Mumbai band reunites after 30 years

MUMBAI - When the band culture was fairly unknown in India, four young men decided to give Mumbai the taste of a live band. And after a split 30 years ago, they have got back together to do what they know best - make music.

The band was then called People and included Ranjit Barot, Ronnie Desai, Babu Chaudhary and Hosi Nanji. Thirty years later, the formerly disbanded members have reunited as 4 Tune Kookies and have released a single “I don’t need” by Saregama.

“Many years back, we all went our own ways to create a foothold in our respective careers. I composed this song and made all the others listen to it. We decided to come out with this single and get back with a band after all these years,” Desai, who got into jingles production along with Chaudhary, told IANS.

After their split, Barot became a Bollywood composer and Nanji worked for a steel company.

Now when the quartet is back with the single, they have even released a video, which has them as animated characters.

“All of us don’t look like what we used to back then. So, we decided to go in for animated characters who slightly resemble us. It was a fresh idea too and quite interesting,” Desai said.

So why did they decide to release just a single instead of an album?

“Usually you work on seven-eight songs and only one becomes a hit. So we decided to take it one step at a time. We have worked on another song which we will release in a couple of months,” he said.

When asked whether they are looking at gigs too, Desai replied: “Yes we are, but not now.”

“Once we have enough songs to perform for an hour or so, we would definitely like to take up concerts and gigs,” he added.

“Earlier, the band scene used to be more in open spaces for IITs - in grounds. Now it’s more in clubs and pubs where people are eating and have other things besides music too. The gigs are not on a big scale as they used to be. But it’s still good,” Desai said.