MADOOO

The Beatles' sound and the rest of the world’s music – and India most especially, have had a remarkable relationship. The nature of the band, its sound and look and the way the world heard rock and pop music all changed as their decade of the sixties wore on. Those changes influenced a generation, not only in Britain and the US., but everywhere. When the Fab Four went to the East in the early sixties as ambassadors of Western pop culture, they returned with a multitude of “new” Indian and Far-Eastern sounds as well as the Mahareeshi Mahesh Yogi as their spiritual advisor. What went unnoticed at the time was that they had also, inadvertently, planted seeds in their wake from which a new generation of rockers would someday sprout. Somewhere in South India, stood a boy, waiting in line for hours to get his first listen to the Beatles' version of ‘Twist and Shout.’ “As a child, then living at a boarding school in Madras, India, I really did once stand in a queue to have a chance to hear the sound of that band from Liverpool, the Beatles. There was one phonograph available to the students, which we were allowed to use once a week at break time before dinner...I remember being blown away completely by their music,” says that boy, Madooo, “When Hard Day’s Night came out, I knew that someday I would sing and play guitar. And when I was in my first band, The Voodoos, we would await every new release, then go into rehearsal and try to copy the sounds.”

”Madooo” (His full name is Madhukar Chandra Dhas) did reach stardom in his native India, singing and putting on Western rock music shows. In fact, the moniker “Superstar” was practically attached to his name by the Indian press. Yet he left that fame to come to the United States. He has recently changed his stage name to Madooo, formally adopting the name everyone has called him for years. Madooo has always been one of those people for whom creative expression takes different forms. Music and art have constantly been intertwined in his life. His love of Rock & Roll brought him to these shores. And he presently satisfies the art muse as a graphic designer at Deutsch Advertising.

Madooo’s father originally wanted him to become a doctor. While at Madras Christian College, however, Madooo decided art was his calling. When, through his father’s influence, a seat opened up for him in a State’s Medical College, Madooo was apprehensive, afraid that he would have to abandon art. “Fortunately, the spot was lost at the last minute...otherwise I might have killed a few hundred people in botched medical procedures by now.” Madooo jokes. Madooo moved to Bombay, the heart of India's advertising industry then, taking a job on a trial basis with the Interpub agency. A billboard cartoon campaign he had created, as well as work for Air India and a local soft-drink manufacturer, landed him a job with Lintas: India. He eventually became a visualizer (or art director). While at Lintas, Alyque Padamsee, the managing director, who also is a renowned producer of theatrical shows was in pre-production and wanted to cast Madooo as Jesus in Padamsee’s Indian production of Jesus Christ Superstar. “I wanted to play the part of Judas.” he relates, “I was worried about the controversy surrounding the play at that time.” Instead of playing Judas, chosen from a field of many aspiring actors and singers, Madooo played the lead. He needn’t have worried. In fact, he was surprised at the reception of the audience, many of whom were Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims. “Many people cried at each performance,” he recalls. The show was a smashing success, running for a year and a half, even giving a command performance for then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Madooo says it was one of the best years of his creative life: “I would work in the agency all day, then go
straight to the theater, do the show, then head for the club where I would play with my band until one or two in the morning.” After he quit ATOMIC FOREST (one of India’s pioneer Rock-bands in the 70s), Madooo toured India, and the Asian English-speaking hotel circuit, with solo shows. In one show, he was among the first to incorporate graphics, slides of his cartoons projected behind him on stage. The projectionist was his new bride, Sophia, a model and dancer, who also performed in the show. In another show, called ‘The Evolution of Mr. Rock,’ Madooo both satirized and celebrated the Western pop music scene, parodying various singers. Eventually, he decided to go to America. “The music scene in India is very provincial; there is a limited Western pop-music audience. I was booked on to the circuit, playing five-star hotels, but there was nowhere else to go, plus, the American quality in recording was so much better.” Madooo hooked up with a Vietnamese band (playing American rock & roll) that was booked on an American tour, playing throughout the Midwest. Finally, after a stint with an Elvis-impersonating band, he and his wife found themselves at