Ravikesh Vatsa: Parallel income is a must for an artiste

Singer, lyricist and composer Ravikesh Vatsa took nearly two decades to realize his dream of becoming a singer

Singer, lyricist and composer Ravikesh Vatsa took nearly two decades to realize his dream of becoming a singer. Looking back, he feels people often come to Mumbai unprepared and then struggle takes over and the artiste goes astray.

Ravikesh Vatsa

“From a small village near Bhagalpur I came to Mumbai at the age of 19, way back in 2002. On the inspiration of locals ‘dikhte acche ho, gaate acche ho…actor-singer bano’, I reached here but the fact was that zyada kuch aata nai tha…But I had a very strong passion to learn and do something in the field of music as well as acting. And, this urge just didn’t let me go back. But slowly passion took a backseat and it took me 18 long years to break the vicious circle and eventually release my first single,” shares Vatsa.

To sustain in the industry Vatsa started writing for reality shows and has been part of shows like Dance India Dance, Super Dancers, Dance+ and Dus Ka Dum. “I started as a junior and became the main content writer then script head and now a creative consultant. In between I tried to get into music but that could not happen. By 2016, I realised that TV is a trap so I forced myself to pursue music and get into practice to prepare myself. Then the lockdown gave me ample time to work on myself. Finally, I came up with my first single Pagla that I had co-written with composer Pankaj Rathood. It earned over 1.3 million views and made me super confident about my craft.”

Since then, Vatsa has came up with songs like Do Log, Kuch Ratein and Ameer Dost. “My last song got me around four million hits and my latest song is Dil ab to maan ja that I have written, sung and composed. I want to up singing more seriously and for that I am meeting people for playback in films and music videos. Besides, my reality show consultancy is doing sufficiently well. Over the time I have learnt that an artiste needs to have parallel income always.”

Vatsa was last in Lucknow for the audition of DID Super Moms. “Earlier too reality shows brought me to Lucknow but last time I got chance to explore the city in full swing. I have zeroed upon some locations which gelled well with the lyrics of my next song. All my numbers are connected with the masses and the city gives you a perfect rustic backdrop that we don’t get on Mumbai sets.”