B Praak: I’m nothing without my team and Akshay Kumar paaji

Singer-composer B Praak feels grateful for he got to work with actor Akshay Kumar in Teri Mitti and since then, they have collaborated on multiple projects including a single Filhall, whose sequel will release in February next year.

Teri Mitti jaise gaane sadi mein ek baar bante hain. Agar upar wale ki blessing hogi toh dobara aisi cheez jaroor aayegi,” says singer-composer B Praak, who made his Bollywood debut with this track in Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari (2019). Ever since their first collaboration, the two have created magic each time they’ve come together. Praak crooned the single Filhall, starring Kumar and Nupur Sanon, which went on to set new records, and later sung Maana Dil in Good Newwz (2019). Up next, while he’s working with the actor again in Bachchan Pandey, what he’s most excited about right now is the sequel to Filhall, for which they’ve recently shot in parts of Delhi and Mumbai. In a candid chat, the singer tells us how his life took a new turn upon meeting Kumar and how they’ve rocked as a team. Excerpts from an interview:

Singer-composer B Praak and Akshay Kumar have teamed up once again and have shot for the sequel to their hit song Filhall.

Like everyone else, 2020 must have been tough for you...

Yes, pretty much. More so because I travel so much for my shows, all that is not happening now. I just hope everything would be back to normal soon. Covid isn’t here to stay for long. And I’m happy that I’m ending this year on a good note that we have started shooting for Filhall 2, which hopefully shall release in February next year.

You’ve been composing music for the last seven years but Teri Mitti was a game changer in your career. When you look back, do you feel Akshay Kumar has become an integral part of your journey?

He’s not a small or a big part in my career, I’ll say Akshay paaji meri zindagi mein bhagwaan ka roop lekar aaye hain. Literally! I don’t have any more words left to express what I feel for him. Whatever I’ll say to thank him, it’ll be less. He’s my main man. He loves me so much, jokes around... mazaak mazaak mein gaana bhi bana dete hain, shoot bhi ho jata hai. He promotes me so much. Basically, he promotes the talent and his love and affection for Punjabi community is unmatched. I still can’t believe I have someone like him in my life. Each time he talks to me, I wonder hum kahan se uth kar aaye hain aur kitne bade logon ke saath baithe hain. It’s all people’s blessings and Akshay paaji’s love that we’ve become so popular today.

Your collaborations with Akshay turn out to be instant hits. How does it feel when people all you and Akshay a rock-solid team now?

B Praak is nothing without a team. For all this success, I want to give full credit to my team — Jaani (lyricist), Arvindr Khaira (music video director) and Azeem Dhayani (music supervisor) — and Akshay paaji. I cannot do anything in life without these people. Yeh mere liye sab kuch hain. I am nothing without my team and Akshay paaji.

After Teri Mitti, when you teamed up with Akshay for Filhall, how far you expect this collaboration would go?

Filhall got so much love and adulation — it’s about to reach one billion. Now Filhaal 2 is about to come. I’m still at loss of words when I want to express that I owe this life to Akshay paaji. And of course my whole team — Jaani paaji who wrote a song like this and Arvindr for directing this video, and Azeem who made this all possible by making me meet Akshay sir. And after that our journey began with Teri Mitti, Maana Dil, Baras Baras (in Kumar’s production Durgamati).

When you made Filhall, did you anticipate that there would be a sequel at any point?

No. I had never thought of it. In fact, no one in the team had any such idea. We made the song, it became so popular and made a world record of reaching fastest 100 million in India within five days, all genuine and organic. Honestly, I didn’t think it would be such a big hit though it was bound to happen because it featured Akshay Kumar and whatever he touches turns gold. And it was Akshay sir who sometime back asked me, ‘Aage kya karna hai? Iska sequel Filhaal 2 banate hain’. So, it was his idea that the story should continue. Filhall ended at ‘pain continues’ and the sequel will start from there. When you’ll see it, you’ll realise the hard work we’ve put into it.

Is the pressure while making a sequel more as compared to the first track?

Oh yes, a lot more. Since the first song became a hit, the sequel has to be much bigger, only then it’d work. We’ve tried our best to make it bigger and better. Though the song’s fate would be decided by the audiences and how they like it but I know one thing that the way people have showered our team with their love, blessings and respect, they’ll make Filhall 2 much bigger and it’ll receive more love than the first song.

When you shoot for a song as a team — director, singer, composer, actors — how’s the mood on set like, especially when you’re working with someone of Akshay’s stature?

Seriously, I’ve not seen a more chill guy than Akshay Kumar paaji. He’s so calm, easy-going and such an experienced man. He’s someone who’s busy 365 days and he’s so fast with his work because he’s always switching between shoots. Still, unka bohot main role hota hai shooting process mein. While shooting also, if we say, ‘Can we do it and try it in a different way’, if he likes it, he’s always open and says, ‘no problem’. He gives as many shots as required. In fact, sometimes, he himself would say, ‘Let’s do another take, this one hasn’t come out nice’.

You mentioned about the ‘genuine and organic’ traffic that Filhall got online. Amid this controversy about fake likes and views, do you think it’s tough for musicians to make their product stand out?

I believe that content is the king. Aadmi bhi king nahi hai, only content matters. And if that’s good, you won’t need to put any tag to sell it. However, any song needs to be pushed and shown to the audience, but this doesn’t mean, everything is fake or bought. And if it’s fake, one can easily make out because you won’t hear about it anywhere, there won’t be any hype and just views would be increasing. When we released Filhaal, next day we thought, would push it a bit more but trust me we didn’t need to. People loved it so such and it became a hit on its own.

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