Indie Insider | Kanishk Seth: Didn't spend any money to promote Rangi Saari, it boomed!

Kanishk Seth is the son of singer Kavita Seth and the man behind the viral song Rangi Saari

The guest on the third episode of our special musical series 'Indie Insider' is Kanishk Seth, who became a viral sensation with the song Rangi Saari, which he made with his mother, singer Kavita Seth. Kanishk is known for creating fusion music like the amalgamation of Indian classical with electronic music in songs like 'Saacha Sahib', 'Rangi Saari' and many more.

Kanishk was in seventh grade when he started learning sound engineering, which people usually pursue after graduation. He even learned film-making and photography, and also theatre. He was even serious about a career in acting at one point.

According to the singer, he just gave music a shot, which happened to him very naturally. The singer and composer was just 18 when he came out with his first album, on which he started working at the age of 14.

The actor credits his father for motivating not just him, but also his mother, Kavita Seth, on pursuing their dreams and career. Although, Kanishk took time to work on things after he lost his father.

Coming from a family of musicians, Kanishk mentioned how his brother is also a musician. "He is a poet, he is an inventor. He has made his own instrument. But our mother has always given us enough freedom to let us make our own decisions. She has never forced us to do music." Kanishk even did a crowdfunding campaign for his own video as he wanted to make things work on his own with no help from his mother. He actually ended up raising Rs 5.5 lakhs for it.

Kanishk also talked about how his single 'Jahan Pe Dil Hai' was actually made for Shakun Batra's film Gehraiyaan. "The intention wasn't to make it as an independent song." But it later came out as a single since it did not make it to the film.

"I had met Shakun Batra last to last year and he had asked me to make something and I said sure, let me try something. I met him long back when I was participating in a film festival, because I also like making short films and music videos. I participated in the Mumbai Film Festival and he was the judge over there. He really liked the music that I had composed for that short film."

He continued, "But for whatever reason, it could not materialise, but the song stayed with me. But I had sent it to Shakun and he had really liked it."

Kanishk believes that independent music is in a way influenced by film music. "The songwriters and singers we have in our country, their writing and composition is somewhat influenced by what we have been listening to and whom we have been listening to. Nothing is original, after all. You get inspired by people. But, at the same time, you do not have to rely on films and you can just release a great song if you have one, independently, on different platforms. "

He added, "Rangi Saari was released in 2020 and we had no expectations at all. Just like that we made a sweet video that we wanted to put out and it was like a hand-painted animated video that we came out with and people spoke about that also. The song grew organically. We paid zero for its promotions. We just put in money to make the video. That's it. The song boomed like anything! I don't know what happened. In 2021, that song was all over Instagram. I could see people making reels out of it and it just went crazy."

Kanishk believes that the power of independent music is so strong now that no artist is afraid to work independently. "It's a very strong medium," he said.

Watch the full interview here: