One musician, one song, and one cinema-loving director with a larger-than-life vision and the confidence to back it up, such was the beginning of the making of ESWY. Sung and written by Aman Sagar, featuring Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, and directed by Yuvraaj Singh, professionally known as Yuvraajaago, the song follows a love story across ages and lifetimes, while the music video takes the audience on a cinematic journey through the years. The 8-and-a-half-minute music video plays out like a short film, with a special narration by Javed Jaffery on the Jugaad Motion Pictures YouTube channel.
The man behind the music video, Yuvraajaago, is a story in himself. Growing up, films were ever present in Yuvraaj’s life. Whether as a distraction when he fell sick as a kid, or as a reward when exams went well, cinema for him was the peak of human experience. ‘The angle that films bring to the table, especially the good ones, it can bring about a deeper change in you. You get to experience someone else’s life or a different world, and then come back to yours.' For Yuvraaj, films were a way to make life interesting, to make the experience about more than just surviving. With Bollywood, specifically, Yuvraaj describes more of a love-hate relationship, as he acknowledges the good films, but also points out the formulaic and somewhat redundant narratives of recent ones. ‘It’s why we’ve come up with something like ESWY, where we get to do something Bollywood without losing its edge and without feeling redundant. Yet, it feels very familiar and rooted in Indian culture, something most of us can relate to.'
Even the song itself spans across generations, drawing from a melody nearly a hundred years old. ‘The Kaari Badariya bit, it’s like a folk tune, so we were thinking about playing with time, but we didn’t know how.' Through some trial and error, and a whole lot of excitement, came the idea of a love across seven lifetimes, or saat janam. 'This saat janam idea popped up, and the moment saat janam came up, from that point to now, we just stuck to it, because we knew that was special.' The idea had sparked enthusiasm for the project, the next step was to execute. While Jugaad has an internal team, ESWY needed a lot more people, so the team pitched the project to everyone possible, friends, connections, acquaintances, and nearly everyone came on board. ‘No one can detach themselves from it, they hear the idea and think, shit, I want to be a part of this. And in some shape or form, they became a part of it. That’s essentially how the team came together.’
Despite the quality of the work Jugaad has put out, Yuvraaj found a lapse in marketing — and therefore in reach — for these music videos. For ESWY, Yuvraaj wanted to make sure an audience was built for the music video, which almost acts as a short film, so that it would be celebrated for the art that it is. Thus began the ESWY Pvt. Ltd. Instagram handle. In the process of building an audience, without giving any details about the music video or song, the team quickly realized the hidden potential of ESWY, beyond what they had already made. Soon enough, the page became an organic community of people who loved the work Jugaad and the team were putting out, and actively wanted to encourage and collaborate in the creation of more art. ‘I have worked with a lot of artists in the past who are small, who don’t have the money to pull off a big budget music video, but they have the passion and they have great songs, so we put our heads to it to create great visuals that don’t look cheap, like what you’d expect a big artist to get.'
Knowing their ability to create excellent-looking content without premium budgets, Yuvraaj and the ESWY team saw the potential in creating a hub for artists to find other artists to collaborate with, in order to create good art without as many financial restrictions. ‘The idea is to build an audience of creatives and consumers and let them be a part of the process of creation. It’s a hub where we can support each other.’ ESWY Pvt. Ltd. caters to a niche, a community of artists who want to create and consume fresh content that fails to find a space in the mainstream. However, despite its niche nature, ESWY does not gatekeep. The page is open to all artists; anyone with an idea can reach out to look for collaborators. At the end of the day, all that matters is if the idea resonates with people in the community.
ESWY, beyond the song, beyond the music video, asks for artists and consumers alike to simply be more conscious and more active. Rather than passively consuming mainstream content, ESWY asks for people to look for content that interests them, narratives that make them feel, and ideas that are fresh and novel. ‘We often have a habit of complaining, but when it comes to actually doing something about it, no one does. Our battle right now is to fight the death of cinema and Bollywood, the use of AI, we’re against all of that. If this is supported, or in general projects like these are supported, you do have a real-life impact.’ With ESWY Pvt. Ltd., Yuvraaj and his team are making an effort to create new art for themselves and to inspire people like them to take a step forward and make the kind of art they want to consume. As for what ESWY stands for, make your way to the music video, and you might find out.
Words Ayushie Shahane
6.06.2025