Bollywood has massive audience in world: Apache Indian (Interview)

Mumbai, March 8 (IANS) Indian origin reggae artist Steven Kapur, popularly known as Apache Indian, says Bollywood has massive popularity in Britain and the rest of the world which is why he wants to learn Hindi and work in movies.

He says he has collaborated with many Indian artists on music, but his ultimate aim is to act in a Bollywood film.

'I have collaborated with A.R. Rahman, Harbhajan Mann and Pritam in the past, but what I would really like to do is to learn Hindi and act in movies. I have done a movie with Bappi Lahiri called 'Love Story', which has not been released yet. India has a great culture, but you have to spend time here and cannot do things from the UK,' the 43-year-old told IANS in an interview.

'Bollywood has become very popular around the world. There is a massive audience in the UK, not just Indians who love to listen to Bollywood music. The growth and change have been absolutely phenomenal over the years. The maximum change has been noticed in the past seven years where Bollywood has reached out to a global audience beyond just Indians,' he added.

The singer is here to promote his new album 'Musical Freedom' and had a sneak preview of the new album on Radio City 91.1 FM.

'I am in India for my tour. I will be touring around four cities in India. This is a warm-up tour for the new album coming out later in the year and getting together my live band. I am here to promote the same,' said the singer who gave albums like 'No Reservations', 'Make Way For The Indian' and 'Real People/ Wild East'.

He believes this is the right time for him to return to India.

'I have been busy with different territories, travelling in different parts of the world. It's not true that I haven't been to India, but I have been to India in bits and pieces. Everything comes at a right time and this is the right time, I believe,' said Apache whose last album titled 'Sadhu - The Movement' came in 2007.

After witnessing unexpected success, Apache slowed down and toured the world to enrich himself.

'I believe in my career everything happened too suddenly. I had way too many hits in a span of three years and I have been able to draw massive crowds for my performances. Sometimes you have to take one step backward to take two steps forward.

'I always thought that I got success too soon and no experience with it. Hence I wanted to go around the world and get some experience, play with my band, get into the industry and know the industry better. Now that I have done all that, I am coming back with new albums and new songs for the audience,' he added.

His new album will hit the shelves in October this year.

Talking about Indian music, he said: 'The music industry in India has gone through a massive change. In the 1990s, a lot of international music was played across channels. The next phase comprised only Bollywood.

'Again now a whole new culture has come in with rock, hip hop, reggae becoming popular. A lot of experimentation is happening with fusion, etc., as well. It is really good for India and I am extremely excited about it.'

(Ruchika Kher can be contacted at [email protected])