Rewind,replay

But Biddu,who started out with in a cover band called the Trojans in Bangalore,is still not quite ready to hang up his guitar straps. He’s going to perform a song at the Fifth Jack Daniels Rock Awards at Hard Rock Café,Mumbai,this Friday,where he’s being felicitated with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He says its feels wonderful to be honoured in this way and quips,“I’m glad it’s not a posthumous award.”

In fact,Biddu has discovered a whole new side to music that he’s actually enjoying. “I’ve realised how much I enjoy performing live. I will be performing at the Blue Frog on February 12. I was bored of staying shut in a studio. At this gig,I’ll be performing a number of well-known songs and just have fun. Hopefully,the audience will too.”

The Blue Frog gig marks the launch of his autobiography Made in India. “Being a writer is my new avatar. I’ve been one for the past three years,” the 65-year-old informs. He first wrote a novel and came to India to peddle it to publishing houses. But they were all interested in his autobiography. “Finally,HarperCollins gave me a three-book deal— they would first publish my autobiography,then my novel and then another book,” the composer says.

The autobiography was written with self-deprecating humour,he informs us,to avoid descending into pomposity. “It’s rather like undressing in public,” he muses. As for the novel,he says he can’t reveal the name,but he assures us that it has all the ingredients that make for a great masala page-turner. “It’s set in the Darjeeling tea estates,just after the British left India,so the whole book has a patina of colonialism. It has romance,bigotry,unrequited love,rape and murder. It’s perfect for a movie,” he chuckles.

Speaking of movies,does he intend to work in a Bollywood project again? “I was always opposed to the idea. There’s no discipline and no unity in that industry and I certainly don’t want to be part of it,” he says vehemently. The first time he ventured into murky filmi waters was when filmmaker-actor the late Feroz Khan persuaded him to write a song for his movie Qurbani. The song,Aap Jaisa Koi,became a phenomenon across the subcontinent and had millions of youth emulating singer Nazia Hasan’s nasal tones. In fact,the song’s continued popularity both puzzles and thrills the composer. “At the recent Jaipur Literary Festival,I jokingly sang Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye toh baap ban jaaye and the crowd went wild.”