Karan Oberoi EXCLUSIVE: There has been a lot of negativity around, social media has created some real monsters

We come across very few people in life like Karan Oberoi, who seize any opportunity and make the most of it. Living life to the fullest, this man who is in conversation with Instafeed is full of zest and a die-hard romantic. And not only will he touch your heart with his amazing voice, but he is big plans to keep all his fans entertained in the times to come. 

He is writing books, making music, producing web-content and even acting in web-shows and every story that he is telling whether, through his words or his craft, it is surely going to change a piece of you. Read on this amazing conversation, where Karan shares his journey, talks about life, music, relationships, and everything under the sun…

How has the lockdown been for you? What kept you busy?

Actually, the lockdown had a very positive impact on me, purely because, I was looking to write some books for a while, everyone at one point wishes to write a book or poetry or compose some song, so it gave me a really good opportunity. My fourth book is near completion and my first one is ready for publishing. It shall be out by December, subsequently followed by the other three books. Another thing is that in this huge city of Bombay and its fast-paced life, there are some very important things we had forgotten about. So, this became an unsaid reminder, firstly it gave us time to rekindle some old relationships and establish that connect back again. Secondly, we only have this one planet we are living on, and it needed some breathing space, so I feel this was nature’s pullback, I can see some really beautiful birds come back into nature again. I am the sort of guy who wants to look at the positive side of life. 

As you said you have been working on your books and you have also been singing, how has that part been, connecting back to your musical roots?

There are again two aspects to that, one is the fact that I have been an on-stage performer, Band of Boys is known for our live performances, unfortunately, due to this pandemic, we haven’t been able to connect with the audience in the way we’d like to. But the good part is that a lot of people have been asking us what we have been up to as a band. We have just been singing and doing concerts, but now since the focus is online, the people connecting to us are aware that we still exist as a band and we are still doing songs. As an artist, nothing gives me more joy than to sing and to create music or to touch the lives of people. I have this handle called Karan Oberoi Official where I randomly go on YouTube, pick up any song from a decade and I just break into a song. Or I alternatively take requests from people and it is really gratifying to see the comments that people leave or the love they shower. For me that has been such a beautiful phase, as a live performing artist, I never understood this idea of going and lip-syncing on a song, because the joy of making music isn’t the same. So why would I rob myself or my audience of the joy of singing live. I will make mistakes, things will happen, but it will still be a very wild live experience that will connect. 

Also, can you tell us something more about the books that you’ve been writing?

So, I am on old-world romantic, something I have been all my life. The first book is a memoir called Holy Cow which is about one aspect of my life which has been bit of a downer, I have encapsulated the ethos of that and how I bounced back, its that journey. The second book is Rockstar in Reverse, it’s a story of a musician who life gives a chance again through love and he is able to rediscover what made him who he was which is his first love for music and how that relationship between a man and a woman, it sends a message home that life is not about second chances, but about second, third, fourth or fifth, as long as you have the right people that surrounds you. There has been a lot of negativity around, social media has actually created some real monsters in that world where people are constantly attacking each other, there is a lot of vitriol.  My third book called Love at First Sex is also around the same premises and the fourth one is under progress. 

From A Band of Boys to shows like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi to exploring the web-space with Inside Edge to being an author. How do you look back at your journey?

To be honest, it’s a mixed bag everyone tells me that I could have just stuck to acting in television and this would have happened, I would have stuck to singing and what would have happened, but I have had a wonderful life where I have expressed everything that I wanted to and had fun doing it. So, for me, the benchmark in terms of money, wealth fame, is just one of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. Simultaneously whatever I am doing gives me joy, be it writing, or acting. I am also doing a couple of shows right now as an actor, I start shooting from the 15th of October, there is also a film I shot for called Strawberry Point, its India’s first single actor film, it will be releasing on one of the platforms soon. So, it’s a song or a web-show I am doing, its something that I live for, for my individual growth as a human being. 

Whenever you take up an acting offer what is it that you look into?

One is, of course, the association with the character or the anti-casting part of it. Like Inside Edge was a challenge for me because I had never been cast in a negative role, as a character with an arrogant vibe. I was very convinced with the vision of the director, for me, one thing that is very important in life across all spectrums is the honesty with which the maker or the writer wants to tell the story. Also, subsequently, how do I fit into the frame of things. For me, mediocrity and repetition are death. 

Do you have a particular choice of genre, that you can never say no to?

Romance and love, I can never say no to be it a web-series or a song. If I see romance anywhere, I will jump right in without asking questions. 

How do Band of Boys stay in touch during the pandemic?

We have used technology just like you, we do a show called Monday Madness on Facebook, the other is called Thursday Throwback. We have been in the business for 20 years and done about 1000 shows in the live concert arena. So, we have a lot of snippets, which helps us have a mad Thursday Throwback. We just finished our first virtual concert, about two weeks back and we play to do more. Another interesting thing we do is, there is always a lag in making music online, so what we do is we record a song and send it to one of them on WhatsApp and they will put to together, so we have been coming out with songs like that and that’s how we have been jamming. These last few months have been very productive for us as a band. We have been getting inquiries for December, so I am hoping we get back and hit the stage again. 

Tell us something about the web-shows you start working on?

One is a web-film by Vikram Bhatt, it’s got a love story at the back of it, so I start shooting for that. It is a love triangle but has a thriller element attached to it. I am also producing some web-content and we are in the middle of pre-production right now. One thing I am doing as a creative head of a web-show which is one of the largest shows for a platform and the biggest next year release. Another is my own indigenous production of two shows. So, I have to do a balancing act. 

Isn’t it difficult as well as tiring?

I don’t tire very easily for things that I love to do, and I have a bouncy sort of personality, it gives me the energy to be able to do multiple things. I have programmed myself over the years to be able to handle all of this and still get my writing in process. I have this zest for life that I don’t want to miss anything that comes my way. But yes, it gets a bit tiring at times and that’s alright. 

Any plans to return to TV? Any plans to do a show like Bigg Boss?

I got this show, but the problem is that I have too many things, so for me to take out 30 days in a month would actually kill all my activity other than that. But if find something creatively satisfying then who knows. For Bigg Boss, I was one of the first people they reached out to when they factoring in people, but I am the worst candidate, because I don’t have a temper. So, I don’t know if that’s a space for me. So, I am not very sure. While the next year looks very promising for Karan with back to back projects and releases, the man is surely going places with all of them. 

Written by Nawaz Kochra

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