Indian Rapper Badshah on New Album ‘Ek Tha Raja,’ Working With Shah Rukh Khan, Arijit Singh: ‘I’m Like This Cousin Who Starts the Party’ (EXCLUSIVE)
21.03.2024 - 08:41
/ variety.com
Naman Ramachandran Indian rapper, singer-songwriter and music producer Badshah has just released his new album “Ek Tha Raja” (literally, there was a king). It is the third studio album for the musician who was born Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia and is known as Badshah, after “ONE (Original Never Ends)” (2018) and “The Power of Dreams of a Kid” (2020).
He also has numerous hit singles to his credit and has contributed to several Bollywood soundtracks including “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania” (2014), “Khandaani Shafakhana” (2019), where he also made his acting debut playing a music superstar, and “Jawan” (2023), starring Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. It is Khan who narrates the album’s announcement video, a four-minute cinematic film replete with armed gangsters, choppers, private planes and palatial mansions.
Badshah approached Khan’s management at the last minute with the narration request. “The next day I got a half-hour long file with those seven dialogues spoken in different emotions and that day I found out why Shah Rukh Khan is Shah Rukh Khan because once he’s in it, he gives his 200% and he’s just so kind.
All those things that you’ve heard about him are true,” Badshah told Variety. In “Ek Tha Raja,” Badshah, who’s with the Universal Music Group, performs with several guest musicians, including Morocco’s Draganov, Canada’s Nora Fatehi and a plethora of Indian acts including Karan Aujla, Hiten, Divine, Nikhita Gandhi, Raftaar, Aastha Gill, Seedhe Maut, Kr$na, Prajina, Shai, MC Stan, Mehar Vaani, Ikka, Dino James, Fotty Seven, Raga and Sharvi Yadav.