Chaar Diwaari is Indian Hip-Hop’s Favorite Worst Nightmare Right Now

After multiple attempts to set up a call, it’s finally a Tuesday night when Chaar Diwaari aka Garv Taneja hops on a video call to discuss plans for his first-ever run of shows across the country around his terrifying new song “Barood.” The NSFW music video is the best way to take in the essence of “Barood” in all its primal glory, even if it’s just two minutes in length.  

Making music for about the last six years, the vocalist, composer, producer and filmmaker released “Kaun Mera?” in 2021 and steadily began putting out more chaotic earworms, like “Bhool Ja” featuring Shaastriji (now also known as Nanku and fka Udbhav) and Rohanyv and his mind-melting horror-rap EP Teri Maiyat Ke Gaane in 2022. In his catalog, terrifying songs like “Mitti” ft Yashraj and “Mera Saman Kahan Hai?” sit next to unsettling but lighter singles like “Enjaay” with Sminil Agale, K. Shah and Kya.scene and “Rang.”  

Even as he’s planning shows in New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru starting May 12th, there’s a tiredness to putting together a headline set. “I don’t think I am good at anything. I’m just like trying things out one after another,” he says. He’s managing his rising music career alongside music school and he’s not entirely happy with his decision at this point. “Music ke sapno ke beech mein mera music school aa raha hain [my music school is getting in the middle of my dreams of making music]. This is the only problem in my life right now. I still have to do assignments,” the artist adds. It’s not all bad, though, because he found a great location near his university to film “Barood” “It’s where I filmed the video for ‘Rang’ also so that’s something to think of,” he says.  

Teaming up with names like Yashraj, MC Kode, Arpit Bala and a few others – plus getting props from some of the biggest artists in the game right now, from D-Cypher to Lifafa to Parimal Shais – Chaar Diwaari says it was overwhelming to get to interact with big names at first. Chaar Diwaari says, “I didn’t know how to react because I used to listen to all of these people and I’m first and foremost a fan of music.” 

He name-checks everything from R.D. Burman’s “Raina Beeti Jaaye” from the Seventies to A.R. Rahman and Amit Trivedi to math-rock, but Chaar Diwaari was also training in Indian classical music for about seven months. He comes back to talking about learning music at this stage. He says, “I think one thing I would like to say to anybody who wants to learn anything from me is don’t go to a music school.”  

It eventually gets us to talking about how the desi hip-hop community has loved Chaar Diwaari, making his work and personality the subject of daily memes and philosophical analysis as well. But the artist is clear that he’s not trying to cater to just the hip-hop audience. “I’m just saying, ‘This is my music. Having said that, hip-hop, I find, is the most liberating of all genres because I think anybody can do it. All we need to do to express ourselves is just to write and pick up a beat online and just say what you feel. That is so liberating,” he says.  

His real background is “old Bollywood,” Chaar Diwaari says. “It’s just a mixture of everything. All they [composers] look for is to make a good song, although it doesn’t happen all the time.” At the end of the day, genres are like the different spices for a Chaar Diwaari dish  

The DIY, try (and possibly fail) approach comes across strongly when you hear his plans and journey. He and director of photography Jay Rana spent a month on the monochrome video for “Kaun Mera?” simply because they had the time and no budgets. “Bhool Ja” with its wild, rollercoaster narrative of substance abuse, too, was zero budget but a riot to experience.  

He did begin investing in videos like “Mera Saman Kahan Hai?” and “Barood” but indicates that the latter was an audio-visual experiment you may not see again. “’Barood’ was just me just taking a full left turn and seeing how far can I push everything. I just wanted to push myself to the extreme to see what comes out,” he says.  

The push continues with the tour, which comes on the heel of Chaar Diwaari being signed to Sorted Management, an agency that‘s taking some of the load off. He’s looked through a few concerts of Tyler, The Creator and a Death Grips gig which he calls “very physical” and taken some inspiration for what will be a “theatrical” presentation. “They had characters come up on stage… it was very interactive. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make an experience for the viewer. So yeah, I’ll slowly get better at this. But this is my first time doing it, I know it will go well but I don’t know what will go wrong, but it’s all a learning curve,” the artist adds.  

Following the tour, there are more singles that will follow “Barood” and an EP. “The singles are going to be very good. But I’m even more excited about the EP after those. I’m constantly reinventing myself,” he says. Where most artists might be about honing a sound that defines them, Chaar Diwaari says it’s not like that for him. He adds, “At this point, I’m just looking to dip my hands into every bowl I see and make every kind of music that I want. I’m excited for the future. Thoda slow hoga, mera climb [it’ll be a little slow, the climb]. I don’t have a gimmick to sell, though.”

Get tickets for Chaar Diwaari & Friends – Barood tour here.