Ram Sethu from Guwahati: How guitarist Amboresh Saikia made his Bollywood debut

Ram Sethu from Guwahati

Guwahati: Ram Sethu from Guwahati, As a child growing up in Assam during the turbulent 1990s, 36-year-old Amborish Saikia never imagined that he would one day make it to Bollywood as a guitarist.

“Never in my dreams, just like Bollywood was never on my to-do list,” Saikia told over the phone from Mumbai. “I started my musical journey at the age of 9 with the tabla, before transitioning to playing the guitar over the years.”

Saikia believes that his formation as a musician was largely due to his musical family. He believes that his experience with the guitar began when he was helped by his mother, who was also a musician.
“The first guitar in my life, an antique signature model, was gifted to me by my aunt Urmimala Barthakur. Although she was a professor by profession, her main interest was in music and she used to sing and perform at family functions. was,” says Saikia, adding that her husband Manimugdha Barthakar, also a professor, was also bitten by the music bug and introduced her to the vast world of Western music and its myriad genres. .
A little skilled at guitar, he formed his first band in 2000. With the formation of ‘Sweet Venom’, Saikia unofficially became part of Guwahati’s vibrant rock music scene that flourished in the late 90s and 2000s.

Of ‘Sweet Venom’, he says: “We were very young and talkative and played covers of heavy metal bands like Metallica during school events. We were all good friends, neighbors and classmates and it was all good fun.
Saikia’s next big musical venture will change her world forever. He teamed up with singer-songwriter Retik Fokken in 2002, forming a band that combined elements of the blues with a more mainstream rock sound, which gained immediate mass appeal. ‘Voodoo Child’ remains a musical force and has released 3 full-length albums: We Own the Night, 20 Years on the Road, and Underneath the Stars, and 7 singles to date.
Indie-rock band Euphoria’s bass guitarist, Debajyoti Bhaduri’s appearance at a show in New Delhi would prove to be a game-changer. Saikia would go on to join the band and perform with them in several international venues including Egypt, Hong Kong, and the United States.
“In 2010, our band Voodoo Child was big enough and we toured pub venues in Delhi. It was during one such show that I was spotted by Deba Jyoti Da who came up to me and hired me as her guitar player. But offered a job,” he says, recalling the turning point with a hint of nostalgia.

Despite all the initial success, however, the guitarist’s move to the ‘city of dreams’ Mumbai was delayed by several setbacks. Just as he was planning to take the big step, his world was rocked by the death of his father late Dipak Kumar on July 31, 2018.