Who says musicians only like the sound of music in their cars? Grunty performance — and sublime Mercs — matter for this blue-blooded sarod player. Ritujoy Chakraborty meets Amaan Ali Bangash.

There is a dark secret that noted sarod player and celeb-son Amaan Ali Bangash doesn’t know till now. When I first called up his place, I was actually trying to catch his dad, the maestro himself, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. But Khan-saab politely refused, saying that the car guy in the family was elder son Amaan. Sorry buddy!

But I must have been nice to my mum the morning of the interview, for the tête-à-tête with Jr A turned out to be fantastic! Amaan is a chap pictured to be the epitome of sophistication, all nice and prim in his starched kurta sitting cross-legged on stage and weaving magic with his fingers on a gleaming sarod.

And here he was, a ‘cool dude’ wearing a tight T, showing off his biceps if not his gleaming C-class. And best of all, he’s able to carry it off, including the Merc.

“My dad is almost indifferent to cars, as long as they are comfortable and reliable. At least he thinks he’s indifferent! Probably that’s why he bought a Mercedes 300D long before the car became famous in this part of the world. I remember this canary yellow Merc was extremely eye-catching. Vinod Khanna offered to buy it, but ultimately it was sold to an erstwhile maharaja. We had a host of Indian cars after that, changing cars so frequently that my friends used to tease me by saying, ‘Amaanji, it has been three whole months since you changed your car. Isn’t it time for a replacement!?’ We had many cars, but my love-affair with Mercedes had already started, thanks to the 300D.”

“So when we bought another Merc, an E220, then changed to an E250 and finally the new C200 CDI, I was in seventh heaven. This is a diesel, but you can listen to music in absolute silence. You can make out every single note and you can feel, not hear, the clarity of the bass, something that you can’t do in many expensive petrol cars. You can even meditate if you want, but not while you’re driving, mind you! I think Mercs are almost perfectly built — no wonder I just love this car.”

But isn’t it too flashy?

“Yes and no. It’s a Merc, so yes it is impressive in all respects. But did we buy it to flaunt it? Absolutely not. Our family is based on traditional values and ethics, which have now become a part of our lives.
I believe that you are, how you think, not necessarily how you dress or how much money you have, or even what your car is. I hate to talk about my car or celebrity status in public simply because the listener may not be that lucky in life. The Merc is something dear to me, and to be shared only with my dear ones, not something to be flaunted to the rest of society.”

Their father’s fame apart, Amaan and brother Ayaan have been playing professionally around the world since their teens, and have even performed at the Carnegie Hall. It was on one of these trips that Amaan got himself behind the wheel of a friend’s Mercedes 320 SLK, and hasn’t recovered since.

“It was awesome, simply awesome! The car went from zero to wow! in like five seconds, and kept on going after that (V6 engine, my friend, a full-blown V6!). I also got to drive a BMW X5. What a car! After driving the X5, I started believing in cars that can go anywhere, specially for Indian roads.”

Maintaining a car is a passion with the Khan household, and a spanking ‘new’ two-year-old Lancer in the driveway is testimony to that. So much so, that Amaan delivers a resounding finale to this interview: “You know, like a musical note should sound and feel perfect, nothing less, a car should also be kept in a way that it sounds and more importantly feels perfect. Only then are you justifying your privilege of owning a car.”