Karma on Heading to Kochi, Watching ‘Aavesham’ and Channeling Gangster Energy 

 Dehradun hip-hop artist Karma has never hidden his love for gangster swag, with songs like “Tony Montana” (with New Delhi star KR$NA), but now we get to see an on-screen personification in his latest music video, “Ring A Rose.” 

In the video directed by filmmaker Anush S.K., shot by DOP Aswin Sumesh and executive produced by Lendrick Kumar in Kochi, Karma is part of a give-a-damn trio who take on an existing kingpin. The rapper tells Rolling Stone India about getting into character, “I come from a place where it’s normal to be like this. All that gangster [stuff] and everything, Lendrick and Anush, they told me, ‘Just be yourself. Have fun with it, try to live the character.’” 

They also told him to watch a few movies for inspiration, and although Karma couldn’t get to it immediately, after the first day of filming, he watched the gang-themed Malayalam action-comedy Aavesham. “I got the gist of how I should be and how the clothes should be, and how I should be among the boys. It really came out good. I’m just waiting for a South Indian movie [role offer now,” he says with a laugh. Karma also gushes about feeling like the titular character of the Telugu action franchise Pushpa. “I mean the clothes like shiny shirts and gold rings and all of that… It seems like a dream to me,” he says. 

An artist from the hills of Uttarakhand was transplanted into hot and humid Kochi, but Karma was there to soak it all in, encouraged by his label Warner Music India’s product lead, Ansika Vjn, in particular. “If you ever go there, don’t miss the food and the people are amazing as well. The temperature, food, culture, language—everything changed. But of course, I felt very connected and very motivated,” he says. 

The song itself, produced by Salz, presented Karma with the chance to rap on an upbeat rhythm, which follows a new direction following recent singles like the love song “Do U Wanna” earlier this year. More prominent on “Ring A Rose,” however, is Karma’s subversion of a childhood rhyme, turning it into bars about thriving unapologetically. He admits he wanted to “cash in on our nostalgia” with the rhyme but says he also has an eye for making more accessible, “massy” rap that stays true to his style. 

Adding to the nostalgia in the video is the Nineties mainstay car, a metallic green Zen that is a prized possession for the don that Karma and his friends take on. There’s a bit of VFX to depict the action, but Karma says his input was to not “make it too comicky.” He adds, “The car could’ve been a Mustang, but I felt like a Zen was something people could relate to, like something from a day-to-day scene.” 

Karma is working on more singles to be out this year and “a project” by the end of the year. “I just want to experiment with the bounce and the vibe,” he says. He was set back a couple of months by an injury, but he’s resolutely back in action now. “I was reloading, and now I’m back, and I’m gonna shoot, shoot, shoot,” he says with a laugh.