I didn’t make my first solo record until 1981 so I don’t have any 60’s or 70’s recordings but I am working on a large boxed set called DUST to be released next year, the 20th anniversary of my first solo record.
Initially, when ‘Scam’ was released and it instantly became huge, I did feel the pressure. Everyone kept telling me that my next move will decide my career, that I had to choose wisely and be double sure of what I do next. But when I thought about it, I realised there’s no formula to this.
I have always maintained that it’s not the quantity of work, but the quality that should speak. I have maintained the same for my music albums, too. I have always released them after a gap of two to three years.
I was 17 when I released my first record. I didn’t really figure out what I wanted to say, how to get a message and put it together.
Four months after we released ‘I Don’t Want to Be Funny Anymore,’ the album came out on EggHunt. Three months after that, we officially signed with Matador. That’s not a very long time: half a year between the first flood and the final signing.
When ‘SOTY 2’ got delayed by a year, my dad actually didn’t even congratulate me till the film released because that’s how fickle the industry is. That’s how dispensable people are.
By the time ‘Abdullah’ released, I had already been offered three roles. Word about me just spread. I started getting calls directly from producers and directors.
After about nine blockbusters, I had forgotten how to deal with a failure when ‘Jaan-Emaan’ released. I was shaken.
