We all know him by name of The Concrete Chaser. He is somewhat an all-rounder. He is an anchor, a voice over artist a singer and to top it all a businessman. Check out our conversation with the multi-talented Abhishek Chopra.
1. Tell us something about you.
I am simple person; born and brought up in Mumbai. Did my schooling from Antonio Dsouza High School and then completed my graduation from K.P.B Hinduja College at Charni Road. Since my school days I was very interested in public speaking. I remember I used to win all elocution competitions in all languages from Std 5 till Std 10 and thereafter went on hosting every event in my college which helped me polish my anchoring skills. During my college days I found my love for singing and also got myself trained and fine-tuned my singing at Shri Suresh Wadkar’s institute. Apart from being an anchor I am also a businessman. So you can say I am an entrepreneur by day and a performer by night.
2. From college events to hosting live concerts with celebrities, you’ve come a long way. Please tell us about your journey so far.
It’s been a complete roller coaster ride, ups and downs and bumps. I believe nothing comes easy and everything has its own time. One has to be confident and keep the focus right on the target. I started with hosting college fests which worked as a platform for me to showcase my abilities and skills.
Slowly my work got noticed and I started getting different kinds of shows including celebrity events as well. One thing that I completely love doing is hosting pre-wedding gigs like a Sangeet. Wedding shows allow me to display the best of my wit. I feel so happy and satisfied when audience laughs at my punches. Tickling someone’s funny bone is not an easy job. Initially, I had to experiment and research a lot as to what should my content be like. My audience includes more of Marwari and Gujarati people and making them laugh while connecting with them is not really easy. I have even failed on several occasions. Even today after completing more than 1000 shows; I still feel I am learning something new with every show.
3.You have been working on your own music album ‘The Last Confession’ as a singer. Tell us something about it.
There was a time in my life when I felt choked from within and needed an outlet. So I took a notepad and started writing all that came to my mind. What came out were five soulful songs which I complied into a single album “The Last Confession” and launched it in 2012. The reason behind this album was that there were many things that I was not able to share with my loved ones. In my songs I tried to confess my feelings to all those important people in my life. I wanted to tell everyone that it is very important to confess your feelings and one should do it before it is too late. I had missed my train, but nobody else should. I was touched by the response after the launch in 2012. My inbox was flooded with messages. I remember people sharing their own heartbroken love story with me. The most popular song of the album was “Teri Aankhen” – Abby cries version. The reason behind this was that it spoke about the feeling of losing your love. I wanted it to reach every person who was heartbroken and not lucky in love and I am glad it did. Soon I am coming out with the sequel of this album which is happening for the first time in this industry. There will be a continuation of the story that I had left incomplete in the first edition.
“The Last Confession” will be titled as “The Last Confession – She Returns” (Vol.2) and currently my music director, Vaibhav Bhatnagar and I are working on it. This version takes the story forward and reveals what happened when the lost love was found. A fresh female voice will also be a part of this journey. I am not looking at any economics behind making the songs. All I want is that my story, my feelings and my thoughts should reach out to the heart of every individual who have not able to confess his/ her love.
Click here to download music album ‘The Last Confession’.
4. You have given voice for Mahabharata and Krishna too! Would you like to share something about it?
In 2008, I joined Khodus Wadia’s Voice institute to fine tune my voicing skills. Thereafter started doing voice overs. Luckily in a few months I was offered to dub for Arjun’s character in the movie Mahabharata. I also lent my voice to several brands like Union bank of India and Tata AIG for their audio marketing. Dubbing for animated movies is always my favorite.
5. Tell us something about your unique passion of being the first commuter on all the major infrastructural projects in Mumbai?
Haha! I know it sounds weird that how can someone have such a passion in life. Well…it all started during the opening of Bandra – Worli sea link. Being the first of its kind in the city, many people wanted to be the first one to drive over the bridge and see how does it feel like driving over the engineering marvel. Similarly even I wanted the same. I reached the spot at 4am and stationed my car at the starting point of the sea link and managed to enter first. This story was covered by press and I had so many people calling and congratulating me on the achievement. This sudden fame struck a weird thought of being the first on all flyovers that were going to be inaugurated. Then came the Parel –Byculla flyover during which RJ Nasar from Red FM joined me in my car. Then came the Milan subway flyover, the eastern freeway, the monorail and so on. I went on to be the first to travel on all of them. This quirky obsession was noticed by The Times Of India who interviewed me and released an article on me which titled me as “The Concrete Chaser”. Currently I have a record of being the first on 8 projects and soon I shall hit into the Limca Book of records for the same.
6. Anchoring, singing, events, flyovers and business too. You handle so many things at the same time. How is your family’s reaction/ support on this?
My family have been extremely supporting, specially my Dad from whom I have learnt a lot in my life. If we talk about the flyover thing, yes initially it was little funny for everyone. I mean who has this weird passion. But my family was cool with it. My wife has been my best motivation and support. She is my critic; she observes my performances and then points out my mistakes. I am thankful that I have such a lovely and supportive family.
7. Any special message for BuddyBits readers?
BuddyBits is the perfect place for educating yourself about the current affairs/ movies/ new talents. Thus I would want all your readers to share the stories you release on your page thereby helping it reach the youth audience and also let BuddyBits know about any interesting story that you know of.