Born into a middle-class family, Pratyul Joshi had a great interest in music from his college days. He completed software engineering and worked for a company in Gurgaon for six months. However, his dream to get into the music industry did not let him stay with engineering. So, he quit his job to pursue his passion for music. It was when his journey for music began, and he pursued a master’s in Sound Engineering from FTII. After completing his master’s, he came to Mumbai with a dream of becoming a great singer, unknowing the fact that a big struggle is waiting for him there.
A well-known street performer and singer today had to face many ups and downs amid the initial days of the musical journey. He was jobless for around six to seven months and was getting hopeless. Then he got an offer to perform on the street from a friend. The street performance was a new thing in India, so he refused to sing on the streets. But, as he had nothing to do while bearing all his expenses living in Mumbai, he had to accept the offer to perform. Then he gave many street performances on the streets of Mumbai for an NGO in 2012. He used to earn Rs. 700 per hour for his performance. These street performances were a big turn point for his career that changed his life completely and made him grow on personal and professional levels.Street performances, which he started to survive initially in his singing career, changed his life and made him what he is today. It came to him when he was getting hopeless and was thinking of leaving Mumbai and going back to his hometown. Street performances were not an easy job as he had to sing without a mike. The Bollywood songs were not allowed due to copyright issues. He practiced singing from his gut instead of the throat so people around could listen to him properly without a mike. Moreover, he initially felt a little awkward while performing, but the audience’s response to his performances was getting better with time. Many people started changing their travel time so that they could enjoy his performances.
After performing on the streets for around two years, he released his first music video called Patanga. His album named Waabasta was mastered by John Davis, a well-known Sound Engineer of London. His wife has been a great inspiration for him throughout his life and career. He also believes that whatever he attained in his music career was something miraculous as Pratyul got several offers and sponsors one after the other, especially when he was getting hopeless. Now, he is also planning to create a web series on street performers. So, he has come a long way from Mumbai’s streets to performing independently on stage and winning millions of hearts. His initial days were full of struggle when he was living with ten people in a two-room set. There were days when he could not bear the rent even. Moreover, his father wanted him to continue with his engineering job. But the attitude of not expecting much and never giving up brought Pratyul Joshi to the success that he has attained today.
