The Shy Rockstar: Karan B Oberoi on Gratitude, Discipline and Putting His Money Where His Mouth Is

Ask Karan B Oberoi which of his many hats fits best, and he declines to pick. Singer, actor, writer, producer and entrepreneur are, in his words, one connected family: music fuels his writing, writing fuels his expression, and storytelling makes him a better performer. Press him, and the answer is the stage. What drives him most is being in front of an audience, performing the songs he writes himself.

Where it began

That love of the stage goes back to A Band of Boys. "We were teenyboppers when we started. We are men now," he says. The band performed across the world, mentored by Hariharan and Leslie Lewis and presented to the country by Asha Bhosle. Karan doesn't call it luck alone. He calls it gratitude. The stars who backed them shone a light, and the boys "met them halfway" with 16 to 18 hours of daily practice for a year and a half: singing, stagecraft, fitness.

The writer's room

The same pattern repeated with Mukhbir, a marquee show on Zee5. Karan was known as a singer and actor, and the network took a chance on him as creative producer, story and screenplay writer. His book Battlefield Brothers hadn't even been published yet, so nobody knew him as a writer. He repaid the faith with two and a half years of backbreaking work. When the show won awards, he says, he was emotional because so many people had given him the freedom to show this side of himself.

On destiny

Cricketers and film stars love to say "when it is destined, it will happen". Karan agrees, with a condition. Destiny plays a part, but depending on it doesn't work. "When destiny knocks on your door, your state of readiness is going to matter." His favourite line is the old one: when the student is ready, the master arrives.

The 5:30 a.m. rule

His own readiness has a schedule. He wakes at 5:30 and practises singing until 7:00. From 7:00 to 8:30 he works out, so his body is camera-ready at any age. From 9:30 until about 12:30 he writes, whether that's a story, a screenplay or a book. These are non-negotiable, he says, even after a late shoot or a late party. "Just like I breathe, I nurture my art." Twenty years of classical training have left him feeling like a novice, and he finds that humbling rather than discouraging.

Rockstar in Reverse

His book Rockstar in Reverse follows a musician who succeeds, fails and bounces back. It is a love story at heart, but it also takes a sarcastic, unapologetic look at the industry. Karan's complaint is that the industry rarely discovers talent. It amplifies people who already have an audience and then takes credit for the success. He adds that the music business has real problems with transparency in royalties.

Putting his money where his mouth is

That frustration led him to start his own independent label. He says he is self-funded and backing artists he believes in, with two rules: no following the industry's old dogmas, and absolute integrity. "If I'm signed up for 10% of your revenue and I take 11%, sue me."

Theatre of the mind

His newest experiment is a spatial-audio musical love story, made for headphones. Listeners sit at the centre of a 360-degree soundscape, where a boy moves left to right and a girl right to left. Each person imagines the visuals in their own way. It is a bet that young audiences, tired of violence and gore, are hungry for romance and for new formats that marry art with technology.

Advice for young artists

On pursuing many passions at once, his answer is yes, if you are willing to pay in hours. Don't keep a Plan B. "If you are doing it because you're worried about failure, then don't do it, because then you'll fail across all mediums." If every craft gives you joy and gets the dedication it needs, "wear 10 hats for all you care". His own regret is vanishing from public view when television stopped suiting him creatively. He believes he could have found a better balance. But he wouldn't unlearn what each failure taught him.

The side few people see

Asked for something his audience doesn't know, he doesn't point to a song or a show. He says he is incredibly shy. On stage, he can happily go into the crowd and dance with them. Backstage, when fans come for autographs and selfies, he goes red and doesn't know how to react. "I get socially awkward if there are more than two people in a room." His art, he says, is the alter ego.

His solo album Qafiat is where that private side comes out: songs about never wanting to grow up, childhood in a glass bottle, and old friendships. The album's tagline is "the words we never found and the feelings we never knew". And if you stay connected, he promises, there is a lot more music coming.