The DJ Who Had Wall Street Grooving!

'I woke up and I'm like Oh damn! It's hit 1 million views.'
'Yeah it was crazy.'

Mumbai-born DJ AJ turned Wall Street into a dance floor last week with his electrifying desi beats.

The planners for Indian American Varun Navani and Amanda Sol's wedding celebrations roped in the DJ based on their past work together.

Usually dressed in a simple shirt and trousers, unlike the flamboyant image one associates with DJs, this unassuming artist could easily pass off as a Wall Street executive.

Yet he is one of the most sought-after celebrity DJs on the wedding circuit.

From spinning tracks at high-profile events like Siddharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani's wedding to bringing his signature energy to desi celebrations worldwide, AJ has carved a niche for himself.

Offstage, he's a devoted dad to two little girls who, even as toddlers couldn't help but bust a move to his infectious mashups.

DJ AJ relives the unforgettable day he set Manhattan grooving with his beats in this conversation with US Special Correspondent Abhijit J Masih.

How old are you and why this very un-DJ like appearance?

I'm 35. And that's just me being me. I'm not getting into the role of tattoos and oversized clothes.

Basically just being in a simple minimal shirt... also the kind of events that I am doing you need to be dressed in a particular manner.

There's always going to be the performance and the music. I don't think the appearance or any of that should matter because then you're looking in the wrong direction.

Where can one find you spinning on a regular weekend?

If I had a weekend free I would be at some club of course, but since a couple of years I barely get a weekend free.

There's always some private event or a wedding or a birthday, anniversary, some corporate event.

So I'm not getting enough time for a club show.

How did you get into DJing for weddings?

In most cases the teams reach out and ask us if we can play.

I used to do only clubs back in the day, between 2008 and 2014.

I was doing clubs primarily but then you get that one event for a wedding and then one becomes two and so on. It's word of mouth.

I would say the club space sort of died down with the whole bar culture picking up.

By then I had already sort of branched out, made a name in the wedding and private events space.

When did you know that you would be playing at this wedding in New York? What was the brief?

Basically the planners reached out. They said just do your kind of thing but just keep in mind that it's an Indian origin boy and an American girl, there will be people coming in from India. A majority will be Indians but not from India.

So we did a balanced set. Also understanding the demographics was very important and crucial because that would play on my mind in terms of the kind of music we can do.

You mentioned that Varun and Amanda's wedding was a fusion of cultures. How did you tailor the music to honour both sides while keeping it lit?

For the baraat, for example, it was basically 80% Indian music -- Bollywood and Punjabi. But then I also did like 20% of Western music.

I sort of mixed it up with Indian beats and songs so that it gives that feel of a baraat, but the vocals could be English.

Did you ever imagine a baraat going this viral?

I had no idea. We just posted it and then I went to sleep because I was jet lagged.

I woke up and I'm like 'Oh damn! It's hit 1 million views.' Yeah it was crazy.

Any standout reactions from the crowd and onlookers?

Beyond the barricades there were bystanders, they would start removing cameras and they were also shaking a leg.

That was fun, watching that energy come to life.

Of course, the baraatis were having fun, but the people around were like so excited, dancing and grooving.

It was great. The energy was amazing and to just observe that from the top was just an experience in itself.

Also, we got good weather that day, so we got lucky.

Do you feed off the crowd, or are the sets pre-planned?

Nothing is pre-planned. I do everything impromptu.

What was the reaction from Varun and Amanda? Did they compliment you?

I met them and had good conversations with them. They loved it.

They said, 'You nailed it.' They were really happy.

What's that one song that never fails to blow up a desi wedding?

Something that has a little more meaning like Tenu Leke. It just gets the boys' side a little charged up.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff