme song for it based on her story idea. So I wrote ‘Zindagi hai dhuan to kya…’ where the concept was of socially separated lovers where the man feels secure because of the depth of their love for each other.
But the video says something else.
Yes, Pradeep-da took the concept to another mind-blowing dimension. I went to him for the video because we did not want the clichéd kind of stuff or any skin show. Pradeep-da has been associated with Euphoria from the time of ‘Dhoom pichak…’ which was our breakthrough as well as his first major music video. He has also done our ‘Dhoom gali…’ and ‘Mai ri…’. But besides my relationship with him, I must say that he is as romantic and emotional as I am.
What’s a surgeon doing in musical terrain?
Besides the fact that I was always interested in music, I would term my stepping into the arena as a beautiful mishap that happened around 1995-1996. That’s when I started making my own songs. Please note that Euphoria is also a medical term!
Is there a gene for music anywhere in your family?
Yes. For four generations we have all been doctors and musicians. My chacha is also a doctor who sings. But I am the first in the family to take to music as a profession. My mother is very unhappy about my musical career, because there is much more money and security in medicine than in the kind of music I do!
What motivated the plunge?
Medicine and medical training gives you one reality-check – the eventuality called Death! So I thought that if God has blessed me with this gift, I must do something in this life to develop it. Maybe I will make less money, but I will die content that I lived my life and talent to the full.
Have you completely left medicine?
Well, my clinic is still operational – mom is a doctor and looks after it – and I do attend to some cases. But surgeries are obviously out.
Your turnover as a musician is quite limited.
That’s the way I want it. After Dhoom in 1998 there was Phir Dhoom in 2000 and Aana Meri Gali in 2003.
Today, Indipop has touched an all-time low.
Yes, but Euphoria has never been a typical Indipop member. I call my music ‘Hind-Rock’, a separate genre.
Explain.
Our sound is not synthesized and there is thus a rawness to it. We treat our vocals differently. And I pay the greatest importance to words.
Isn’t that where the core of the current mediocrity lies?
Well, I have always been exposed to Hindi and Urdu and have made conscious efforts to get better and better at them. ‘Mehfooz’ itself is a word whose meaning I was quite unawae of a few years ago. My mother is a Dogra and my upbringing in Delhi has helped a Bengali like me become very conversant with Hindi and Urdu literature.
What are the influences on your life, lyrics and music?
What we become is obviously what we are made. I am from a middle-class family where values are strongest. It is the middle-class that is educated to the maximum, works the most, suffers the most hardships, and follows the rules and laws of the country to the fullest! So my songs reflect this base. But speaking of musical influences I have been very lucky.
How is that?
I have been brought up on all kinds of music, and between them my father, uncle and grandfather had virtually exposed me to and made me appreciate the best points of a gamut of musical genres. To list them, I have listened to Indian classical, folk, film music, Sufiana songs, various other devotional music, ghazal, qawwali, Carnatic music, Indipop, Western classical, rock, jazz, pop and all other genres down to today’s hot genres.
How was the experience of acting and singing in Filhaal?
Well, I loved the singing part. Anu Malik gave me really good songs and was very encouraging and supportive. Of course I also had the pleasure of singing Gulzar-saab’s poetry in the film. As for acting it was a one-off kind of adventure and I am not likely to venture into it again unless I am offered something extraordinary.
It was asked in one of the author Mr.Rajiv Vijayakar for screen weekly.
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Really EUPHORIA is not a money or Fame oriented band but its a Band who believes and lives in Music. These 5 gentlemens breathe in Music…..
Keep on reading to know more about the band…..
Videos of all Songs by Euphoria
