Karan Oberoi of Band of Boys is ready to rock you with his debut single ‘Challa’

Television actor and singer Karan Oberoi is on a creative high. Member of the popular music band, Band of Boys, Karan is now coming up with a debut single ‘Challa’. Romantic in genre, music of the song has been done by Sargam Jassu and lyrics penned by Preeti Verma. After doing a series of stage shows throughout the country and trying his hand at television in the last 10 years, the actor-singer has now decided to shift focus on singles and music albums. ‘Challa’ though, he says, was never planned to be his debut single.

“Challa as a song was never supposed to be a part of my first solo album. It was made on request for a film that was being produced by a friend. For some reasons, though, it did not make it into the film. I had the song with me, which I started including into my solo shows as an original number. The response that I got was great; at just about every gig, I was asked for an encore. This is exactly what had happened when Meri Neend Udd Gayi Hai was released by Band of Boys. With almost the similar thing happening on this track, I decided to focus on putting it out as a single and then following it up with an album,” he says.

Karan, who also owns a film production company in Mumbai called Crooner Studio, says the song is extremely simple and easy to sing.

He has also contributed to making of the video for the song. “While working on the song, one thing I was very clear was that my first solo attempt had to be a reflection of my ethos as an artist. So keeping in mind the requirement of the film, I sat with the music director and the producer of the film and suggested what I had in my mind…we all agreed that since it was my first solo I was very particular about how I had to present myself…a few sittings with the music director and the  lyric writer , I had the song down, which everybody liked quite instantly …they found it pretty catchy…the video was a different kettle of fish. I usually have been pretty hands on, on all the videos of Band of Boys. However, a lot of production planning was put into making of Challa. Since it was my first solo, I spent some time ideating on it and took it to a director friend of mine, Sahil Seth, who was very supportive of the idea of an album,” says the artiste, on making of the album.

Starting his television career in 1999, Karan admits to having taken a long time to launch himself as a solo artist in fast-growing and changing Indie music scene in the country.

He wanted to follow the same pattern as the Band of Boys had done before releasing their first album ‘Yeh Bhi Woh Bhi’, which went on to become a smashing hit in 2002. “When we started as a band, we rehearsed for two years before we launched our first album, so that we had everything in order in terms of look, feel, stage performance and the sound of the band. We had done close to 1000 shows as a band across the globe, but I still wanted the feel of going solo on the stage. So I started doing solo shows for the last two years. When I felt I was completely ready as an independent solo artiste, with all aspects covered, I decided to launch, my first solo song,” he says.

The singer is now focusing on coming up with another Hindi album. On Band of Boys, the singer says the band’s next single is almost ready and would be released before the end of this year. So, how has the band changed in all these years? Not much, says Karan. “We have all grown up with each other in the last 10 years. We have matured in some sense, but the madness and energy on stage is very much the same. We have a lot of fun when we perform and that has not changed in the last 10 years,” he beams.

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