Indian singer launches ‘non-alcoholic’ party anthem

New Delhi, Jan 29 (IANS) Indian singer-choreographer Shraey Khanna's new single "Hath mei daru nahi" is aimed at creating a party mood without a mention of alcohol, drugs, girls or cars.

Shraey, best known for winning reality show "India's Dancing Superstar" in 2013, released the song on Saturday. He also debuted as a music composer in this new track, which he has penned and choreographed too.

His idea was to change the current trend as several singers are releasing songs either mentioning alcohol, girls and cars in lyrics, or in visualisation.

According to Shraey, "you just need to be yourself to enjoy life, you don't need liquor to bring out that carefree kid inside you".

That's what he has tried to project through "Hath mei daru nahi".

Shraey said in a statement: "This song is actually taken from my life's experiences. Every time I go to a party, my friends make fun of me because they see a glass of juice in my hand, rather than a glass of wine."

This got him thinking.

"I recently got to know about one class 12 student from my neighborhood, who was in a rehab centre for a year to get over drug addiction. I don't know why, but gradually drinking or smoking has become a status symbol or maybe it makes them look cool (that's what the youth thinks). So, I thought why not make a song with no alcohol, no drugs, no girls, no cars and make it sound cool," he added.

The lyrics go like this -- "Hath mei daru nahi juice ka glass, banda hun main sidha sadha itni si baat".

"I wanted to talk about everything that the youth feels and is experiencing, so I started visiting clubs and public places to observe things. I also joined dating app Tinder, to see how real or fake relationships have become. So it took me a lot of time to write the whole song and then composing music for this wasn't that easy as I wanted it to sound different," Shraey said.

The song's video was shot by Neeraj Hinduja over five days in Leh.