Hille le Pune

Theirs is the typical rags-to-riches story. After a modest beginning way back in 1990,which included a dark period when the band could only play a few gigs in as many years,the erstwhile four-member band – with Sushmit Sen on guitars,Amit Kilam on drums,Rahul Ram on bass and vocals,and Asheem Chakravarty on tabla and vocals – is today arguably one of India’s most successful. The band has played at many prestigious venues,both in India and abroad,which includes playing in front of the then-president K R Narayanan,and at the famous Trafalgar Square in London.

However,the band is currently in mourning. Tragically,at what seemed to be the pinnacle of their career,Asheem Chakravarty suffered a sudden heart attack and passed away in December last year. Since then,though they have continued playing,with Tuhin Chakravarty and Himanshu Joshi filling in the void,the band has not moved on. “Tuhin and Himanshu are not permanent members yet. We are taking our time about making that decision,” says Ram.

However,ever since Chakravarty’s demise,something has happened that Ram struggles to explain. “Audiences all over the country have exploded! Venues which used to barely attract 500 are suddenly holding thousands,” he says,adding,“I feel both happy and sad when I perform – happy for the band,but sad because Asheem could not see this.”

Indian Ocean has undertaken an experiment for the release of their new album,16/330 Khajoor Road. Instead of releasing all the songs on a CD,as is the usual trend,the band is releasing songs one by one,on the Internet,available for download. Once all the songs have been put on the internet,only then is the band going to sell the CD. “It is merely a step forward. Just as the cassette had to give way to the CD,the CD too has to give way to the internet,” says Ram. “It has only been a few weeks since we put up one of the songs Chand on the Internet,and it has already had 10,000 downloads. We are quite happy with this number because we initially thought that news of the songs available on the internet would spread only through word-of-mouth and thus the first month would be the slowest.” Incidentally,this is the first Indian album to be available free for download on the Internet.

The band has also started a poll on their website to see which musicians their fans want them to perform with. “We were just curious. We have offers,from time to time,to perform with other artistes. We just wanted to see with whom our audiences would want us to perform,” says Ram. However,he also adds that there are no immediate plans to act on the poll. “We want to wait for a while,till the entire 16/330 Khajoor Road has released. Then we will see,” he says.

Indian Ocean has also given music for Aamir Khan’s latest project,Peepli Live. Speaking about working with the actor,Ram says,“Initially we were approached only by Anusha Rizvi,the writer and director of the movie. Aamir Khan came into the picture much later. However,working with him has been a revelation. He is a perfectionist. While we were recording the songs,he listened to the music very carefully.”

They will be performing on August 5 at Hard Rock Cafe in Koregaon Park as a part of the band’s tour of India. “We will be playing at 50 venues in five months. I guess that’s one of the side effects of fame – life becomes hectic,” laughs Ram.