Off beat, on the beat: Raghu Dixit

By: Lalitha Suhasini/ Forbes India

Later this month, folk rocker Raghu Dixit will perform at Glastonbury, capping a glorious three-year run. We get inside the head of India�s most ambitious independent musician

About 16 miles to the west of Salisbury, in the south-west of the UK, are the Larmer Tree Gardens, home to tropical wild birds and eclectic music. In summer 2010, Raghu Dixit sat here inside a small wooden shed, playing his acoustic guitar and singing one song in Hindi or Kannada to one audience member at a time. The venue, fittingly called Folk in a Box, was probably the smallest Dixit had ever performed in.

The 37-year-old folk-rocker has had a stage look in place since the beginning of his performing career: A colourful lungi, an equally vibrant Fab India kurta and ghungroos around the ankles. But the moody low lighting rendered the singer into a silhouette. Shorn of the frills, it was Dixit�s voice that had to do all the work.

Midway through �Ambar�, a simple Hindi ballad about searching for love, a 40-something Caucasian broke down. It wasn�t the lyrics she was responding to, but Dixit�s big-chested vocals. �I didn�t know whether to stop or continue singing as she went �boo hoo hoo�,� he grins at the memory.

We meet Dixit on a scorching summer afternoon in a South Mumbai coffee shop. Like his music, Dixit is of a cheery disposition, generous with his wide smiles and self-deprecatory humour. There�s a sense of straightforwardness when he speaks with his South Indian accent, the easy drawl punctuated with full-bellied laughs.

Dixit is in Mumbai to watch the shoot of a track he had composed using South Indian beats for the film Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge . He good-naturedly pokes fun at the title of the film, produced by Yash Raj Films� just launched youth-focused Y-Films. Like other alternative independent musicians, Dixit has made his peace with filmi music: The Bollywood paycheques go to finance his international tours.

The visit also means some quality time with choreographer wife of 10 years, Mayuri Upadhya, admits Dixit, who has been touring without a break since the 2008 release of his debut album.

He orders tender coconut water, of course, before settling down to tell us how a gold medal winner in microbiology now fronts one of the most successful bands in the country.