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Chennai

(1998-2014)

In March 1998, Krosswindz played a concert in Chennai and Neil stayed on with a completely unknown future ahead, with Rs 3000, and three guitars. In Chennai, he became part of Funky Bodhi, along with Paul Jacob, Donnan Murray, Palakkad Sriram and K. Vaidyanathan. Life as a session’s guitarist started as well. Neil met with AR Rahman which translated into playing guitar for Rahman in Hindi and Tamil film songs and background music scores (See Featured Guitarist).

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Picture of the cover blurb of Kashti. Featuring Neil and Bonnie.

At this time, Neil started collaborating with Ashutosh Sharma (a physicist), to compose the songs of Kashti. In 2000, recording of Kashti the album started, which featured Bonnie (vocals), Dwight (bass), Keith Peters (bass) Paul Jacobs (drums and music production), Marten Visser (saxophone), K Vaidyanathan (percussions), while Chennai Cine Orchestra played the additional notes (credit list). One of the songs Aagey Main Chalu was made into a video which featured actor Kay Kay Menon. This song got a lot of airplay, the album received good reviews, and though it was a critical success, it was not a commercial blockbuster. The creative group behind Kashti eventually disbanded.

Neil continued to work as a session guitar player, music composer/producer in Indian films and advertising industry. In 2004, he composed and produced a few Tamil songs for a film. Although the music was completed, the film did not get made. Music production, sessions playing, and Bengali songwriting continued. Neil came up with songs like Raat Beraat, Ki jeno, Bajaar, Kolkata Love Song (with Joyjit Lahiri), Aami jaani etc.

© Neil Mukherjee

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