Recently The World-Wide Fund for Nature – India (WWF-India) celebrated the convergence of Earth Hour 2025 with World Water Day with a vibrant festival that brought together music, art, and architecture to create a wave of change with the theme #Be Water-Wise. As part of this festival, celebrated musician Shantanu Moitra shared stories from his 2,700-km journey along the Ganga River and performed alongside Nyishi singer-songwriter Taba Chake, highlighting the connection between music, communities, and environmental awareness.
Namrata Kohli caught up with Shantanu Moitra, who is also the WWF-India’s Hope & Harmony Ambassador, on the sidelines of this event ‘WWF-India’s Earth Hour Festival 2025’ in New Delhi
Climate and Music –a few decades ago, one wouldn’t imagine a musician talking of climate. Can you tell us more about the ‘sangam’ or confluence of climate meeting composition?
Actually, this confluence was always there. In school, one of the biggest mistakes we make is we create separate sections- arts and science. I don’t think it’s correct. There is so much art in science and science in art.
Actually, this confluence was always there. In school, one of the biggest mistakes we make is we create separate sections- arts and science. I don’t think it’s correct. There is so much art in science and science in art.
I am not saying we should not progress- but growth is real only when you keep in mind everyone’s interest.
You have supported quite a few social causes and your music highlights them. Can you share anything that left an impact on your mind?
There was a true story of an empowered woman from Gujarat- a lady who was abused at home by her husband and one night he beat up this lady and threw her out of the home along with seven-year-old daughter.
She walked out on the highway, reached a dhaba. The dhaba vala gave them shelter. She stayed at the dhaba observing people for three days but realized how these highways/trucks were such a male dominated world. It’s very awkward for girls to even stand there. That’s when she decided – she will take a loan, buy a truck, and have only women sitting in that truck. And that’s how my composition took birth and was picturized – this was “Mann ke Manjeere” by Shubha Mudgal
This is the power of art. It’s like a Brahmastra. A two-hour presentation versus a song – there is no comparison how a song makes an instant connection with people. That’s how I started doing more and more of this. I have also worked for Save the children foundation.
I am also WWF-India’s Hope & Harmony Ambassador. As an artist and environmentalist, I carry many stories and tunes from my journey along the River Ganga, and there could not have been a better time and stage to deliver them than WWF-India’s Earth Hour Festival 2025.
Please tell us about Songs of the River.. You went on a long journey along the Ganges. In a nutshell what was the essence of your experiences?
Once I finished Three Idiots which was supremely loved by people, I switched off my phone for 100 days and travelled across the Himalayas, above 14,000 feet to discover this land that we live in. It’s one thing to create and compose, and another thing to see and hear the stories of people and explore who they are. What they do.
I found that the beauty of India is not in the land, but the people who inhabit that land. It’s people who make stories, not mere mountains or seas. I saw two pahadi people fighting and when I inquired I was amazed at the reason for their dispute… They were fighting over which mandir to donate- the one nextdoor or a few metres away. That’s the simplicity of hill people who embody the concept of “Finders Are Not Keepers”- which means just because you find something, it doesn’t belong to you. And these hills are the place where we actually got our first lessons of conservation, sustainability, even Earth Hour.
It’s World Water Day and you composed many songs on water. What does water mean to you?
I will reply to this with a small story. When I was cycling down alongside Ganges, I saw a newlywed couple arrive in a scooter. They stopped, got down and sat down in front of the river. But not together – there was a gap of at least 50 metres between them. Then both came back and went back on the scooter. I asked some village folks why they were not sitting together even though they were a couple, and they told me that the lady was communicating with the river. The couple got married just before the pandemic and staying in a joint family. So where will the woman find answers to her many questions puzzling her mind? And the answer is the river which drowns her woes. She asks questions to the flowing river and doesn’t feel judged. And she doesn’t want him to be part of this exercise. So water is mental health for India. The rivers play a humongous role in reserving peace, sanctity, sanity of relationships and individuals.
Let’s take a look at Bollywood. And the degenerating quality of lyrics and the general lack of meaning and depth in today’s compositions. You have been a disruptor of sorts as your music stirs people and yet your songs are popular like in Three Idiots or 12th fail. In your opinion, how difficult is it to combine meaning with music in mainstream cinema and why are people not doing it?
It’s a very good question. We as human beings love shortcuts. Some shortcuts work but most shortcuts don’t work. When we would cry as children, our mothers would tell us a story or sing a lullaby. Today’s mother replaces this with her mobile and engages with her other work and puts the song on I-pad. But when the mother was singing, she was conscious and responsible for what she was saying or singing. I feel that Technology is great – but we have to use technology with responsibility, and that is the biggest crisis we are facing at the moment.
Today if a person goes to a forest, he asks his guide – “Tiger dikhega. If you are not able to show me one, then I will not pay you money.” Now look at the ecosystem. He has no interest in the other species. He feels his trip would have been a big failure if he did not see the tiger. This has all come from the communication we have created in the world.
So we have created the Frankensteins? And then we complain about the Frankensteins. I think my job, my songs, my creations are all about making melodies. Whatever technology you get, AI you get, but if my melody can put a tear in your eyes or put a smile on your face, my job is done.
