Ali Khan’s career comes full circle

KARACHI:

Following the success of his debut song Saathiya, Ali Khan nabbed a lucrative three-album contract, worth INR37.5 million, with Tips Music India. Then came the 2008 Mumbai attacks and everything went downhill. Like many other Pakistani artistes, the singer lost the contract and was left thinking how things would have been different had the attacks not happened.

Seven years since the setback, life seems to have come full circle for Ali Khan as two of his singles, Saathiya and Koi Aaye Na, have been selected for the soundtrack of an upcoming Bollywood movie, Koi Aaye Na.

Although, the opportunity this time may not be as grandiose as the previous one, Khan views it as a stepping stone towards greater things.

“It is true that this setback and missed opportunity made me feel miserable but I never even thought about quitting music. I have been making music since I have learnt to talk,” Khan told The Express Tribune.

He joked that even if he did end up quitting the music business he would’ve returned in a few days, “I am a music producer, and have a studio set up in my house. So even if I did want to quit, just looking at my studio would have tempted me to go back on my decision.”

Comparing the times both before and after being released from his lucrative contract he said that the reaction by the people and change in the attitudes were “as different as day and night”.



“People who wanted to be around me were not even answering my phone calls for months. I don’t know why people in our industry forget people so soon,” exclaimed Khan.

To be on the safe side, Ali has taken up a day job working in the production department of a private media channel in Pakistan. “In an industry like ours it is very difficult to make living solely as a musician. So, it is better to have an alternative career as well.”

Khan has multiple projects in the pipeline, as he has produced two more tracks for an upcoming Pakistani musical-dance film, Dance Diaries, which has been directed by Omer Hasan. Apart from that he has also composed a track for the Peshawar Attack victims, which will be released very soon.



Surprisingly, the musician almost made it to Coke Studio this season. He was invited by the show’s producer for a meeting and after the first interaction things seemed to be going well with the Faisal Kapadia, the co-producer of the show, who said that they were going to have Khan “on board” for the project. However, he received another call saying, that his music was “not Coke Studio type”. This statement surprised the musician as he believed, “All songs in Coke Studio are deconstructed and that reconstructed from scratch. So this to me does not make sense.”

But as has been the motto of his life so far, the musician is keen on moving forward and not dwelling on the past too much as he hopes to be part of the show’s next season and plans to digitally release his debut album very soon. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2015.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.