Dubai is a great reflection of Islam, says Bollywood composer Salim Merchant

At 51, Salim Merchant looks refreshingly younger than his age. The pesky wrinkles have yet to appear on his face, which every now and then, breaks into a smile that can lift the spirit of a critically ill patient in the darkest corner of a hospital. 

Just as you begin to feel a sense of envy at his wrinkle-free appearance, the celebrated Indian composer nudges you to join him for a meal at an upscale Dubai restaurant.

So it’s on a dining table that Salim reflected on the memorable journey with his elder brother, Sulaiman, and how the duo served up musical treats in some of the biggest Bollywood hits of this century—Chak De! India, Band Baja Barat and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. 

But more than his film songs and even more than the joy of working with King Khan, what fills his heart with divine happiness is the platform provided by Bhoomi (a Sanskrit word for earth). 

Merchant with Dubai poet Amaan Haider Zaidi

An annual independent project launched by him and his brother in 1999, Bhoomi offers folk musicians and singers from different genres of a country as diverse as India a platform to celebrate their musical roots. 

Salim smiled again when he realised this reporter hails from Assam, a state in India’s northeast region that rarely makes national headline.

And then, in a low-pitched voice, he had me stumped by effortlessly singing the first four lines of a devotional song from Srimanta Sankardev, the 15th-16th century Assamese polymath.

“My friend Zubeen Garg (of Ya Ali fame) from Assam sang this for me. This was our first Bhoomi project in 1999,” he reminisced.    

In the next 30 minutes, Salim kept us flowing in a stream of musical delights, from Madan Mohan’s masterpieces and the inimitable Arijit Singh to K-pop’s global trendsetters, while also showing an admiration for a Dubai-based Indian poet. Excerpts: 

We are so glad to meet you here in Dubai. Are you a frequent visitor?

Not really. But I love this place because the leaders of this country have given spaces for all faiths, you find temples, churches, gurudwaras. Dubai is a great reflection of Islam, which tells you to love everybody, every human being, respect every culture and every religion. This place is a great reflection of what our faith is. And I've not seen any country or city which has such great infrastructure, and yet has a cycling track which is 30-km long with no cars. I mean, wow! And the technology, I won't be surprised if drones start delivering pizzas here soon.  

Since you spoke about this city in such glowing terms, Dubai-based poet Amaan Haider Zaidi (pen name Haider Amaan Haider) made headlines in India recently when he wrote for Shaan’s first Ghazal album, Ghazal Ho Gayi. Amaan is the head of corporate affairs at VFS Global and he is a late bloomer in the world of poetry. Were you surprised by the talent of this Dubai resident?

I have met him twice, and we are actually planning to do something together. We can’t disclose now, but what I can tell you is that he's really blessed by the Almighty to have words that come to him. You may go to a school to write, to study music, but to compose music, you can go to the best of schools, but nobody will show you how to compose a song. It's part of your heart, your soul. And it’s the same in poetry. Nobody can teach you how to write. And in Hindi, there is a saying that where the sunlight doesn't reach, poets always reach. Amaan’s words have the same power. 

Merchant with singer Sonu Nigam.

As composers, you and your brother have delivered some of the greatest Bollywood hits of the past 20 years. But we have seen in your recent interviews that you take more pride in your Bhoomi projects. How different is it to create music for a film and to do something original independently? 

Actually, you know, I never compose music thinking it’s for a film. When I made songs like Shukran Allah, Ali Maula or Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hain, I didn’t make them for a movie. Those were songs that I felt like doing, these were just art pieces. I don’t take music as a task. So Bhoomi is my musical expression. It’s an extension of my personality. It’s a reflection of my tradition, it’s a reflection of who I am — an Indian with Sufi influences, influences of folk and new-age pop, I am a mix of all. That’s why I managed to make songs for different genres of movies like Band Baja Baaraat, Fashion etc. But Bhoomi is a project I started in 1999.

I wanted to do a traditional folk song, a bandish and a Qawwali. I composed O Re Piya (Aaja Nachle, Madhuri Dixit’s comeback film) in the shape of a Qawwali. I can’t make songs like that right now because there are no movies like that which appreciate that kind of music. But I can make Bhoomi where I can have a Kashmiri folk song or an Assamese Bihu song. No one stops me. Earlier, in movies, I did very different styles of songs, nowadays movies don’t have that scope, everything is very boxed. Everything looks like a package. Nobody gives you the space to create brand new music. So I started Bhoomi and I felt like, you know, it's not only just gave me the scope and the reflection of my personality, and also created a lot of love for our cultures, states and their diversities and brought in more languages.

You are still doing Bollywood movies, but it seems Bhoomi fills you with pure happiness…

I feel very blessed. I lived my life now. I am in a great space. If your question is, ‘What’s your dream today?’ Well, I am living my dream. I am so content in my life that I can shut my eyes and say thanks to the Almighty because Bhoomi is a platform that also gives newcomers a chance — not just my colleagues from Bollywood — to be a part of our family. Now, Shaan is a friend of mine, and he is also doing a Bhoomi song for me. I felt like recreating that spirit of his Tanha Dil (2003), that endless, timeless feel. It’s a pop song, but it has that Shaan element in it. So it’s a great platform for all styles of music.

Merchant with tabla maestro Zakir Hussain

Talking about the timeless appeal of a song or a singer, can you tell us what separates Arijit Singh from the rest? He is now one of the biggest modern icons of India..

Arijit is a very blessed singer; he has worked really, really hard. There is a feeling of surrender; he has surrendered to his art, he has truly given himself to singing. And he keeps getting better and better. There comes a time when you stall, but with Arijit, his voice keeps getting better and better. He has surrendered to the art in such a strong way that he's like those famous sportsmen that you have, Cristiano Ronaldo, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Diego Maradona. Arijit is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of talent. But it’s also the fact that he has kept himself very grounded; he lives in Jiaganj (West Bengal) where he was born. He realised that life in Mumbai can throw him around, so he moved back to his hometown. I think after his mum expired, he decided to stay with his father. Jiaganj is four or five hours away from the Kolkata Airport. So he has kept himself far away from the madness, but that also probably makes him feel closer to his planet, to his roots and culture. All that helps; it’s helping him for sure.

And what has helped the K-pop industry become so big globally? BTS was even invited to the White House during one of their American tours…

There are a lot of reasons for that. First of all, the culture in South Korea is very music-oriented. In Korea, people are still buying CDs, cassettes and records as collector’s items. It’s a huge business, and that makes a huge difference. I must say that Korean music is far ahead of all pop music anywhere in the world. They create the trends, they are the first to create new sounds, new sonic styles, new vocal processing ideas, new lyrics, new textures, so they have been on top for the past five years now. They have created their own global community for that kind of music. So K-pop is the Tesla of pop music. If you love cars, you want to know what Elon Musk is going to bring next, so that’s what the K-pop industry has created — excitement and interest.

India has produced so many great composers. But when you were young, which composer excited and inspired you the most?

Madan Mohan hands down, there is nobody even close to him. He is number one, two, three, four and five for me. Then you can bring the others. He gave us so many insane songs like Lag Ja Gale, Rasme Ulfat, Tu jaha jaha Chalega, Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho, Naina Barse. He was truly incredible.

From Madinah to Mumbai: Dubai resident collaborates with Bollywood singer Shaan Indian singer Shaan is teaming up with Dubai poet for his first ghazal album UAE: Despite Coldplay wave, is rock music a dying art?