New York-based guitarist now eyes Bollywood

New Delhi: With an EP and debut album Hmayra to his credit, New York-based Indian composer Shubh Saran says his next stop could well be Bollywood.

An alumnus of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, the 25-year old hopes to return to India one day and work in Bollywood as he believes the industry has become more welcoming towards independent artistes.

“I have always considered coming back at some point. Bollywood is something that I definitely would love to get involved in. I know it is tough to grow individually because you are working with the director, but there are some incredible composers who have set the scene,” said Saran, who is primarily a guitarist.

“I am friends with many local Indian artistes and I think they are doing interesting things with their music.”

Saran, who grew up and lived in India, Egypt, Switzerland and Canada before moving to the United States, joined a liberal arts college in Toronto after graduating from high school. But after one year, he set out to chase his dream – a career in music.

This dream delivered him to the Berklee College of Music in 2010, one of the most competitive colleges for contemporary music where admission is a prized commodity.

“In high school, I would listen to a lot of bands and that’s when I started to fall in love with Indian fusion. A R Rahman is someone in the Hindi film industry who has been very inspirational. I love his music,” Saran said.