Rada, Sneha Khanwalkar’s ‘Maushi’ basks in the limelight of Dev Patel’s ‘Monkey Man’

(The glass of alcohol drunk before is now replaced by a bottle, Take it slow, or you’ll lose control, A skeleton is left now where a strong body once stood, As the responsibilities continue to pile up every day.)

With actor Dev Patel’s directorial debut, ‘Monkey Man’ getting worldwide acclaim— a voice from Pune, 28-year-old rapper Raj Sanjay Darekar, popularly known as Rada, is gaining notice for his song with Sneha Khanwalkar, ‘Maushi’ in Patel’s film.

Talking about the mentality needed to bag such a big role, he said, “If I paid too much attention to the fact that this was to become a part of ‘Monkey Man’ it would have preoccupied me and I would have maybe not created something like this.”

“After completing night shift at work (Raj is a Central Railways Employee), I got a call from producer HHB (Hip Hop Bhaiya) who works with Sneha Khanwalkar and said that she wants to work with me,” says Raj, reminiscing about the first call. He had no clue then, why Sneha Khanwalkar chose him. “It was Sneha…from the Gangs of Wasseypur fame! I guess the stars were aligned. I was too excited and could not lose this opportunity at any cost,” Raj says. He was provided with the beats, a theme and a background track and composed the first draft in the morning itself which became the work we can hear today with a few minor modifications.

Talking about his introduction to rap, Raj says that though music was always a part of childhood, from Anuradha Paudwal’s Gayatri Mantra in the morning to Koli Geet or DJ Nikhil Bollywood songs in the evening after school. His true introduction to rap as an art was in the ninth standard when he first listened to mainstream global rap icons such as JayZ, Linkin Park, Eminem. “While listening to rap from artists like Tupac, Biggie, Eminem, some who were killed at 25 and had already produced a body of work by then with the power to address poignant societal themes in a few lines, I was instantly attracted to the form,” says Raj.

“During college I started scribbling notes on the back of my notebook, expressing thoughts which I could not say out loud. In 2014, my father passed away and I needed an outlet for the pain, and writing rap helped me out. I believe that rap I wrote during this period was rooted in more serious themes in life,” says Raj. Experimenting with languages at the start, he slowly started to lean towards Marathi/ Hindi as his thoughts were formed in these languages and he was also introduced to artists like RAGA and works like ‘Meri Gully mein’ during this period.

Eventually he marked his entry in rapping after collaborating with Pune HipHop Renaissance, a Pune-based hip-hop rappers community.

Starting work young as a technician with the Carriage and Wagon department in Central Railways post his father’s demise to support the family, Raj believes that whatever struggle he has seen as the older son in the family has shaped his work. “Usually my best work comes on an empty stomach,” says Raj, smiling while talking about prominent themes in his work. His song ‘Daal-Bhaat’ is based on a real anecdote when his mother prepared a lentil rice stew for dinner consecutively for days, citing the rising prices of groceries for her decision. After joking about this, when he finally sat down to pen his thoughts, many ideas burst out from this singular incident. Ideas of economy, life and monotony.

Conducting street rap cypher movement called Tour de Tapri in Pune till 2020, an initiative to hold free events in public spaces for rappers to showcase their talent, Raj believes that Pune has more artists than ever that are gaining prominence now. While rapping is also looked down upon as an art form, sometimes mislabelled as something to gain mere eyeballs or just to attract attention, Raj says “Nowadays, some artists zoom in on gang culture and violence and amp it up to a 100 and try to make it the focus of their rap. But that is not the only reality there is in rap, many parallel realities along with it exist,” he says.

On the way forward, he says he has some singles lined up. “Rap is one medium through which I express myself. I would love to explore different forms of music. Learning drums has been on my checklist for a long time. Maybe acting or exploring another language. Kiti pan explore kara kami ahe (However much we explore it’s always going to be less),” Raj says.

Raj likens writing rap to preserving episodes of a time and a culture, which may be considered literature to someone in 2080. “It’s too much fun for me and I want to keep it that way. The day I start to treat this like a way to earn a daily wage, is the day I will quit rap,” says Raj.