Refined talent

Angaraag Mahanta, more famously known as Papon is a heartthrob to at least a million. However he is sad that his homeland Assam despite having a rich musical heritage don’t have a music festival to promote domestic and international bands. While it’s always a pleasure to perform in home grounds he feels the urgent need for dedicated feats. “We really need to pull up our socks and work hard to make Guwahati as music capital,” said Papon during his gig.

When the star shines upon him and he starts performing, people go crazy just to get a bit of his attention. But the persona appears to be immensely different if one gets a chance to meet him personally. Recently, the singer visited his hometown Guwahati for Rongali carnival. But between packed schedule, he took out some time to chat with us and allow us a sneak peak to the celeb’s life. Talking about his eagerness to attend, “I usually try and keep myself free around this time of year so that I can come for Bihu every year. In the span of a month or so, we do 15 to 20 shows which is a lot. It’s fun, it’s madness, your own people singing along.”

Papon, who performed last evening at the fifth edition Rongali amidst loud cheers from his fans, said almost every city in India organises or hosts music fests in a large scale but Assam has not got such privilege.

But still, as it is always said that an artist’s soul if filled by none. In spite of having a huge crowd at previous day’s event, the performer said, “Yesterday’s nothing, it’s a very small crowd. When you see 20 or 30 thousand people or even 50 thousand people singing along, it’s totally a different feeling. But sadly, for the last four years I haven’t done Bihu for various engagements, like this year I have to go to United States. For some reason or the other it’s not happening. But I really do miss my hometown especially this time of the year.”

Talking about the recent trend of remixes, all Papon had to say was, “If you give credit to a song and you’re inspired by a song so much that you want to do it your way, if you have lived it since childhood, and you want to recreate it, that’s not a crime. But when you haven’t even heard the song and someone has given you the job of remaking it, then you need to decide if you’re in sync with the soul of the song to take it to a different dimension? If you’re not, then don’t take up the job. Like Mera kuch saaman lauta do, I would someday love to remake it myself. Because I feel the song to my heart and soul. If you’re not into the song and just working as a recreator, then you’ll miss out on the fact that Kis wajah se gaana bana tha (Why the song was made in the first place)?”

He adds when asked if there are remixes made due to lack of content as a reason, “No, there has never been lack of content at all. People want quick fix, quick success. So if you remake a hit song it becomes a hit all over again. That is the process I think most of the times. Not always though. Sometimes, a song can definitely be recreated because it’s needed in the movie. I cannot say it in one line but the truth is the connection between a person and a song makes all the difference.”