Garv Taneja, also known as Chaar Diwaari, is a popular hip-hop artist from India.
Taneja’s rise from indie to virality has been through a mix of authenticity and hard work.
There’s a great balance of the commercial with the critical in his music, where pop meets experimental.
Chaar Diwaari Interview On His Latest Single: “The Light I’m Looking For Is The Touch Of God”
“Enjoy it on surface level first and then go deeper,” is the philosophy Chaar Diwaari carries about his music and it’s this unpretentious charm that has led his work to garner a global appeal.
Summary
Garv Taneja, who goes by the moniker of Chaar Diwaari, is one of the most interesting voices in our music scene—a storyteller defined by originality and a bold refusal to stay confined to a particular genre.
At the core of his heart, the hip-hop artist is a simple boy who demands to be seen just as himself. “Enjoy it on surface level first and then go deeper,” is the philosophy he carries about his music and it’s this unpretentious charm that has led his work to garner such a global appeal.
Taneja’s rise from indie to virality has been through a mix of authenticity and hard work. He’s the rapper, producer, actor, director and editor for most of his songs. There’s a great balance of the commercial with the critical in his music, where pop meets experimental.
In a conversation with Sarthak Sharma for Outlook, Chaar Diwaari spoke about his upcoming EP Parvana, which aims to continue the journey of expanding his artistic landscape, while staying true to the intimacy he’s famous for. Each track feels like a page from his diary, exploring the push and pull between chaos and calm, ambition and peace—all within the “four walls” that his name symbolises. Edited excerpts:
What does “Banda Kaam Ka” add to the Chaar Diwaari lore? Tell me about the journey of the song and its video. What should fans be noticing?
“Banda Kaam Ka” is the point where I am resetting the first arc of my career in a way. Starting from “Kaun Mera?” up till “Farebi” was the first half of my career, where I was trying a lot of things out, delving into many genres, headfirst into many styles. From “Banda Kaam Ka” and Parvana EP, I am starting to chisel my vision down a little bit more, which hopefully, I will do again with the next project. The music video is like a prelude to my life up till this point.
The title of your upcoming EP is Parvana means “moth”—always drawn to light. In your EP’s world what is that “light”?
The song’s story is about one-sided love. It’s a common metaphor. Parvana falls for shama but shama burns him, yet parvana jumps into fire since he loves her that much. This is my take on that.
To me, the Shama-Parvana story is like a classic Laila-Majnu tale and I wanted to see how it plays out if I do it. “Banda Kaam Ka” is like the initial phase of love. The first half of the song is very fun and full of corny lines because love is corny only. You roam around here and there on a scooty, have fun, but by the end, the song takes you to a different place. That’s where Sanjith’s verse comes in and that’s a more divine take on love and this theme continues as the EP goes on.
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You’ve said before in an interview that Pyaasa (1957) is your favourite movie and that Guru Dutt is one of your biggest inspirations. What is it about Guru Dutt that you find reflected in your work? Do you see yourself as constructing a modern hip-hop equivalent of a “Guru Dutt persona”?
I love Guru Dutt but I don’t know if I am constructing a “Guru Dutt persona” or anything like that. His legacy is unreachable almost to me. The work he did in his time is monumental! I am not trying to recreate anything in my own hemisphere. I am just trying to take inspiration and philosophy from the greats. I don’t think I necessarily reflect his work, but I am deeply moved by it.
You juggle multiple verticals in your art as a rapper, producer, performer, actor, director, editor. What feels the easiest? What feels the hardest?
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All of them feel easy and hard at different points. That’s why I juggle between all of them and am not stuck to one place, because if something did feel the easiest, I would probably just do that for the rest of my life. But that’s not the case. It just depends on song to song.
For example, recently I have been mixing and mastering the EP for it to go up. I am having just as much fun in this process as I had in actually making the songs.
Do you like making entertaining songs such as “LOVESEXDHOKHA!!!” and “Enjaay” or are you driven more towards the complex, abstract songs such as “Barood” and “Jhaag”? Or do you like to balance both together as in the case of “Banda Kaam Ka”?
For me, the process is more important than the outcome. When I am making a song, I usually don’t know where it’s going to end up. Sometimes I do know, but most of the times that’s not the case… I let God take the wheel and just see where it goes. I have fun in all cases!
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Your work carries a desire to hurt and heal at the same time. There is a great desire to both capture and untangle ‘self’—Imposter syndrome in “Farebi”, alcoholism in “Jhaag”, escapism in “Bhool Ja”, identity in “Kaun Mera?” and the deeply provocative darkness of “Barood”. What is it that drives you to delve into darkness? Where does that emotional palette come from?
I think almost all of my work is deeply personal. Sometimes, I find inspiration from the outer world, but mostly it’s just the kind of person I am, the kind of things I think about. I think most of my work is very autobiographical. It’s hard to write something that I don’t completely feel.
Top 3 in Desi Hip Hop right now—who would you genuinely rate as the finest?
I would still keep Seedhe Maut in the list. I would put someone like Nanku in the list still. Arpit Bala definitely! I think these three are the top three right now actually.
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Since the Royal Enfield Garage Sessions in early 2023, you have been signed to Def Jam, collaborated with Raftaar, and almost dominated an entire industry. Artists such as Hanumankind and Lifafa have commended your talent besides many others. What is it like to be famous so young? Does it come at a cost? Is a song such as “Farebi” a way of revealing to the audiences that it’s all performative and exhausting?
Yes. “Farebi” directly talks about that—the feeling of having an imposter syndrome, but I am getting used to it. I am not so young anymore. I am 23 now so I don’t want to carry the “young prodigy” card on me anymore. I am still figuring it out. I am still making my way. I don’t think I am dominating any industry. I am just doing my own thing.
What’s the one thing you want listeners to understand about Chaar Diwaari that they often miss?
One thing that I want you to understand is as much as it is—it’s not that deep. People try to really make sense of my work and in that process, they often forget that they have to enjoy it on surface level first and then go deeper. If you don’t enjoy it on the surface level, that’s fine. You don’t have to go deeper. I feel like people nowadays think that my music videos and my songs are like homework. That they say something that needs to be deciphered, like I am talking some hieroglyphics, but I feel at its core it’s just music that’s supposed to make you feel something.
If you’re feeling something then, you’re obviously welcome to go deeper. But firstly, I think, you have to enjoy it on the surface. I make it for you to enjoy it on the surface.
Parvana is always chasing light. What’s your “light”? Love? Fame? Validation? Chaos?
I think its God. The light that I am actually looking for is the touch of God and the presence of God that I am looking for all the time.
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