An inner look behind Badshah and what makes him tick

Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia or as the world knows him ‘Badshah’, has a distinct on-screen persona being brash, aggressive and over-the-top, attired in gold chains, low-slung jeans, designer sneakers, a visual reference to his music that currently reigns over Bollywood. Raw, thumping and loud, his songs have found their way into every radio station, television channel, weddings and clubs.

Two years ago, he released the single DJ Waley Babu with Astha Gill whose incredible success announced his entry into the big league. In that video (shot in Jaipur posing as an American desert), he drove a semi-18-wheel truck, followed by pretty women dancing in sky-high heels. His newest single, Mercy, which released yesterday, sees him upping the game bigtime.

Forget fast cars, the burly singer enters the frame on the wing of we kid you a Boeing Jet. There is a bevy of women, true, but this time, they are led by the American actor Lauren Gottlieb. “We have shot the video on the roof of the O2 Arena in London, and I believe we are the only people to have ever done that,” he says.

 “I am still the same. I am doing the kind of music I want to do. I am blessed that way. I am a typical guy from west Delhi, born in a simple family. I moved to Chandigarh to study civil engineering. I even had dreams to be an IAS officer,” says Badshah.

Mercy, from his forthcoming album, One, sees Badshah back in his solo act. “It had been a while I came out with my own song. I have enjoyed my other ventures and collaborations, but this is my baby,” says Badshah, who shuttles between Mumbai and Chandigarh. “Thoda shor kam hai isme (There is less noise in this one). We have used a more folksy attitude. It can surely be danced to, but it can as easily be played in the background of a house party. It has a trippy feel to it,” he says.

In the last two years, the singer, who grew up in Pitampura, has become Bollywood’s darling. A Badshah song (even a recreated version) is a kiss of life to a Hindi film’s promotion, as the makers of Kapoor & Sons (Kar Gayi Chull), Baar Baar Dekho (Kaala chashma), Sultan (Baby ko bass pasand hai) and, most recently, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (The Breakup song) will attest. 

He was just another young man headed for a salaried job, studying at the PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh, when he heard Tupac and Eminem.“Yeh sab log kitna kuch keh rahe the (They were saying so much). And they didn’t need to fit a canon or care about the purity of the form. They were saying it as they saw it. And since I was, still am a very quiet person, iska matlab yeh nahin ki mere paas kuch kehne ke liye nahin tha (doesn’t mean I had nothing to say).

I am a very keen observer of things and I started writing in college. One thing led to another. But there was no grand plan in place,” says Badshah. He started his musical career as part of Honey Singh’s musical troupe, Mafia Mundeer. They parted ways in 2012, for reasons Badshah has never cited on record. Rumor has it that it was because Honey Singh refused to give him credit for a song he had composed.

The split did him more good than ill, as he emerged as a musical phenomenon with songs like Proper Patola and Wakhra Swag. Badshah’s signature style brings together his love for hip-hop and the music he grew up on. “Hamare ghar pe hamesha radio bajta tha (The radio was always on at home). Homework karte hue bhi — itna keeda tha music ka (Even while during homework, I was obsessed with music). And thanks to the show ‘The Wicked Hour’ on AIR, I was introduced to English music. I am also a huge fan of Gurdas Maan. I had all the cassettes of the ’90s pop stars — Colonial Cousins, Alisha Chinai and Suneeta Rao,” says the rapper.

Badshah is known for weaving fragments of daily conversations, the sharp repartee heard in Delhi and Chandigarh, the two cities he grew up in, into his songs. For DJ waley babu, he invoked the memory of an energetic woman at a wedding in Haryana. “I saw this woman, who kept demanding the DJ to play her track, and she kept saying, ‘DJ wale babu mera gana chala do.’ My lyrics are part of the social milieu I come from. If you have studied in Delhi or Chandigarh, phrases like ‘Kaan pe uske char lagga du’ and ‘DJ waale babu’ are commonplace. Sit in a Haryana Roadways bus, and you will hear all this and more,” he says.

For Mercy, Badshah harks back to his younger, club-hopping days. “Contrary to my image of being a party animal, I was never into the party scene. I was happier at ghar ki shaadi-byah gatherings. The few times I would go to a club, I would sit quietly in a corner,” says Badshah. He points to subtle demarcations at the clubbing arena, there are those who dance and those who stick to the bar, flirt and “check out” the scene. And then there are the wallflowers.

Badshah was one of them. “I would watch these guys, who would just walk up to women and talk effortlessly. I lived vicariously through them. That’s what the song is all about — a man and a woman, going through the motions of dating at a club,” he says.

Badshah, a happily married man, recently became father to a baby girl. He remains a very private person, limiting his social media interactions to music. “I don’t think I am the right person to comment on anything. Main hun kaun? (Who am I?) Agar main apna kaam achche se karun (If I do my work well), everything else will fall in place,” he says. This is where the paths diverge. While the rappers who inspired him talked about society and its politics, the drugs, guns and gang violence, Badshah’s calling is only entertainment.

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