Singer Vilen: Film music is a major source to reach more people but I won’t force myself into it

Vipul Dhanaker better known by his stage name Vilen, is quite popular for his music videos on YouTube. The singer and composer often writes the lyrics for his songs. However, he went through his own struggle to understand various aspects of making and releasing a song during his initial years.

“The main struggle is that I’m too independent. I’ve done everything on my own, and never even shared my struggle with my family or friends. So, the struggle was that everything was hidden from everyone, while I was doing something that I had no idea about,” says Vilen, known for songs Ek Raat (2018) and Chidiya (2019).

At the time when he was starting out with Ek Raat, it was hard because he had to understand everything, how things work, how to direct, write screenplay, do editing, compose music, write lyrics and so on.

“So, the process of understanding these things was enough of a struggle for me because you can’t learn these aspects from anyone. These are creative things, so you have to understand them on your own. Therefore, it was a long struggle to understand everything properly and then construct them,” recounts the singer, whose latest release Kyun Dhunde is a slice of life track.

“People tend to forget to value and cherish life and keep focusing on the obstacles. The song is to remind them to enjoy new experiences as there’s a whole world outside,” he explains.

While he enjoys being an independent singer, one wonders if he has an inclination towards film music. To this, Vilen says, “I am interested in both individual songs and film music. I have an interest in making songs for films as well because it is a major source to reach more and more people. So of course, films are also there, but I don’t want to force myself into films. When the time will be right, and if someone feels I am the right man for the job, then I will do that. Otherwise, I am also happy with the independent songs that I am doing.”

The fact that once you become a popular name in the music circuit, you are always under the radar and whatever music you composer, it is subjected to scrutiny. We ask Vilen about the recent controversy when rapper Badshah’s song Sanak ran into trouble for using the word Bholenath in it.

Reacting to this, Vilen considers himself fortunate that nothing of this sort has happened to him. “That’s also because I try to be a little careful while constructing my songs. However, if something like this happens by mistake, I will make sure to change it because we are making songs for the audience. And if they are getting hurt, then there’s no point in creating anything,” he signs off.