HYDERABAD: An actor par excellence, a director and producer with fresh ideas, a VJ, a channel head, a singer and a big time music junkie, Luke Kenny was in the city on Saturday, to mentor the rock bands in the city for Central Battle of Bands organised by Alive India and Aurko.
Talking about his experience of mentoring the rock bands for Central Battle of Bands in the city, he says, “It was great. It happened in the city for the first time. It was really encouraging and heartening to see all these talented bands.”
Highlighting the importance of such initiative he says, “Rock bands have been there for the last 30-40 years, but somehow Hyderabad was hardly on the rock band map. There is a lot of talent in the city that needs to be discovered and events like these help to bring out such talent. Music is successful when it reaches to the common people and laymen.”
Reminiscing about his earlier visits to the city Kenny says, “I have been to Hyderabad earlier and have also performed at the Hard Rock Cafe. And of course any trip to the city would be incomplete without the biryani. Since I am vegetarian, the famed mirchi ka salaan is the thing for me that I do not miss it when I come here.”
The man who has donned many creative hats, when asked to pick the role he is most comfortable with, says, “It is like choosing your favourite child. There was always this drive to be associated with entertainment industry in general and I was lucky to get opportunities early in life. Like Rise of the Zombies was the first Indian Zombie film and had an independent sound track too. I am like a bug hopping from one lotus leaf to another in a pond, hoping that someday the pond will turn into a lake and then hopefully into an ocean.”
Kenny also revealed that he would a part of Rock On 2. “The makers have expressed their desire to have me as a part of the film. There has been some discussions about the tentative shooting dates as well, but nothing is confirmed as of yet. The film is scheduled for a 2016 release.”
Presently working with Vikram Kapadia on his new production of Shakespearian theater Merchant of Venice with Ira Dubey and Neil Bhoopalam, he says, “It is been a while that I did theatre. I have an affinity towards Shakespeare and I have worked with Vikram before, so when I got to know that he is staging the play I told him I had to be part of it.”
Talking about his taste in music, Kenny says Michael Jackson’s packaging, performance ability to entertain amazes him. “I love Beatles as well. As far as contemporary bands are concerned, it is like I look for new influences and inspirations and then go back to roots. I enjoy Black Eyed Peas and Arctic Monkeys. Among Indian bands, I like SuperSonic and Ganesh Talkies. Then of course there is Parikrama, who apart from being great friends are also a terrific band. I also enjoy the music of Pentagram, Spud in the Box, and Nikhil D’Souza.”