Aamchi Mumbai’s local boy RJ Rishi Kapoor of Red FM takes the city by storm every evening on his show Mumbai Local. A jack of all trades, the jock has a witty sense of humour which has landed him in unusual situations a lot of times. In this week’s Musical Rendezvous, the jock makes us see Mumbai the way he perceives it and narrates interesting anecdotes of his journey …

Mumbai and I are very similar in many ways. Every Mumbaikar is a jack of all trades in terms of earning money the hard way, bearing corruption and despite all the problems, we still have a wide smile. I have always believed: Mumbai is India’s son as it earns the most, gets very little in return and but yet is always happy. The beauty of the city is that it has prioritised itself in such a way that no big problem can bring it to a standstill, which is sometimes pitiful.

My show is a platform for people to say a lot since we do a lot of stuff related to Mumbaikars. The language is used is the local ‘Mumbaiya’ language to connect with the audiences. Recently I asked my listeners if they had passed on any gifts received to someone else and everyone came up with interesting answers. Many said that they received gifts during the wedding have been passed on to someone else. Others even said that the bouquet they got on their wedding, had been gifted at someone else’s wedding the next day. Our content is what actually the voice of the Mumbaikars and their issues.

A lot of people choose to ignore Gujarati, which is also the popular language of our city apart from Marathi. Fortunately I am good at both. So if a listener says that he/she is Jewish, I try talking a few words in Jewish. Once I wished some Parsis in their language and they were so happy, I got dhansak free for a week. So it’s all about how you build a rapport with your listeners.

There is a segment on my show called Reject News where we try and make it a little humorous. Another segment called ‘MawwaliBhai’ is a fabulous concept based on a character called bhai who is around three feet tall, with a gap in his teeth and is dressed cheaply. Bhai is someone who always passes witty comments on various topics. We have another show called ‘GaaKe Baja’ where we look at common issues and its impact on the citizens. For this we come up with a song which has a little sarcasm. Though its risky being humorous with sensitive issues. We did a beautiful song ‘JagaKahaHai Mumbai Main’ sung by Papon which was about lack of space in the city. The lyrics were hard hitting and peppy which genuinely reflected the hardships that the citizens faced.

I remember when Papon came to our studio for recording this song, I narrated the lyrics to him and in the other room my programming head and creative head, the lyricist, made fun of his name. He heard that and I was scared that he might not sing for us, but he just smiled and walked away. Though he did not sing the song that day as he had said he will send it from home and I thought he would not. But he sent it and it was truly amazing.

On a serious note, Mumbai is really facing a lot of issues with the main being traffic. Though the amount of time, the people is stuck in the jams, they listen to radio which increases my listenership. Apart from traffic, safety is also become a major issue.

Projecting issues like these on the radio is very much viable since it’s a live medium unlike television and print.  The main advantage is that you can also talk directly to the listener. Also it is a mass medium and some might curse the songs we play but if the listeners want me to play something preppy, I will have to adhere to his/her request instead of thinking about my likes and dislikes. Also I feel we have entered into an era where popular music is demanded by the listeners.

My show in terms of listening has become much easier and does force you to think ::: and makes you smile for a while, since we talk about issues a common man faces every day.

The most common challenge that every jockey faces is that he/she has a very less time to react especially in my time band. I cannot afford to be slow which usually happens during late afternoons or late night shows. I need to be on my toes all the time because you never know what the listener will suddenly comeup with and I need to react within a fraction of a second.

Recently I had asked a question “Which is your favourite strongest daddy moment?”A guy called me and said he has just passed his 12th standard and until then his dad would bathe him. I did not know how to react to that. So sometimes you don’t know how to react which could be an acid test.

One of the most memorable experience I had as an RJ was when I had an argument with a co-passenger in the train. He worked for a call centre and had worn his tag. I saw his name and the same night he called when I was hosting the show. Since I heard him in the morning itself, I recognised his voice and asked him his name. I asked him if he worked at a call centre, his reply was affirmative. Had the person known that I was the same whom he had fought with in the morning, he would have apologised. That’s the beauty of radio.

I have had unforgettable experiences with the celebrities too.  I was once at Arshad Warsi’s place and his son, a toddler was kicking me throughout the interview, and what scared me the most were his two pet dogs sitting on my lap.

Whenever I have a something to talk about, the idea is to give the best example to which the listeners can relate to. If you really want your listeners to communicate, you need to give the best to them, which makes them take to you and this is how the conversation is built.

However, I feel a radio station should always be bigger than the RJ. When an RJ is inflated and becomes bigger than the station, he becomes a necessity for the brand. It becomes a difficult situation for both, the station and the RJ. The station wouldn’t let him go and if at all the RJ quits the station, he will not become as popular as before. 

My biggest asset is my name and girls imagine me like Ranbir Kapoor. It’s natural that we are a peg of their imagination. I have had very hilarious situations with my listeners. During my early days when I did night shows, a girl regularly sent me lingerie. Another girl came with her dad to marry me and the father offered a lot of money.

For the longest time, there was a group of listeners who really thought I was Rishi Kapoor, the actor. This even made Ranbir Kapoor think that I was a spoof of his father.

Once I remember there was a parrot stuck outside the window in a wire. We did a lot to save the bird and ultimately the fire brigade was called and the bird was saved. The onlookers cheered as the parrot was saved. I spoke about this incident on my show and said that no one actually bothers when people die, but here is everyone cheering for the bird. For a long time PETA chased me for this statement though I feel I was correct in my own way

Once, I genuinely wanted to thank the BMC for commencing a bus service. I called up their office but couldn’t get through them. Five people gave me five different excuses. One of them even said that you need to write a letter instead of just calling up at the office. Most of the time the authorities think that we call up only for pointing out their mistakes which is actually not true.

I did my studies to become a dentist and my dream was to pursue dentistry as part and the other half as a jockey, but this was not possible. Since radio consumes most of my time.

Radio is evolving in an amazingly well since it is now a platform for the investors and the RJs’ are becoming celebrities in their own way. According to me, internet is another big thing so the day internet and radio are clubbed, the medium will only become bigger and better.