Kunal Agarwal and Sanjoy Deb are a young duo making waves with their latest music video "Tonight I Believe." Having hit one million views on YouTube, we caught up with the guys to find out more about their artistry. Check out our exclusive interview here.
by Zaynah Rashid
We all grow up with ambitions and dreams. How many of us have been caught singing and dancing in front of a mirror or mimicking police officers and fire fighters at a young age? Well, Kunal Agarwal and Sanjoy Deb, two California boys, have had dreams that turned into hobbies and are now turning into milestones in their entertainment careers. Kunal, a video producer, and Sanjoy as the music producer have been releasing remixes and music videos impressing the masses. Sanjoy's drop of "Tonight I Believe" an original track has surpassed expectations and hit over one million views on YouTube. Neeraj makes his solo vocal career debut making this quite the first impression. The quality of the video and song speak for themselves so we caught up with Kunal and Sanjoy to find out more about their artistry.
Desiclub: A video producer (Kunal), music producer (Sanjoy), and vocalist (Neeraj)- how did you guys meet?
Sanjoy: Kunal and I met in high school. We were buddies then and didn't realize we could do anything with our hobbies until we came to college and wanted to do something else besides studying and partying all the time. I was introduced to Neeraj at a dance competition by a mutual friend years ago, thought he was an amazing dancer and singer, and wanted to work with him for the longest time. Kunal and I had always talked about giving people a certain kind of experience with our productions and after interning for some cool companies we had earned enough money for some professional equipment and started working towards the mutual goal of putting our generation on the map.
Desiclub: Kunal you seem to have created a template for your videos, we've got a leading lady, amazing cars, and your University dance team (Azaad). What directors or music videos inspire you?
Kunal: Haha, until now, there's been focus in obtaining as big of a variety of shots as possible. Every time we shoot a video, we learn so much while trying to stay true to our trademarks. As a team (Shayan Fakurnejad, Justin Nguyen, Sanjoy, and myself) I believe we will climb to new heights and break out of a "template" for the next project! I wouldn't say specific music videos inspire me, but instead actual movies. I love the way they immerse you into the screen...especially at the theater!
Desiclub: Sanjoy - you've remixed quite a bit, now we are hearing a brand new production, what is your music style and inspiration?
Sanjoy: I love remixing! It's so much fun and is really good way to practice sound designing on top of what is already popular and well received by the audience. However, I think my main talents in sound production is truly captured by my original songs. My music style is a mixture of progressive and electro house with Bollywood elements and has been really influenced by my weekends spent as a performer and DJ. I get to connect with the people and play different tunes to figure out what will work. I've been learning how to sound design since 8th grade, (shout out to Reason and Sony Acid for making it possible) hahaha. The kids at school made fun of me for having weird noises and bleeps and climax and drops in my tracks back then and look at the EDM scene now! I want to connect to every college kid in the world with my music and I want to represent India in the Electronic Dance Music world.
Desiclub: While balancing school and these talents- what do each of you guys hope to be doing once you graduate?
Kunal: One of the most difficult parts about all of this is spending all day working in the lab doing Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and at night begin the production work. I would say that both Sanjoy and I will work hard on our studies and always have our hobbies be the element that makes us strive to be the best we can be. It's worked great so far and really motivates us in our "double-lives" to excel!
Desiclub: Do you each pay any attention to other South Asian artists around the world? What is your opinion on the U.S. Desi Scene?
Sanjoy: I do pay attention to any and all South Asian talent, big and small. I have so much respect for every single artist out there, they've made it because they did something right and because of their hard work. It's hard to define, or even judge the U.S. Desi scene, just because so many people do so many different things at so many different ages. I definitely think we're headed in the right direction and if we join hands and make good music and forget about all the bullsh!t the entire United States Desi Scene will definitely be recognized as pioneers for years to come.
Desiclub: Explain to us the competition you have held which has helped you reach the 1,000,000 mark on your video! How does 1,000,000 feel?
Kunal: So, Sanjoy had this really cool idea of a competition to get a free intro video & mix for the dance teams around the US. Teams would try to reshare the video with their friends as many times as possible with the hopes of being the top 3 teams in number of reshares. With the sudden influx of hits on YouTube, we were bumped up to the front page and skidaddle, bloop, bam! I hate thinking about numbers! What's important to me are the comments, both negative and positive, which taught us a lot to make the next project eons better.
Desiclub: The dance team circuit, for those looking in on it, is quite a large fraternity. How would you describe it as this is your greatest network.
Sanjoy: Everyone in the dance circuit is like part of a big family. We have made friends on every dance team and board for competitions. It's crazy to get so close to people so much like yourself from all around the US. They're all like my brothers and sisters and I know no matter what I do they will always have my back, and I will always support them and try to feature as many of them as I can in everything that we do. Seriously, I fu*king love you guys.
Desiclub: What advice do you have for other upcoming talents?
Kunal & Sanjoy: It's amazing to see what you can accomplish when you persist through any challenges. There's amazing opportunities around you always! It could have been very plausible that we never worked on Azaad & Zahanat mixes and videos, and would have lost out on a huge experience. Big break or a small little thing, huge 10 thousand people show or 10 people in a no named club, follow your dreams and work diligently without any expectation and for the love of creating something... At least that's what we have learnt from our short time in this.
Desiclub: What's next from each of you?
Sanjoy: Mashed potatoes.
Kunal: Cinnabon.
Desiclub: Was that an invitation for dinner for all the fans?
Young talent, fresh eyes on a striving U.S. Desi scene, Kunal, Sanjoy, and Neeraj have a short and sweet resume and quite the following. Get in the know of these guys because there is no doubt they are here to stay.
