Alexx O'Nell opens up about his music career & how he learnt Sanskrit for 'Bhagavad Gita'

Alexx O'Nell, in an exclusive Interview with Republic World, spoke about his move into the world of music and all the hardships he had to face to get to this point. He also revealed the real cause behind his wanting to become a musician. The creative process behind the creation of his Sanskrit song Bhagavad Gita was enumerated by him in this interview.

Alexx O’Nell’s musical career

“I have been composing and recording ever since teaching myself to play the guitar when I was about 15 years old. In fact, I even signed with a major music label for my debut album a few years ago, but without releasing a single track, we went our separate ways,” Alexx revealed. “I've spoken at length in other interviews about my various challenges with regards to music, and I won't get into all of them here, save to say that perhaps the most significant barrier was simply time.”

“I am thankful each and every day to have such a wonderful acting career, but it meant that I've simply never had an opportunity to direct undivided focus towards music. But, then the pandemic hit, and I was here in India when the lockdown was first imposed. Realising I finally had what I needed, I immediately set to work getting my music and music videos ready for release.” 

“Within the first 45 days of the pandemic Still On My Mind was out, and I promoted it from Mumbai, here in Lokhandwala actually, before returning to The Netherlands to spend time with family,” Alexx said. “Shortly thereafter was the launch of ‘Aarya’, and while it was my only release of 2020 as an actor, it was extremely well received. Further, for the first time, my role as Bob Wilson, the Sanskrit singing, Bhagavad Gita espousing musician, blended my acting career with my love for music.”

“Inspired by my work in the series, and using the Shlokas that I had studied and memorised, I composed, recorded, and shot ‘A Bhagavad Gita Song’ while I was still in Europe, along with my friends Delraaz Bunshah and Debarpito Saha in Mumbai.” Alexx O’Nell further added. “While in Europe, I also connected with Paris-based Believe Music and signed with them to better distribute my songs and music videos worldwide. I've always wanted to do music, but it's only now that I’ve had the time that I finally built the foundations I needed to be able to independently create and release my music while continuing to shoot and promote my films and series.”

Alexx gets candid about his Sanskrit skills

“To begin, I am absolutely NOT fluent in Sanskrit! Heheheh! Director Ram Madhvani gifted me the Bhagavad-Gita, and in preparation for my role as Bob Wilson in Disney+ Hotstar's 'Aarya' I read it, studied it, and had a Sanskrit instructor assist me with the pronunciations of the Shlokas in their original Sanskrit.” O’Nell revealed.  “I practised these passages over and over, virtually every day for weeks, to get them right, and to get them memorised, and I ultimately performed them to music director Vishal Khurana's composition in Episode 9 of the series. But, long after the shooting was completed, the beautiful Sanskrit words and the poem's meaning continued to linger in my mind".

“And as 'Aarya' was being prepared for release, I realised just how apropos these passages were with regard to the covid situation. Without getting into too much detail, these sections of the Bhagavad Gita are comprised of Lord Krishna's dialogue with Arjun wherein he asserts that one must not give up, that one must do one's duty even in the face of defeat because while there is no shame in defeat, there is shame in surrender”, Alexx philosophised. “I sat down with these beautiful Sanskrit words, their timeless meaning, and my acoustic guitar, and over the course of a few hours, the melody came to me. I also took pains to have the video subtitled in English to ensure that the meaning was made accessible as well.”