Don’t stop the music

Ishq Bector turns music director with Bheja Fry 2, finds new album in censorship mess.

The first thing that comes to mind with the name, Ishq Bector is the 2008 song Aye hip hopper… Many called it cheesy, but the track became a rage for its desi twang and the music video, which featured a French maid. Now, almost three years later, Bector has returned with a lot on his plate. His new Punjabi album, Saali Bitch is expected to release this month and his life-long aspiration of turning music director has finally come true.

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“It was my ultimate dream,” says Bector, who recently signed his first film, Bheja Fry 2, as a composer. “I remember when I met Himesh (Reshammiya) after Aye hip hopper… released, he gave me the formula saying, ‘don’t come to the industry with 15 or 20 compositions, bring at least 200.’” And when Bector had 300 new songs ready, he earned himself his music direction debut.

“I have composed everything from bhajans and romantic tracks to emotional songs and rock music,” says the singer, who took a year and a half to build his musical bank.

Censor mess
As of now, Saali Bitch is fighting the Censor Board Of India. “They wanted me to remove this line in Aye hip hopper… that said Sir… lo na… phone. Then they were okay with the use of the word kaminey but they didn’t approve of kamini. Eventually they let us keep it,” explains the artiste, adding that the radio and TV-friendly version of the title song will be called Saali mirch…