Bassist and music composer, Gaurav Balani’s latest single is making the right waves with its strong female anthem vibes. Titled ‘Help Me Fly’, Balani collaborated with singer Apeksha Dandekar for the track that addresses the issue of gender violence.  

He says, “We've focused on one character to put forward the thought process of a woman dealing with these issues. We’ve depicted her in two shades. One is a dark character, who is on the verge of surrendering to the negativity, after being put through these atrocities. And, the second one is a positive character that wants to fight these forces and help herself get out of the situation and unite everyone against these issues. The video has an abstract vibe but we wanted to capture the intensity of the pain a person feels after dealing with such issues or even after hearing about them on a regular basis. It is essentially a message of support for everyone who is fighting for this cause and to unite everyone against this gender-based violence.” 

The duality of the video has attracted a lot of attention from actors Anushka Dandekar, Shibani Dandekar and singer Shalmali Kholgade sharing the video online. 




Is there a particular incident that inspired Help Me Fly?
There wasn't any particular incident that inspired the song. It was the realisation that this situation seemed to be getting worse with each passing day that made me come up with the music for this song.

How was it like working with Apeksha Dandekar? Are there any more collaborations in the offing?
Apeksha is a very talented artist and working with her was an absolute pleasure. As a composer, I got to push myself a lot further than I would've been able to, had I composed this song all by myself. She added a whole different perspective vocally, which helped me create more parts for the song. We will definitely be working on something together soon. We just need to finalise upon the concept.

What has the response been...especially from women?
As an artist, I feel a certain sense of responsibility towards the music and the message that I put out. I'm happy with the response to the video so far. I've been getting a lot of positive messages from people on my various social media handles. The women, in general, have particularly been more receptive to the video. It resonates a lot more with them since it's a song about gender-based violence. 

What are your future projects under Inalab? Also, what is the meaning behind the word Inalab?
 The upcoming releases for this year feature some extremely exciting collaborations. I have finally recorded the first song I ever wrote back in 2008. It features some of my favourite musicians (including my cousins, Aditya and Tarun Balani) who helped me immensely with my musical growth. The song has been composed along with the stalwart musician, Shubha Mudgal. The second release is a song about racism and it features two very talented musicians from the Delhi Indie scene, Suyash Gabriel and Moulik Siddharth. Inalab is the palindrome of my last name Balani. It was pointed out to me by brother and I thought it was a unique name for my solo setup.

All wordplay aside, how can a woman be 'helped to fly'?
Pertaining to the subject of this song, I feel like the whole issue of 'violence against women' needs to be tackled at the root level. Right from the education system to the parental guidance a child receives. In my humble opinion, that's exactly where the problem lies and unfortunately, not a lot has been done to fix that. It’s a tedious process and definitely not something that will be fixed soon, but a change in these areas will definitely cause a positive transformation and 'help women fly'. This issue needs urgent attention and it's not just for the sake of the women but also for the men who think it's okay to commit these crimes.