Following years of takedowns and copyright strikes, the viral bootlegs by Anant Ahuja and Neal Sekhri – the DJ/ Producer duo who go by the alias MadStarBase – have had their second label win with Saregama officially releasing four of their retro Bollywood edits.
R. D. Buraman’s iconic “Dum Maaro Dum,” ‘90s anthem “Saat Samundar,” cabaret classic “Piya Tu” and “Meri Umar” which is a flip of Kishore Kumar’s “Om Shanti Om” are all available on digital platforms now. With Saregama’s seal of approval they can be found on YouTube and streaming. This follows last year’s similar landmark agreement with Universal Music to release four previous remixes. “For so long all these remixes have just remained in the underground scene. The underground scene got so big that now it’s become a mainstream thing or at least accepted by the mainstream,” shares Ahuja who thinks it’s a positive thing that more listeners can access their work now.
Their remix of Sholay’s “Mehbooba Mehbooba” has close to 1.3 million plays on Spotify, a song from last year’s Universal Music catalogue. The Delhi-based duo, over the years, happened to remix songs mostly from Universal Music and Saregama’s catalogue. However there are a few others they are trying to figure, such as the sultry Ila Arun number “Choli Ke Peeche,” that is with Tips Music.
After a few years of taking a break from Bollywood edits, Ahuja and Sekhri have come back at it with a renewed beat and vigour. “We’re taking classic Bollywood songs, except now instead of like 808s (a sub-bass percussion) and hip-hop drums, it’s more of a reggae rhythm with Hindi film vocals,” they share. The new project is titled Desi Dub Riddims, of which global superstar DJ Diplo gave fans a sneak peak of, in his surprise set at a Goa festival last year.
The producer collective has not considered having their songs being used in films and OTT via sync and licensing deals yet, but do think it’s a fantastic idea. “The thing is with all these songs, the ones that have just been taken on, our intention was never to go this far with it, right? And have it legally on Spotify. We were just making it for the sets and for the parties,” says Sekhri, talking about how they hadn’t planned any of it. They do hope the labels consider pushing the remixes for television or movies since they are now “official”. The duo has been playing shows abroad in London and Dubai, where the Bollywood edits were well received.
As for how this whole agreement process with labels began, they tell us how Universal Music first approached them with a “full offer,” after seeing the traction the tracks got online. On a third-party YouTube channel, the trap remix by MadStarBase of “Mehbooba Mehbooba” – uploaded in 2022 – has over 23 million views. Other bootlegs track around 200,000 views each. At Saregama, they found the right contact person and reached out to them, making a case for how old tracks will get more attention now and how pleasantly it had worked with Universal Music. Saregama was receptive and after a few months of back and forth, the deal went through.
“I think for Universal to come out that means that obviously somebody on their team was exposed to our music and saw the numbers it was doing. Maybe younger fresher blood in these companies are going to change it,” they add, commenting on the bureaucracy at big labels.
The next project Sekhri and Ahuja are working on is with a Bharatnatyam dance company, where they’re blending Carnatic music with hip-hop, bass, soul and keyboards for a fusion audio-visual presentation. MadStarBase’s beats will soundtrack the Keelaka Dance Company’s production Sakhi as dance-actors perform to their music on stage.
The duo has been friends since childhood, having grown up together, both in India and abroad. They’ve been making music and DJing together for over a decade. The secret sauce to making it work together for so long? “The way Anant and I have always approached it is, first it’s vibes and friendship. That’s kind of where you really find the sweet spot of collaboration,” shares Sekhri.
