‘I’m not a Bollywood fan but that’s always what the audience wants’

DJ AJ says techno is slowly gaining ground at Indian weddings

On the evening of December 26, 2017, when Arjun Shah aka DJ AJ reached Lower Parel's St Regis hotel to play at a wedding, he had no knowledge about the couple in question. "I was in touch with the wedding planning agency throughout the discussions. They had made me sign an NDA [non disclosure agreement], so I didn't know who I was playing for," says the 33-year-old. No sooner was he behind the console, than a host of high profile guests started trooping in - cricketers, actors and politicians. "It finally dawned on me that I was at skipper Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma's wedding!" he laughs.

Being a die-hard cricket fan, Shah admits it was overwhelming to see Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Suresh Raina and Kohli get to the dancefloor. "Sachin [Tendulkar], too, danced for a bit. I remember it was a wild, fun night."

The Chopra-Jonas wedding party was more a meet-and-greet the couple evening

This was the first of many to come. Since then, Shah has played at Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas' reception in Mumbai, Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta's pre-wedding celebration at St Moritz, Switzerland, Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal's pre-wedding function at Italy's Lake Como, Parth Jindal and Anushree Jasan's wedding in Jodhpur and Austria, and Rhea Kapoor and Karan Boolani's wedding in Mumbai. "Funnily, I am not a Bollywood fan, and never was. I was big on English music, Techno, House and hip-hop. But when I started receiving calls to perform at weddings, I didn't see it as a big deal because if your foundation is strong, you can mix all kinds of music to keep people glued to the dance floor." The cardinal rule to segue to the next level of mixing is knowing your audience, thinks Shah. While he makes it a point to ask for a detailed brief from clients, what ultimately unfolds is a deviation from the rulebook. "Every gig is different, every crowd is different. The bride and groom might ask you to play hip-hop or pop, but the crowd always wants Bollywood. It's a no-brainer. At the end of the day, you want your guests to have a good time so your tracks are tilted in favour of the audience." At the Chopra-Jonas wedding party which was more a meet-and-greet the couple evening, the guests were on the dance floor for only half-an-hour, which Shah says, left him little room for experimentation. But usually, Shah finds himself playing uninterrupted till the wee hours of morning. "The Ambani family is a fun group to play for. They love to party. It's challenging for a DJ to amp up the vibe if the guests are listless," he says.

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma during their wedding reception at St Regis, Lower Parel, on December 26, 2017. Pics/Getty Images

Despite being a regular at high profile weddings, Shah has a hard time identifying the Page 3 crowd. "I was recently playing for Masoom Minawala of Style Fiesta, and had no clue she was a leading style blogger. I realised it when she shared my story on Instagram and it got a bazillion views!"

Rhea Kapoor and Karan Boolani at their wedding party. Pic/Instagram

For three years straight since 2018, Shah bagged the Best Wedding DJ award from Wedding Sutra. His work takes him across the globe - Dubai, Lebanon, Spain, Maldives, Ibiza and Birmingham. Techno is slowly gaining ground at Indian weddings, he observes. "Hip-hop has become a norm at HNI (High-net-worth individuals) weddings, where the bride and groom are usually schooled in the west, the wedding is at an exotic location and you have international DJs being flown down."

Apart from DJ-ing, Shah also runs FullStop Entertainment, a digital marketing agency. But he hadn't set out to do either. "I was to become a doctor, because that's what my parents wanted, but I gave it up because I had zero interest in the profession. Then came chartered accountancy." His interest in disc jockeying started at age 15 when he began playing at college festivals, winning the National Level College War of DJs competition three years in a row. Right after, he segued to Ra, Matahaari, V Lounge, Dome, Asilo and Aer nightclubs. "In my initial days [of DJ-ing] my parents were against the idea of me playing commercially. I even got caught. But today, they are just as proud of my craft as I."