MUMBAI: Sanjay Sugumaran, a Bengaluru based musician, who has been playing for bands like Divulge, Bhrama Approaches, Special Edition Xpress, has actively participated in certain social topics, of the country. He has raised voice against them through a song.

His recent track Bangalore Roads is a parody of the original Country Roads by John Denver.  The track focuses on the immediate need to rectify potholes in a funny manner. Sanjay Sugumaran has a say on this, “The roads are extremely terrible in some parts of our country.  And this is quite a big topic right now. So, I wanted to address this issue through my song Bangalore Roads. Well, the track had gone pretty viral too.”

Check the track here: 

Sanjay Sugumaran adds, “This song is to reach out to people and accept our problem. Let’s not hide away from it. And be stern on the idea of resolving the problem. We shouldn’t play the ‘blame game’, especially what we do on the government. This is a never-ending game. What you can do, is acknowledge the problem and work on it.”

While apart from coming up with tracks on social issues, he also plays solo gigs and is working on his new band called Experimental Fools. He is also learning music production and is keen to become a producer of music. As a musician, he has played across the country in different venues and has also featured in a TV show called Ranveer’s Cafe along with his band.

Having finished his law degree from one of the premier institutions in the country, this Bangalore boy and is all set to take a leap towards his passion. He can also play various instruments like keyboards, guitars, harmonica, melodica, didgeridoo, beat-box etc.

On asking about his shift in career, he says, “Initially, it was a struggle and it still is. I finished my degree and everyone expected me to land upon a job or practice law. I did practice for a while, but then one day I realized that if not now, when? I sat in the park outside the High Court, made a call to my lawyer and called ‘quits’. It didn’t start well off after that, but I just stuck to my path and it has surely got me somewhere. I am also grateful to my brother and friends, who stood with me when I had nothing.”

He believes that music is a feeling that anybody could perceive and play. No matter where you go or what you do, there’s one thing that completes life and that’s music. On asking him about his goal towards his career, he says that he is working towards a day, where every emotion and every feeling could be understood by people through his music.”

Sanjay Sugumaran, who had faced a mount-full of challenges on his way, he shares, “In a country like ours, especially, challenges are never-ending. We are very diverse in terms of regional and language-wise, so the problem is if I stick to one genre of music a lot, people wouldn’t like it.”

“So wherever I had to go, I knew, I had to go according to the audience preference. I have faced this earlier also. Sometimes people dislike it or don’t understand,” adds Sugumaran.

Lastly, we were keen to know if Sanjay Sugumaran would be making songs on social topics, he informs, “Currently Bangalore is facing a big issue of global warming and environmental issues. So my next song would be focusing on this.”