KOCHI: What would Ben Affleck and Will Smith sound like if they spoke Hindi? “Me!” That’s what Rahul B Seth will tell you. Catch Affleck and Smith in the Hindi versions of ‘ Armageddon ’ and ‘I am legend ’ and you’ll know why. A voice artist, lyricist, vocalist and music composer, Rahul was in the city recently to promote his new venture ‘ Awaaz Do - Voices for Harmony ,’ a song created as a tribute to the undying spirit of Mumbai in the wake of the recent terror attacks.
“The song was unwrapped at a special event at the Gateway of India by Tushar Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. The response was overwhelming.
I now plan to release the song on all national channels. The spirit of the song is similar to ‘ Mile sur mera tumhara ’ and Vande Mataram .’ In the current scenario, I hope ‘Awaaz do... ’ will be an impetus to national integration,” says Rahul.
Rahul has a rich literary and artistic lineage. “Author Vikram Seth is my paternal uncle. Majnu, the popular film actor and director of the early fifties is my grandfather. And I found my calling in my voice.” With his command over Hindi, Urdu and English and effortless voice modulation, Rahul went on to dub for feature films such as G V Iyer’s ‘ Swami Vivekananda, ’ Aruna Raje’s ‘Bhairavi, ’ Aziz Mirza’s ‘Yes Boss ,’ Sankar’s ‘ Jeans ,’ Kamal Hassan’s ‘Abhay’ and K P Sasi’s ‘ Ek Alag Mausam ’ among others. “ Dubbing for ‘Jeans ’ was a challenge as mine was the voice for both the protagonists played by actor Prasanth. It was difficult especially when I had to dub for the high voltage emotional scenes wherein the identical twins talk to each other.” Rahul has also lent his voice to animation films such as ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Sinbad’ and scores of ad films, documentaries and jingles. A recent stint in Hollywood has the voice artist flying high. “I lent my voice to Aaron Eckhart in Warner Bros’ new Batman flick ‘ Dark Knight. ’” When Ricky Martin’s ‘Maria’ got a desi makeover, Rahul was the man behind its creation. “That was at a time when Ricky Martin was quite a rage. It was fun writing and performing it in Hindi.
The song goes Dekho na, ek baar mujhko mud ke meri jaan/ dekho na ek baar to zara. ” Rahul was awarded a silver disc by Channel V and Virgin Records for being the finalist in the Virgin Voice Choice Contest where he performed the song live. The lyricist in him was acknowledged yet another time when he wielded the pen for the Indo-Canadian bilingual film ‘Taj Mahal - A monument of love. ’ “It was joy unbound when I came to know that the theme songs in English and Hindi had major airplay on BBC Radio, UK,” says Rahul.
He has also written the Hindi songs for Walt Disney’s animation blockbusters including ‘ Tarzan,’ ‘Lion King,’ ‘Aladdin and the King of Thieves’ and ‘ 101 Dalmatians .’ Among Rahul’s hit songs in Bollywood are ‘Hola senor ’ in the Salman Khan starrer flick ‘ Heroes ’, the title song of ‘ Hari Puttar ’ and Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Go. ’ Rahul is also busy with a couple of singing assignments.
“I recently teamed up with Shweta Pandit for the song ‘ Jal jayega ’ in a yet to be titled project. The music and lyrics are also mine. Two more films are in the pipeline, one of them being ‘ Sun zara ,’ a women-centric film featuring Ria and Raima Sen.” Rahul’s was the background music for Shah Rukh Khan’s real estate ad campaign. “It was a pleasure to be associated with SRK for Shah Rukh Khan Boulevard on Dana Island, Ras Al Khaimah. I’ve also written and produced an anthem for the event ‘Chak de yaara ’ featuring him and all the cricket players of the Indian and Pakistani teams.” Like every one in B-town, Rahul dreams of making it big there. Right now, he’s looking forward to the release of the Bobby Deol-Kangana Ranaut starrer ‘Roshan’ in which he is the lyricist and composer. "Years down the line, I want people to remember me for the quality of my work. It’s my ambition to be creatively sound and popular, striking a balance between stardom and critical acclaim,” says Rahul.
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