A lot of musicians, of late, have talked about live shows being impacted during the pandemic. While all agree that earnings have been hit, composer-singer Salim Merchant says he has “fortunate” to have found other avenues.
“We are not just busy with live shows, there are recordings as well. We (Salim-Sulaiman) had a release recently on an OTT platform, Skater Girl. We did the music for that during the Covid lockdown. Apart from that, we also worked on another feature film. We have been able to do a lot of work,” he says.
And with unlock underway, both the audience and artistes, are prepping to step on the stage at some point. In fact, Merchant and his entire team have got vaccinated for that.
“Sulaiman and I got vaccinated first since we are above 45. The minute it opened up for 18 and above, it was so difficult to register. The band was literally together, opening their laptops and checking. Then they got slots. All of our team consisting of 17-18 people, including my help and driver have got it,” he shares.
The 46-year-old, who has worked on films such as Chak De! India (2007) and Kurbaan (2009), says that the whole period so far has had a lot of gloom attached, but he is “thankful” to have managed somehow.
“Honestly, not doing live shows has not been the biggest of challenge [for me]. Some of us lost some near and dear ones. I lose a very close friend of mine about a year ago. He didn’t die of Covid, but a bike accident. It was a very difficult time for us. Everybody lost somebody close to them, which has been a difficult thing,” he says.
The silver lining to this dark period was the duo getting the time to start their own music label. “I am fortunate we actually structured an entire music label of our own, which was a dream. We got the time to start that,” he gushes.
