Ram puts on his desi shoes

Last time he was in the news for suing the Roshan's for plagiarism for the Sony Ericsson tune, this time he's creating waves with DK Bose. Music composer Ram Sampath has a lot going for him. Ram, who's gained fame for his music in films like Let's Talk, Luv Ka The End, Mehengai Daayan from Peepli Live and a host of other popular numbers, talks to CS about his drive to make original music:

Musical connect
Music has been a part of my life his I was 10 years old. About 15 years back, I was part of a band called Colour Blind. But I lost the urge to make music just for a smaller audience. What I wanted to do was to integrate Indian and world music together. I joined the advertising world as it is an organised sector and as a composer you get paid to learn and to experiment. Today, DK Bose is a hit, because all of us can relate to it as we are all running to achieve things. It's not a distorted version of rock. I want to speak about honesty through music.


Ram Sampath

Break through
Like music and art go hand-in-hand, so do intent and integrity. I'm working to make interesting music and not just hit music. I want to break the clutter and reach those of today's generation. I'm trying to bring the past to the future in an interesting way with desi gypsy punk or gypsy folk music. Go back to RD Burman in his days and you'll know what I mean. I love the East European folk music and the artists there. That is the kind of zone I want to get into. In fact, Manu Chao is my favourite musician of all times.u00a0 I think now is a really good time for those in the Indian music scene. I really like a lot of bands that are creating music at present - Advaita, Medusa, Menwhopause - they are very good. I hope to work with them in films. I want to raise the profile of these talents. It's just the matter of finding the right fit.

Off beat
I'm a complete control freak. I have to be involved with every facet of a song. But I know that I need to start doing less. My wife will be the happiest if I do that. You know, I haven't taken a holiday in ages. Once the Aamir Khan Production's film releases, I'm going to take a break and the first thing I'm going to do is stay at home for a week as I've been missing from there far too often. The next thing that I plan to do is go to a getaway to get my juices back and catch up on my reading. I read a lot of fiction and Italo Calvino is my favourite writer, so I hope to reread some of his stories and novels.