“Jee Le Zara, Kar Manmaaniyan
Kyun De Raha, Tu Kurbaaniyan?
Zindagi Sada, Manzil Hi Nahi
Bulaayein Tujhe, Ye Aazadiyaan”
[Live your life and do as you please
Why sacrifice for illogical customs and beliefs?
Life’s not only about arriving somewhere
For the freedom of the journey beckons you]
The couplet is from Jee Le Zara, the latest song by Delhi-based Hindi rock band Antariksh. The video conceived for it was filmed as a youth anthem to encourage youngsters to break free from the shackles of illogical customs and baggage that society forces on them. Band founder and vocalist Varun Rajput performs the track and is accompanied by Joshua Peter (keyboards and vocals), Dan Thomas (drums), Shrikant Biswakarma (guitars).
Released last week, it features five artists across India, as protagonists and role models, namely Brigit Jose (poet), Rebecca D’Costa (hula hoop artist), Jia Singh (wellness consultant), Anveer Mehta (skateboarder) and Anna Vyas (dancer/model) alongside the band. Rajput tells us more:
How did the song come into being?
Jee Le Zara was written and composed in 2018, and we started playing it live the same year. Over the past two years, it became so popular that the audience sang along with us at concerts. So, we wanted to put it out with a really good video. While the scenes with the five artists were shot in Mumbai, Goa, Bengaluru and Delhi, the band shoot happened at a factory shed in Ghaziabad in July. The video ready by October 2019, but it took a while to figure out the distribution. I hope the track inspires people to live life on their own terms without worrying too much about the destination.
What was the reason behind making these artists a part of the video?
We want to send out a message that people, specifically in India, need to break the chains that bind us to illogical customs and societal baggage, which in turn limits us from achieving our true potential. Instead of featuring a celebrity in the video, we wanted to feature real-life heroes and role models. We want to show that to excel in life you don’t need to be from a certain background, household, status, race, colour, creed, or caste.
Did the pandemic affect the release of your song?
Actually, the pandemic helped propel the release. Normally, when we are playing and touring throughout the year, it becomes tough to find time to focus on putting a song out. I guess the only thing we can thank the lockdown for (if at all) is for giving us time to stop, reflect on things and take time to put out new music. Moreover, I used this time to learn new musical styles and now I have switched gears to releasing all the new material we have written over the last year or so. Meanwhile, Josh, Dan and Shrikant have mostly been teaching.
Your future plans?
As the pandemic has been a huge setback in terms of financials, I am trying to experiment with newer revenue streams. In fact, we have recently started a Patreon page to build a niche community of loyal fans and friends who want to be a part of our journey and contribute to our content creation process.