THE BRIDGE WEEKLY The South Asian music & culture dispatch — from Sammy Chand
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There is a gate in Mumbai that Amaal Mallik used to stand outside of at sixteen. It belonged to Vishesh Films — Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt, the house that made Aashiqui. He would watch young directors walk in and Emraan Hashmi walk out and think: once this gate opens and I get to play one song, I’ve arrived. He didn’t have a song yet. He just knew that was the room.
It took twenty years. His grandfather, Sardar Malik, had worked with the Bhatts’ father in the fifties. His uncle Anu worked with the brothers in the seventies and eighties. His father, Daboo, in 2001. “If it was that easy,” he asks, “why did it take twenty years for a man like me, with good music and successful music, to get this chance?” His phrase for the surname everyone assumes opened doors: reverse nepotism. As a teenage assistant engineer, he says, studios let him go because other composers weren’t comfortable with a kid from a musical family in the room.
The debut came by accident. Armaan waited seven or eight hours outside Salman Khan’s van to play him some songs; Salman asked who made the music, and Amaal — then an assistant at Salim–Sulaiman’s studio, planning to debut at thirty-five — got the call. Jai Ho tanked. In 2014 the family lost the house and both cars. Headlines called him “not a chip off the old block.” He phoned his masi in New Zealand and told her he’d come work at a McDonald’s or a petrol station. Nine months later came Sooraj Dooba Hain.
Twelve years and almost 143 songs later, the gate opened. Yeh Awarapan — written with Rashmi Virag two years ago, from what he calls a very dark place, sung with Arijit Singh for Awarapan 2 — is the №1 song in the country and on the global charts. “All those twenty years of pain,” he says, “are in this one song.” It is also one of the last conversations he is giving for a while: in August he announced he is stepping away from film music until 2027.
Wednesday is the life. The gate, the surname, 2014, the brother he calls his superstar. Thursday is the fight. Why he calls talking about royalties in India “a villainous job,” the four pillars of a song and who gets paid for them, the home label he started so a kid can keep the publishing, and what he would say to the sixteen-year-old still standing outside that gate. Then he introduces Yeh Awarapan to America himself.
Twenty years, four markers
The call he waited for came after the career, not before it.
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Also This Week — Two More Conversations
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Inside the Music — The Bridge Data Desk
Talwiinder Takes the Throne — the Long Way.
Numbers no one else has, because no one else has the board: computed from The Bridge’s weekly Top 20, June 12 through October 18.
Talwiinder takes the throne — the long way. “Assay Passay” arrived at №4 on September 25 and climbed one place every week: №3, №2, and this weekend №1, the first №1 of his career on this board. It is only the second record since Labor Day to climb to the top instead of landing there (Priya Ragu’s “Finally” did it №4 → №2 → №1 earlier this month). And he didn’t come alone: “Mangda Wapis Kyun,” with Kidjaywest and NDS, debuts at №3, giving him two of the top three a week and a half before his EP.
Who held №1, week by week, since Labor Day weekend
Seven weeks, seven songs, seven artists. Nobody has kept the crown for two weeks since August.
The crown still doesn’t get defended. Satinder Sartaaj’s “Guzarish” re-entered straight at №1 a week ago and slides to №6 — the seventh one-week reign in a row. That makes thirteen different №1s in the nineteen countdowns since June 12. Friday’s question is simple: does Talwiinder become the first to hold it twice since the summer?
Arrivals on the Top 20 — records that weren’t on the previous week’s board
Four arrivals this weekend after last week’s eight, and they landed high: Talwiinder’s “Mangda Wapis Kyun” at №3, Maan Panu and Tav’s “I Met Her Again” at №7, Arshdeep Maan’s “Saun Lagge” at №10 in his first week on the show, and Tesher’s “Possession” at №19, two weeks before Halloween.
The climb and the fall. Rawme Hooda’s “Pump Up” jumps eleven places, №19 to №8, the biggest move of the week; Raghav and Arjun’s “Jaadu Kaisa Hai” rises five to №5, their second top-five record after “Ho Jayenge Ghum.” Going the other way, Priya Ragu’s “Finally” drops ten to №17 two weeks after it was №1, and Karan Aujla’s “Ashke” falls eight to №11 while “Rap Killa” climbs to №4 — the same artist, two directions.
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The Board — This Weekend’s Top 20 · EP 643
Assay Passay Climbs to №1. Four Debuts, One Straight Into the Top Three.
Movement vs. the October 9–11 board. Four records exit: Bari, Pablo, Bandhe Zulfon Pe and Tumhein Bhi Humse. Four arrive, all debuts.
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The Bridge on the Charts
The Bridge Went to №1.
Where the show stood on Apple Podcasts, September 17 – October 18
The week Mahlan Wala 59 premiered Unlimited, the show was the №1 Music Commentary podcast in Indonesia. It was one of six countries where the show hit the top three this month: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Tanzania and Antigua and Barbuda at №2, and Jamaica at №3. Libya arrived on the board for the first time, straight in at №5.
In all, the show charted in sixteen countries this month, with up to ten more on any given day.
Music Commentary — Apple Podcasts · Peak position
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This Week on The Bridge · Daily 9 AM PT
On Rukus Avenue Radio this week: Aashi Arora hosts entertainment attorney Nina Ameri on Leaders Creating Rukus (Monday, 4 AM and 4 PM PT); Sunny Grewal’s Off The Stream and Ruby Basi follow him Monday; Neesh’s Garage Mahal and Prabhleen’s Jugni on Tuesday; Rohit Bhatia’s Know Gurbani Wednesday; Sabeen Faheem’s Who Does She Think She Is? Thursday. The Bridge airs daily at 2 AM, 9 AM, 3 PM and 9 PM Pacific.
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New & Notable — The Release Wire
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The Bridge Awards — The Ten Categories
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Listen
The Bridge airs weekdays at 9AM PT on iHeartRadio, in every US market. The Top 20 Countdown runs all weekend.
iHeart — iheart.com/podcast/53-the-bridge-by-sammy-chand-279975775/
Apple Podcasts — podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bridge-by-sammy-chand/id1819531039 Spotify — open.spotify.com/show/3PUPeB45JBJ6CxDXTudsHo Amazon Music — music.amazon.com/podcasts/8c38c055-d095-47dd-8a46-897ad0bbd529/ YouTube — youtube.com/@TheBridgeBySammyChand RA Radio — rukusavenueradio.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Follow @sammychand · @rukusavenue · @rukusavenueradio
Tips and corrections: sammy@rukusavenue.com — Sammy
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The Bridge with Sammy Chand — Syndicated daily via Premiere Networks / iHeartRadio — @sammychand · @rukusavenue · sammy@rukusavenue.com
Rukus Avenue Music Group · 9909 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Chatsworth CA 91311-3602
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Indonesia
United Arab Emirates
Bahrain
Tanzania
Antigua and Barbuda
Jamaica
Libya
Pakistan
India
Afghanistan
Singapore
Oman
Qatar
Nepal
Sri Lanka
United States