We had an Indian audience chanting for Pakistan: Bilal Maqsood recalls Strings' epic story
Amid the Indian outrage over Diljit Dosanjh’s traitorous collaboration with the irrefutably Pakistani Hania Aamir in Sardaar Ji 3, there are two men who once melted away that geopolitical line like butter in a heated pan. And as music-loving millennials may have guessed, those two men were none other than Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia.
Banding together to form the pop tour de force that became Strings (can hits such as Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar and Duur ever be erased from the cultural stream of consciousness?) Maqsood and Kapadia proved that any heartstrings across any border can be conquered, if you pluck them just right. Looking back, during a resurfaced clip on The Rafay Mahmood Podcast, Maqsood recalled the sheer force of love Strings received from their Indian fans, and how they never once compromised their principles across the border despite being given every inducement to do so.
Launching pad
“I think we got a bit lucky in the sense that in 1992, Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar was a huge hit - but what was when we disbanded Strings and took a break,” recalled Maqsood. “We had some idea that we were a big hit in India - but we didn’t know just how big.”
The musical duo not knowing ‘how big’ they were in India became something of a recurring theme during their 2000 comeback with the Duur album.
“We made the album behind closed doors. We never thought music would be our profession. I had my own job, Faisal had his family business,” noted Maqsood. “We just decided to make some music, and that we would see what would happen. It was only later that we decided that we should burn all our bridges and focus on our music.”
The first indication that anyone across the border was taking any notice was when Indian Network Doordarshan sought their record company’s permission to air their music. Maqsood recalled being stunned at learning that Indian clubs and discos still resorted to Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar.
“We still didn’t realise how big we were; Faisal and I were both busy with our studies,” remarked the singer. “But when we released Duur - all the label companies asked, ‘Are you the same guys who sang Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar?’”
It transpired that teenaged fans of 1992 had now grown into adults who worked at label companies - a turn of events that opened up doors for Strings. “We had maybe 12 or 13 companies that we could choose from to release it [in India],” explained Maqsood. “That is how the legacy of Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar worked in our favour.”
Love from India
The Indian promotion of the Strings comeback album inevitably led to a whirlwind tour of the country.
“When Duur got released there, we stayed there and promoted and travelled all over India,” said Maqsood, looking back. “We lost count of how many cities and towns (big and small) that we visited. We played at clubs, at colleges - everywhere!”
One moment of an almost electric connection with a 10,000-strong chanting Indian crowd, however, has become cemented in Maqsood’s memory.
“There was this one time when we were playing in a Delhi Park singing this medley of Indian songs that we did in our set [...] and there were these 10,000 Indian youths just chanting along for Pakistan!” said Maqsood in awe. “Faisal and I couldn’t believe it. There was this Indian audience, there was Strings, and there was nothing else in between. Zero boundary. No political or geographical line - in that moment, India and Pakistan were just one.”
Upon returning to Pakistan, the duo had started to get an inkling that perhaps stardom could be on the cards for them after all, despite the Pakistani musical landscape of the time wedded to more ‘dhol’-oriented music (think Abrarul Haq) and less of Strings’ signature pop sound.
“We had no idea what was going to happen, but we knew that this is the music we want to make,” said Maqsood. “We had the trailer, so to speak, of success. Success was not even on the cards at the time, but we could feel this buzz around us. And that buzz? It was pretty inviting. So we decided to quit our jobs and focus on this.”
Bollywood boundaries
That buzz, as we all now know with the benefit of hindsight, gave birth to a catalogue of music forming the bedrock of early 2000s Pakistani pop - although once again, it was not just Pakistan paying attention. Bollywood, too, entered the equation, recruiting Strings to compose what ultimately became the song Yeh Hai Meri Kahani from the film Zinda starring John Abraham and Sanjay Dutt. Through it all, however, the band remained committed to staying true to their principles - and if that meant walking away from a potential Bollywood moneymaker, so be it.
“We never tried to reinvent ourselves,” insisted Maqsood. “We always gave priority to our aesthetics - people realised this, and that is why they liked Strings.”
Maqsood recalled being offered to compose a track for the 2006 Bollywood film Kabul Express - although that particular partnership dissolved before it could begin.
“Everything was sorted, and then I said, show us the script,” said Maqsood. “I asked, what is the Pakistani angle in this? And then we saw the script, and knew that we couldn’t do this. We said no.”
To a man who loves the country he has grown up in, maintaining such a balance is no difficult task. “When you already have these things ingrained in you, you don’t have to ‘balance’ anything out,” You just know that there are some things you cannot do. It becomes muscle memory.”
Being staunchly patriotic is not the only principle the Strings pair stuck to. Guns and cigarettes, too, remained a big no-no.
“In Aakhri Alvida [from 2007 Bollywood film Shootout at Lokhandwala], there was a scene where they wanted to pick up these guns and look at them - and we said we wouldn’t do it,” stated Maqsood. “They said, ‘It’s a video, just pick it up!’ But we said no. This had nothing to do with being Pakistani, but sixteen-year-olds could be watching this!”
The same principles applied to smoking. “There was this other shot in Zinda where John [Abraham] puts down his keys and picks up a cigarette pack. We asked them to move it. There are some things where we would have to tell them, this is how we want to do it.”
There was one other boundary that principle-loving Strings swore they would never cross, no matter how tempting the prize: recording a song written by someone else.
“In [Bollywood 2008 film] Dostana, they wanted me to sing this song - but we said no, because we did not sing other people’s compositions,” mandated Maqsood. “These were our principles, and people respected us.”
In other words, for any aspiring musicians searching for the blueprint to success, Maqsood has the answers you seek. Create music that speaks to you, and let nobody sway you from what you believe.
Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.