Finding solace in madness

Musician and actor Imaad Shah has got a busy year ahead of him.  Shah’s quirky sense of music and style took him places – having played to audiences all across the country at live music venues in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, and other cities. Internationally, he has played at Red Light Radio, Amsterdam, Sorte Firkante, Copenhagen and Ziro Festival of Music. MADBOY, which is Imaad’s solo  electronic project, is all set to launch a new video for the single Naked Soul. “We’re doing the release with Vh1 – it’s going to be on TV as well as the Internet. It has been directed by Shreya Dev Dube and features movement artiste Sharanya Narayanan. We’re all super excited for the audience to see it and we’re going to be previewing it at the show on Saturday night as well as projecting it at the other shows I’m doing on this mini-tour,” shares Imaad. After the success of his first EP, Imaad launched his sophomore EP Dream Delite in July 2017 that explores the two states of being asleep and awake. That aside, Imaad also has a couple of solo gigs in the pipeline. “I’ll be performing in Mumbai on the 12th and Summer house cafe on April 27,” he adds.

The Mumbai boy with a starry background (He is the son of acclaimed actors Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, and his maternal grandmother was actress Dina Pathak) believes he finds his ground both as a theatre artiste and a musician. “For me, the worlds are closely connected. Directing The Threepenny Opera was a pretty intense experience and definitely during that period, our shows and releases did take a back seat. We had to turn down some big shows and pretty well respected festivals because it just wasn’t possible. But it was well worth it because of the work we created at the end of it and how strongly we all felt about the play as a team. But, yes I see myself doing more musicals, and I also see our live shows getting more ‘theatrical’ or at least focusing a lot on the ‘performance’ aspect of it.

While electronic music falls in his repertoire, there are myriad music influences he draws inspiration from. “They can be pretty varied as I make both Electronic and acoustic music and I’m influenced by many styles. These days, I’m listening to a lot of Funk from 70’s Italian Erotic movies and a lot of Cosmic Jazz,” states Imaad. Aside of the musical projects that’s keeping him busy, Imaad has quite a lot on his plate even otherwise.

“I directed a musical for the stage last year called The Threepenny Opera which we hope to bring to Bengaluru soon as well.”  That said, he adds, namma ooru is also one of the cities he loves performing at. “I absolutely love playing in Bengaluru. It’s probably the most open minded and musically literate of all the Indian cities- definitely in the nightlife/music concert scene. I’m expecting this to be another great night and I’m looking forward to Bengaluru people hearing some of my new music.” Imaad enthuses.

Speaking of how the preparations for their new EP, Imaad adds, “The new Madboy/Mink EP is almost complete and it will be coming out very soon. Work on the music video is about to begin and we really like the way the music is sounding. A short film I made a little while ago will be coming out soon and I’m going to make another one in June before possibly heading to Europe to play some shows.”