Chowta's song of success

I?m not the womaniser that people label me as. I?m a boring person who is passionate only about his music, explains Sandeep Chowta.

Sandeep Chowta may not enjoy being Pygmalion, but after shaping the destinies of Sunidhi Chauhan (Mast), Sowmya Raoh (Jungle and Samay) and Sonu Kakkar (Babuji in Dum) it’s a tag firmly attached to him. Chowta, the 20-something maverick musician, beams with pride when he talks about his prodigies: “They had immense talent. I just gave them a platform.”

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Chowta who rose to fame in 1998, created the background score of Ramgopal Varma’s Satya and has since composed scores for Mast, Pyar Tune Kya Kiya, Dum. Chowta admits that Mitti (Sony Music), his 12-track album “derives its soul from Punjab (Heer, Mere dil vich) and Rajasthan (Kesariya balam) and its heart from the South (Supradham, Bhagyada Laskhmi). It also takes a re-look at George Harrison’s 1971 hit single My Sweet Lord, a tribute to Indian Gods. The album has a salute to Pandit Nehru’s speech on the eve of Indian Independence in the form of Freedom 47. Mitti is quintessentially mine”.

Mahesh Mathai, the man who made Bhopal Express, directs the main video, while the second video was directed by Chowta himself.

Born in Ghana and raised in Nigeria, he spent his early years in Bangalore and Chennai and developed an interest in jazz in school, after stumbling on his father’s collection. He shied away from family business and joined Sivamani and Suresh Thomas to form a jazz band, Pulse.

Today, Chowta has global dreams that include a desire to work with Fatboy Slim and a possible lounge music album with US-based musician, Sanjay Chittale. He’s wrapped up Rakht, Musafir and Dus. And the distant cousin of Suniel Shetty whose beach parties in Chennai attract the young and the famous, confesses: “I’m not the womaniser people label me as, in fact I am a boring who’s passionate only about music.”