Mehul S Thakkar (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 16, 2012)

 

Considered to be one of the last of the great Patiala gharana, Ustad Hamid Ali Khan represented an era of ‘Pure’ music and was one of the most sought after classical singers in Pakistan. In fact, he is one of the few Pakistani artists to have won the Presidential Award more than once. And now his three sons – Walli Hamid Khan, Nayab Ali Khan and Inam Ali Khan will be making their Bollywood debut with a song titled Mankunto Maula in Kabeer Kaushik’s Sonu Sood, Neha Dhupia and Naseeruddin Shah starrer Maximum.

At a private party held last week, Mirror bumped into the three boys. Their song – a mix of rock and classical – intrigued us. When asked, they revealed they had arrived in Mumbai on the 9th of this month and a track that had been picturised on them in Pakistan is now being used in an upcoming Bollywood film. The song was a last minute addition to the production.

“We have a band called Raga Boyz and we perform around the world. We are from the legendary Patiala Gharana. We are the ninth generation,” said Nayab. Explaining why it wasn’t easy for them to perform solo, Walli told Mirror, “We have been trained in different forms of music. I am a pop rock singer and Nayab has learnt classical and semi-classical music. Inam, on the other hand is hardcore classical. If one of us gets unwell, it becomes difficult for us to perform.”

About their first Bollywood venture, Inam said, “We shot the video in our country. It has been More >