Phishing musical streams

Anand Surapur of Phat-Phish Productions has struck gold with the Rabbi Shergill album

Indian music has found a new voice. It belongs to Rabbi Shergill, who has captured hearts with his soulful singing, acoustic guitar and the poetry of Bulleshah "" with "the Bulla song" having become a common discussion point for music-lovers around the country.

Rabbi's newfound fan following includes the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, and on music channels MTV and Channel V his video is aired at least 12 times every day on popular demand.

His album has sold nearly 60,000 copies in just a month, bringing a fresh sound to an industry that was being saturated by remixes and film music.

But who is the man responsible for Rabbi's success in a hurdle-filled music industry? Meet Anand Surapur, director, Phat-Phish Productions, who heard Rabbi's album, "was moved by Bulleshah" and decided to invest money in the album on his own.

Surapur was a creative director with Channel V in 1994 and worked there for almost a year before deciding to venture out on his own in the world of Indian advertising.

But his life is not about struggles, he maintains firmly. "I thoroughly enjoyed whatever I was doing so there is no question of it being a struggle," he says, as we sip coffee in a noisy food joint in New Delhi's Sundar Nagar.

Surapur comes from a well-off business family. A "brilliant child like most south Indians", he went to Kansas on a scholarship to study engineering in 1989 when he was just 16.

"Bad choice," he admits, and within a year he was attending a two-year film course in New York. Creativity fuelled Surapur and he didn't waste any time in realising what he wanted to do; in fact, he talks so casually about changing academic tracks early in life that it's almost hard to believe him.

He returned to India in 1993 and bumped into Mahesh Bhatt in a bookstore in Mumbai. And? "I introduced myself and told him I was keen to do something concrete in films."

Bhatt was impressed with Anamika, an 11-minute film Surapur had made in New York.

Gradually, he began to get recognised in film and advertising circles, joined Channel V and became the creative director behind the success story of Manish Makhija, popularly known as the iconic Uddham Singh.

But within a year, Surapur decided to work on his own and formally launched Phat-Phish Productions. He directed advertisements "" he has done 300 ads so far "" shot music videos and built a strong reputation for himself.

Why did someone in the ad world plunge into music making? "Last year I heard an album that focused on tribal music. It was brilliant but no music company was willing to touch it because it wasn't commercially viable," Surapur explains.

"It was desperation to hear good music and to give deserving people a chance that prompted me to start my music company." He called the album Indica and tied-up with CRY to promote it.

He admits he lost money on the project "" an investment of nearly

Rs 30 lakh but sales of a mere 10,000 cassettes and CDs.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that he was willing to pump in more money when he heard Rabbi Shergill. This time, Surapur tied up with Sony Music for distribution of cassettes and CDs.

He invested Rs 50 lakh, a fantastic amount by today's music industry standards. "I'm a terrible businessman," he says. "I let passion rule me and don't keep a tight control on budgets."

However, he's struck gold this time and is confident of recovering the money within the next six months.

Phat-Phish Records' forthcoming projects include an album by a Bengali artiste, Mou. "She's India's very own Janis Joplin and she's fantastic," exults Surapur, adding, "Mira Nair is keen to pick up one of her songs for her next film."

Surapur is glad he ventured into music in a big way. "If you're creative you have to take risks.

I had a one-room office when I started out on my own." Today, Phat-Phish is a Rs 4 crore company with offices in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata and Mumbai.