Veteran film and stage actor Dalip Tahil is all set to start his own music band with the likes of pop artiste Shweta Shetty and renowned music composer and jazz keyboardist Louis Banks.
Tahil revealed this during an exclusive interview with Cinestaan.com. “We will be launching our band on 11 May," he said. "It will be an introduction of our band that day. Shweta Shetty, the pop singer, Louis Banks, the seasoned artiste, and some other good names are associated with it.”
The introductory performance will take place at a venue near the historic Royal Opera House in South Mumbai called The Quarter.
Tahil said that if anyone invites his band for a performance after the introduction show, they would be happy to oblige. “We are all passionate people. We are here because of our passion for music. After the show if people call us for a concert or anything, we will be there for sure,” he said.
The news about Tahil singing in an English band might come as a bit of a surprise for people from today’s generation. But the actor has been singing on stage for a long time. “When I entered the film industry, I was mostly doing English musicals in theatre,” he recalled.
He also sang in the London stage musical Bombay Dreams with AR Rahman composing the score. “In Bombay Dreams I sang in Rehman saheb’s music. It was produced by someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber who himself has written musicals like Phantom Of The Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita,” said Tahil.
The late theatre actor-director Alyque Padamsee had adapted Evita in 1999 for the Mumbai stage with Tahil played the role of the fabled Argentinian revolutionary 'Che' Guevara.
Asked how he is feeling before the launch of his band, Tahil said, “I am excited and also a bit nervous. I have had to prepare 6-8 songs for it. Two will be in Hindi and the others in English.”
As far as his film career is concerned, Dalip Tahil will be seen next in the Akshay Kumar-starrer Mission Mangal (2019) and Kunal Kohli’s Ramyug (2019), which is based on the Ramayana. He also featured recently in the acclaimed web-series Made In Heaven.