What's Up, Doc?

Devesh Sharma meets composer arko pravo mukherjee, who gave up medicine for music.

- Devesh Sharma

Arko Pravo Mukherjee is tall, laconic and fit as a fiddle. His apartment is riddled with dumbbells and other exercise equipment. They are juxtaposed with his prized possession two acoustic guitars, brought in Belgium. It’s a bit of a lived in mess. But so is any other bachelor pad. He’s wearing gym pants and a comfortable T and jokes that his lifestyle as well as his clothing is more ‘relaxed’ ever since he’s been single. That’s past one year now. It’s also the time since he has given hits like Saathi re from Kapoor & Sons or Tere sang yaara from Rustom. So he’s presumably flushed with money and has no girlfriend to pamper. “In a way it’s good. Because I’m also flushed with work. I wouldn’t have had all this me time if I weren’t single. One should enjoy spending time with oneself as well. It’s therapeutic.” He’s irritated with some construction noise that’s seeping through the French windows and promptly shuts them. “Can you believe it?” he grimaces. “We’re on the 23rd floor and yet there’s so much noise pollution.”

His place is within walking distance from most studios like Yash Raj Films, Zee, Dharma Productions, T Series... “I can actually walk to these places if I want to. The traffic in this city is atrocious. I shudder to travel even to Bandra,” he mutters.