Meet Paroma, the celebrity DJ carving her path to equality in music

DJ Paroma

Mumbai-based Paroma Chatterjee Kaul, popularly known as celebrity DJ Paroma started out in the music industry 14 years ago. At the time, there were not too many female DJs but once she had set her mind, passion took over and she never looked back. Being good at what she does, the Mumbaikar soon became one of the most sought-after disc jockeys in the country, even performing during the Indian Premier League and for SaReGaMaPa on television.

However, that came with its own set of challenges as there were people who doubted her skill, friends and family who questioned her choice of career, and even social media was unforgiving. Even as she achieved fame, the city DJ says it hasn't always been easy for her, but it was her passion for being a DJ that helped her navigate through it all and break the industry that was once known to be male dominated. Today, she has come a long way, and believes she sees an equal number of men and women take up the spot behind the console.

Just like many other females, Paroma has paved the way not only for herself but for many other female DJs in Mumbai and India along the way. Today, she can be considered a trailblazer, that helps set the dance floor on fire.

In an exclusive chat with mid-day, she takes us through her journey from her early days in the industry to shutting out the noise around her. She also dwells on how the DJ ecosystem has evolved to see so many women, who are able to not only showcase their craft but also demand the attention and money that comes with it.

Here are edited excerpts:

What inspired you to become a DJ?
I have been a DJ for about 14 years now. Before being a DJ, I used to be a cabin crew for about five years, and I tried a couple of different professions that didn't suit me. Earlier my professions were just the hunger to earn money. Eventually, I thought about converting my passion into my profession. So that's how I became a DJ.

How have you seen this industry evolve?
There are so many of them, some that come from my era and some that have come maybe a few years after that. The ones who've come very recently are a mix of some celebrities who have decided to become DJs or celebrity/model DJs, or some makeup artists -- whoever have not been content in their own creative field with what they're doing at some point, or they have realised that they are quite inclined towards music, and they were going to take up DJing. So right now, there are many female DJs.

So, would there be about 100 female DJs in Mumbai now?
That is a ridiculously low number you're talking about. There are different genres of music. If you have to divide it into Bollywood as opposed to all the other genres, I think it's easily like a 70:30 ratio or an 80:20 ratio, where there's 70 or 80 in on the Bollywood side and the rest of them are female DJs that are playing techno or different kinds like a D'n'B (drum and bass), and some are playing hip hop and other genres. Bollywood has the biggest chunk.

We live in a country like India that is crazy for Bollywood, right? So, it has a far bigger and wider market. If you're a Bollywood DJ and a successful one, then then you're going to be loaded with gigs. So, when a female DJ, or just any DJ gets called from Mumbai, you play Bollywood music, there is a whole different charm because people directly connect to Bollywood music as it is coming from the land of Bollywood.

Even if there are DJs who play Bollywood from the other parts of the country, they would want to come and settle down or migrate to Mumbai, just so that they can get more work or be prominently known as a Bollywood DJ and that ‘I'm from Mumbai', that's a whole different price Bollywood DJ coming From Mumbai. It is like how it is for the actors. They come from different parts to Mumbai to settle and then they have their own journeys from here.

Do you think it is still a male-led industry?
I would like to believe that it's not really a male dominated industry anymore. However, I think we play a part equally in the industry. In my experience, I have seen at least 10 per cent women as resident DJs in different clubs but still, 90 per cent of them are men who are resident DJs and clubs. There could be various factors for that including everyday timings -- like coming back home late and all of that. So, as DJ, that's far easier for a woman because it's not an everyday affair because that is quite tedious. Residency is not easy at all. It's hours and hours of standing and performing, and then the travel part depends on where you are travelling from because of the late-night hours, the lifestyle and everything. I have equal respect for everybody out here, because it's a hard job to do. When it comes to the guest DJs who are freelancing, I think there is equal number of women and men at the moment.

Is sexism prevalent and does that affect the opportunities you get?
If you're a DJ, whether a male or a female, it doesn't matter. Talent is still the same; it's your knowledge and craft of performing. However, female DJ, or a female in any other profession, as you know, I must say, always, will add a glam quotient, it she just comes along with a lot of, like, maybe, you know, a lot more fancier clothes than the makeup, the whole attire changes, as opposed to a man who still looks much simpler than a woman. If that is what we're talking about, glam quotient always comes with a woman.

So, for a male, unfortunately, his music must be so strong because he doesn't have anything else to add on to, apart from the music. Whereas the women, they can add the outfits that they wear, or the glam quotient that they bring along, or women are more of the dancing types to pull on behind so it adds a lot to the music. I think that is why a lot of people still like to call female DJs. As weird as it may sound, but whenever there's a female DJ on the creative then it obviously attracts a lot more attention for the crowd who's also going to be coming. So, they are like, ‘Oh, wow, there's a woman playing. Okay, they've got something different'. I don't think it's very different now, because they have become so much in numbers. It is not a rare sight for one to see a female behind the console any longer.

Being a DJ means you have to often juggle professional and family life due to late hours. Has that been difficult and how have you managed to navigate it?
It is a really challenging bit of life. I must say, I don't think it's only about a female DJ. I think there are many other females in different professions that work at night, whether it's the call centre or it's in any sort of entertainment industry, which has all odd hours, or even a cabin crew, for that matter, who's flying at all odd hours. They are out of homes, and there's lots going behind at home in the family, and they're not able to give that kind of time. I would say women here specifically, because in most of the houses, it's still a woman who's running the show. I don't have a child until now, at least, and I can still be ‘Okay, that's like one responsibility less but there are some who are really running home, being DJs, or any other profession, and taking care of the child. I really don't know how they do it, but trust me, I salute them, really. I mean as not just female leaders, as well as DJs, you're missing out on a lot of family time, especially during festivals.

Do you face any challenges and has that ever demotivated you or made you think of a career change?
I am thankful to my stars that I haven't really questioned my profession ever, except for at the very start, when I had just come into the industry, and maybe because I took it all by the storm. I was offered crazy number of gigs. And then I got IPL and SaReGaMaPa. If I have nine to 10 shows right now, I was probably doing 20 shows a month at that time, and I was giving interviews, and I was going for gigs, and it was absolute madness.

So, at that point, a lot of people around in the industry were not able to maybe take it well, there were a lot of rants on social media about ‘where has she come from, and who is she, and how come she's getting so many shows, and how is she getting paid that?' There were some positive opinions as well, but there were quite a bit of negative ones, and I was very new to all that. Social media was not like a big thing in 2010 or 2011, I had never come across all this. So, you know, it disturbs your mental space for some time, until you figure out that internal strength, and I must tell you that, unless you're not very passionate about what you do, you can't do it.

That was the strength that I got, you know, that's where I got the strength to fight this out mentally. I went on sulking and was almost depressed. I thought, how do I fight this? Why are people talking like this? What have I done? So, I was questioning myself, and eventually there came a point where I was like, ‘to hell with everything'. If I love what I'm doing and if it brings me joy and happiness, very purely in the right manner, and ethically and morally, everything being correct, then I don't care what the world has to say, and I will ensure that my work speaks so good about itself that all of this will shut and that's exactly what happened. It took some time. It took a few months, but it happened. It happened, and that this was like a very prominent challenge that I have faced in my initial years of DJing, when there were not many female DJs.

So, I had the pressure from everywhere, the society, the community, you know, other friends were like, who becomes a DJ? You know you're a woman; you can't be a DJ. What do you think you're getting into? You know, you're going to be stared at by so many people. You're going to be having late hours. Will it even pay you enough? So, broke the male-dominated barrier. The first few years were very critical, but then there was no looking back.