Taaruk Raina: ‘It’s Difficult to Be Taken Seriously As a Musician If You’re an Actor’

Taaruk Raina might be known for his role as Anmol Malhotra in the web series Mismatched alongside Prajakta Koli’s Dimple Ahuja character, but there’s a new on-screen narrative that unfolds in Raina’s new song “Lost & Found” with singer-songwriter Charan.

In the video directed by Rahul Singh Datta from Starving Artist Films in Goa, Raina and Koli are past partners who find that there have been words left unsaid and thoughts left unexpressed, even as she’s moved on and found another partner, a role essayed by Charan.

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Raina is at his freewheeling, openhearted best, because this is about his music and not about the numerous, often hectic promotional tours he embarks on with fellow actors whenever he has a film and series project.

The song and its music video were created between Raina and his go-to collaborator Charan within a month, “which almost never happens,” according to the artist. Following up songs like “Narazi,” “Sukoon” and “Kaise Banu,” Raina says he and Charan went into “Lost & Found” without overthinking or stressing over too much. It’s likely led to the bright, sometimes understated yet playful pop nature of the new song. Raina says about the making of the song, “We were just sitting in my room, Charan and I, and I was playing this one beat on loop and, and that’s it. We just started coming up with things, and then we came up with that chorus. I was like, ‘Arrey yeh fun hai.’ I think that night we made sort of like a structure. The next day we wrote it, and I think two days after that, we recorded it.”

While Raina has released music via labels like Sony Music India and Hitz Music – plus singing on songs off Mismatched – “Lost & Found” is an independent release. He admits it’s not easy to put the team together and produce and fund things on your own, but he gets by with the help of friends like Koli, with the video shoot taking place around the dates of her availability. “That happened to be in the middle of monsoon in Goa. In the three days we were there, we got 10 minutes of sun, but we got 10 minutes of sun every time we wanted it. So I think things were just aligning for us,” Raina adds.

A young actor on Indian screens right now, the point is not lost on Raina that he’s often paired up with counterparts like Koli, Aisha Ahmed (“Sukoon”), Tanya Maniktala (“Narazi”) and Ahsaas Channa (“Kaise Banu”) for his music videos. Sometimes, he explains, it’s coincidental, like cold-calling Maniktala for “Narazi.” Raina adds, “When I look for people for my videos, I just look at if their eyes can say what I want to say. It was the same case with my first video, which was ‘Sukoon’ and Aisha Ahmed was in it.”

With Koli, he found her to be best fit to be the female lead in “Lost & Found.” Raina adds, “I couldn’t think of a better person. And of course it helps that they’re my friends and they would really go out on a limb and do this for me.”

Although he hasn’t received any formal training, Raina says he wanted to be a musician before he realized acting was the vehicle that would help him sustain and earn money in Mumbai. “I decided, ‘Okay, you know what? I’m gonna take this acting thing really seriously, and I’m gonna learn to love it, and I’m gonna learn it, and I’m gonna be a little better at it so that I can, I can one day do my music.’”

He says that plan has worked out much to his delight. “I’m not saying I’ve killed it or anything, but I’ve just been able to do that as I’ve planned it.” Dubbed the best singer in the room whenever he’s doing promo for his shows and films, Raina still believes that it’s tough to be taken seriously as a musician when you’re already established as an actor. “Because of how it’s been right? Because of people who’ve just tried, just for the hell of it,” he says, referring to vanity projects, but not specifically naming anyone.

Raina, for his part, says he knows his strengths and feels most confident when he can write and release his own music because then there are no comparisons about if “anyone else could have sung it better.” He does, however, add, “I’m still waiting on the day that anybody calls me to sing on a song for them. You know, I feel like I have a lot more to offer, at least vocally, and I really want to get that out.”

Like for Mismatched, Raina will soon be seen in filmmaker Danish Renzu’s Songs of Paradise film alongside the likes of Saba Azad, while also contributing to the soundtrack of the Kashmiri movie that tells the tale of legendary singer Raj Begum. Raina says, “Danish gave me that chance to be a part of something associated with Kashmir. Because I am Kashmiri, I always wanted to do something like that. I can’t wait for Songs of Paradise, even though I’m very nervous about my Kashmiri pronunciation. It’s not the worst, but I don’t think it’s the best.”

There’s also a role in the upcoming drama series Rangeen and Mismatched season three, but Raina is also balancing acting work with more of his own song releases. Also on the horizon is the hope that he can take the songs on stage and perform it “one day.” He says, “I’m trying to make happier music because I want to be a happier person. Everything I write is from a personal experience. My songs are the only place I just let it out. It exhausts you mentally also, because you visit everything, and you feel everything that much more. I’m right now trying to write some happier music. I’d love to write some fun music that people can just have fun to.”