Bollywood meets the rock band

Mihir Joshi of the Bollywood Rock Project has stars on his jacket and in his head, as the band reached the semi-finals of reality show India'su00a0Got Talent. While local mantris make crazy promises to win your vote, this music-man looking for a vote, serenaded you through song

Mihir Joshi wants your vote. No he isn't a kurta-clad septuagenarian who wants you to stain your index finger for him. n fact he dresses in a waistcoat and even dabs on some make up. But while the politicos take the stage only to make long sermons and promises they can't keep, 30 year-old Joshi gets on stage to rock 'n' roll.



Together with his merry bunch made up of Sanju Aguiar on guitar, Nigel Rajaratnam on keyboards and saxophone, Ishaan Krishna on bass and Aggie Picardo on drums, Joshi who handles vocals forms the Bombay Rock Project, a rock-jazz outfit that does a mash up of old Bollywood music and some rock 'n' roll.

While the local head-bobbing crowd is no stranger to any of these musically inclined lads that have played with bands like Depth, Dischordian, The Hoodwink Circle, and Devoid, the rest of the nation was introduced to the sounds of Bombay Rock Project via reality show India's Got Talent Season 3.

While Joshi has predominantly reserved his hip thrusts for Elvis songs and other English blues, the reality show looks at an East meets West line-up of songs like Inteha Ho Gayi from Amitabh Bachchan's infamous sharaabi act with a contemporary twist. "The great thing is that people already know the songs and it's easy for them to sing along with us," says Joshi.

But isn't that a tried-and-tested formula? Joshi is quick to answer, "We're not trying to make remixes. What we're trying to do is reinterpret the songs in our way so it could appeal not just to modern India but possibly the whole world."

Yes, we have all been entertained for reality television's attempt to peg a belly dance against a juggling monkey, but for an indie band to get a national platform like this is a major win even if Bollywood had to squeeze itself in between the saxophonist and drummer.u00a0u00a0

As the Bombay Rock Project performed at the semi-finals, aired on Colors on August 27, people didn't look out for the jolly Meiyang Chang and Gautam Rodeu00a0 or the panel of judges with Sonali Bendre, Shekhar Kapoor and Kirron Kher. Their eyes, it seemed were only for Joshi.

When we caught up with Joshi, he was in New Delhi hosting a webcert with Parikrama for an online portal for independent artists ufffd ArtistsAloud.com. He is a busy man. You can find him chatting up listerners on his late show on 94.3 Radio One, as well.