Zeb Bangash Opens Up About Bollywood: It Felt Like Coming Home

• Zeb Bangash is the first Pakistani musician to act as music director in Bollywood.
• Bangash lamented the absence of artist contacts between India and Pakistan.
• Bangash made her breakthrough in India with the film Madras Cafe.

Many people want to cross boundaries and explore new vistas in the exciting world of music. Zeb Bangash chose this path after being the first Pakistani musician to act as music director for a Bollywood film, Lipstick Under My Burkha. The trailblazer’s immersion in Bollywood felt like “coming home” to her.

Bangash had always assumed that writing music for a complete Bollywood film would put her under a lot of strain under a rather corporate system. Her experience, on the other hand, proved otherwise, striking a chord with her creative instincts. When asked about the collaboration with the Indian outlet, she stressed the film’s distinctiveness and the sincere desire to create something new and carve out a previously untapped territory.

“Alankrita Anvita, Ankur Mukherjee, Amrit Mahajan, and I shared and carried that sentiment with us,” she said of the joint effort. It was truly like discovering a village.” The meetings were conducted in unusual locations, not at production buildings, but in people’s homes, promoting a creative environment fueled by companionship, food, music, jokes, and poetry.

Zeb Bangash lamented the existing absence of artist contacts between India and Pakistan, highlighting the shrinking artistic community as a result of this divide. It wasn’t only about squandered chances in terms of audiences and markets; it was also about artists’ dwindling relationships and friendships.

“The film we made was never meant to be a billion-dollar smash.” It was simply extraordinary and significant for a rare and significant artist in whom we all believed and in whom we believed. That type of connection among neighbors is very fulfilling – and I speak from experience,” she concluded, reflecting on the important voyage.

Bangash made her breakthrough in India with the film Madras Cafe and has been broadening her horizons ever since. She has a special connection with each language she studies as a versatile artist who sings in numerous languages. “Pashto makes me think of home, Urdu and Hindi open up my imagination, Persian feels like a warm hug, Kashmiri feels like being transported to a magical land, Turkish is nostalgia and Punjabi is the closest friend — like a yaarana.”

Sandaraa, a band she co-founded with Michael Winograd, is one of her favorite undertakings. Their mission is to use music to bridge cultural divides and present stories that transcend time. “All that home could not understand about me… I found space to sing Sabzal Samagi’s Balochi classics and Haji Saifoos comic Persian ghazals to audiences all over North America.”

Zeb Bangash underlined the importance of cooperation in facilitating progress and broadening vistas. It’s about sharing and experiencing various musical worlds, growing relationships, and feeling like you’re a part of something big and global.

Despite the difficulties that musicians confront, Bangash recognized Pakistan’s unique music industry. She finds it very lively, owing to the lack of a formal industrial structure and an overly responsive market. Working in their distinct silos helps artists to focus on their creativity without being burdened by the pressure of continuously visualizing achievement, generating a sense of artistic independence.

Her musical palette is shaped by a variety of influences, ranging from Western popular music from the 1950s through South Asian folk, ghazals, semi-classical music, and pop music from Turkey from the 1960s to the 1990s. Her training with Ustad Naseeruddin Saami has also improved her musical expression and tremendously extended her voice talents.

Despite the epidemic, Bangash has been hard at work on her solo album with a superb team of musicians and producers stationed in Los Angeles. As she awaits the release of this album, she is already in the studio working on another. She has also been working on a collection of regional songs based on Dubai, demonstrating her unwavering commitment for producing and sharing music with the globe.

Zeb Bangash’s story serves as an amazing tribute to the power of music in connecting cultures and uniting hearts as she continues to shatter barriers and make her mark on the world music scene. She is a light of musical brilliance and a real ambassador of cultural interchange, embracing innovation, cooperation, and the joy of artistic expression.

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