From Vada pav to 'Chaiya Chaiya': Mamehara Issei and Ohira Shosei of Japanese band JO1 share their love for India

Mumbai, Sep 22 (PTI) Their introduction to Shah Rukh Khan is the popular "Dil Se..." track "Chaiyya Chaiyya" and they also loved grooving to "Naatu Naatu" from "RRR". Mamehara Issei and Ohira Shosei, the members of popular Japanese band JO1, hope to make beautiful memories by gorging on food and soaking in the culture during their maiden trip to India.

The band, which features 11 members and also includes Takumi Kawanishi, Ren Kawashiri, Syoya Kimata, Sukai Kinjo, Junki Kono, Keigo Sato, Ruki Shiroiwa, Shion Tsurubo and Sho Yonashiro, debuted in 2020. They were named one of the best five new artists at the Japan Gold Disc Awards and have seen their popularity grow since their debut. Issei and Shosei hope to share their travel experience to India with the rest of the band members and hope that they are back soon for a concert here.

“Before coming to India, we knew that India is very famous for its movies, music and dance. We also dance while singing. So, we always thought that India has a lot of experience there already,” Issei told PTI in an interview.

Shosei expressed his love for dance and grooved to the signature title track "Hud Hud Dabangg" from Salman Khan-starrer film, “Dabangg”.

"We’ve watched the ‘Chaiya Chaiya’ music video, and ‘Naatu Naatu’ dance. I like the ‘Naatu Naatu’ dance from 'RRR' a lot. We know Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. (They’re) Very famous actors,” the band member said.

The musicians said Shah Rukh Khan has a huge fan following in Japan.

But they both seemed unsure if they could meet the actor, who is currently basking in the glory of his son Aryan Khan’s directorial debut OTT show, “Ba***ds of Bollywood”.

“We can't meet, but we want to," Issei said.

"Do you think we can meet him? He is a very big star, so we can't meet him,” Shosei added.

The band members, who arrived in Mumbai on Friday, indulged in local delicacies.

“I was told to take a lot of pictures. We ate a lot of Indian food and it was delicious. We had extremely spicy and sweet food as well. We had vada pav, rasgulla, chai biscuit with Parle G, and maggi. I want to try curry rice,” Shosei said, adding that they even learnt Hindi words like ‘Dhaniyawad', 'Namaste', 'Acha hai', and 'Badhiya hai’.

Since its formation under Lapone Entertainment, the band has garnered a massive global following. Some of their chart-topping hits are "Tiger", "Venus", "Shine A Light", "Love Seeker", "Where Do We Go", and "Move the Soul".

Shosei said music transcends borders, allowing them to connect with fans globally, and added that they are looking forward to collaborating with artists from all over the world, including India.

“I love the fact that with music, we can connect with anyone, if there is anything that we want to convey, we can always convert that into words and connect with them anytime, anyone, no matter what kind of feelings it is. But I hope to collaborate with BTS, Jungkook,” Issei added.

“We are in the process of getting there (to the top), and for that we also want to widen our viewership and listeners in India,” he said.

The duo were “surprised” to learn that one of their songs, ‘Eyes On Me’ (2024), enjoys popularity among Indian listeners.

“India has Bollywood and a huge fan base in general, so we think we will find a lot of people who will listen to the music over here and definitely want to try it out. We also talked to a lot of companies who suggested that we should come to India and hence we are here now. We wanted to see how it is,” Shosei said.

Issei and Shosei are eager to test their musical mettle in India, where international artists like Chris Martin, Ed Sheeran, Maroon5 and many others have successfully performed sold out concerts.

“Within this global environment, we’ve taken techniques from J-POP as well as K-POP and inculcated it in the band, and we want everyone to listen to that. We are a fresh band full of energy who can try a variety of genres, music videos and everything, so we feel like it will be great to spread over here,” Issei said.

Although the duo does not have a fixed date for their performance in India, they want to return to the country soon.

“India is a big country, but this time I’ve only been able to come to Mumbai. I would like to go to many places in the north of India and learn more. We would like to visit again with everyone and conduct a huge concert over here. We want to shoot a music video in India,” he added.

As of now, they’re going to document their experiences to share with their band members who couldn’t be here.

“Since this is the first time that we’ve come to India, we definitely want to capture all the moments that we’ve experienced and want to take it back and share with all the other team members as well,” Issei said. PTI KKP BK BK