A few days ago, we had the chance to catch up with Mumbai-based DJs Nikhil and Ashish; better known as DJ Nik & AJ for their “bootleg” remixes of popular Bollywood tracks & gigs at clubs like Hype, Enigma, Rock Bottom & others. Here is what they had to say:
Q: How did you guys meet & get started as producer-DJs?
AJ: Well, Nik was the resident DJ at Henry Tham (Colaba, Mumbai) where I met him playing his EDM sound & asked him if he could help improve my DJing skills, and if he would be interested in collaborating on producing Bollywood music with an EDM twist. He agreed & we started producing as well as DJing together soon after.
Q: Tell us a bit about your sound?
Nik: We mainly play out our own remixes of Bollywood tracks. I like to call it “bolly-house fusion” because it’s something different but also at the same time, something the audience can relate to.
AJ: But I guess nowadays our productions are also branching out into electro and dubstep fusion as well… depends on the sound & mood of the original track.
Q: Can you tell us more about what you are currently working on?
AJ: The past 2 weeks have been really hectic as we’ve been working on a new project by Percept called Bollyboom. We are producing about an hour’s worth of dance music to go along with 15 of Shaan’s biggest hits to be performed live alongside him at the concert this Sunday in Delhi. The others performing at the event include Sonu Nigam, Salim-Suleiman, DJ Lloyd, Acid, Shweta & Shraddha Pandit and Shadab.
Nik: Sleep-deprivation & large amounts of energy drink consumption have become normal! But when we see the crowd enjoying our hard work, it will all seem worthwhile.
Q: What have been some of the most memorable things you have experienced as DJs?
AJ: Too many to choose! For me, it would have to be a night in Delhi when we were done playing at a club & a drunk couple followed Nik up to his hotel room and we had to inform security because they wouldn’t leave! Also when we were playing an Eid weekend party in Dubai at Pulse, we had a stretch limousine driving us around all weekend – that was incredible!
Nik: I think what takes the cake for me was a new year’s eve party in Pune when we were asked to stop as the club had to shut at 12.15am – 15 minutes after midnight on new year’s day. On a different note, I will never forget a private wedding party in Aamby valley where I was forced to play all night: from 10pm to 6am – the crowd had tremendous stamina I must say!
Q: Any future plans we should watch out for?
AJ: Apart from Bollyboom events across other cities, we are also working on an album of our remixes that can hopefully spread our sound further than the shows we do each weekend. We hope you guys like our music!