A new gambit | Rapper King debuts in 'Lukkhe'

On the first day of his shoot for the Amazon Prime series Lukkhe, co-actor Kritika Bharadwaj taught singer-song-writer-rapper and now actor King an important trick. “It was a scene where our characters, Paddy and MC Badnaam, face each other while talking. There was a camera over each of our shoulders. After the first take, she explained to me that in shots like this, I should look at whichever eye of hers was closest to the camera, not both. This is basic, but I had no clue,” confesses King, who makes his acting debut with Lukkhe.

Born Arpan Kumar Chandel, King rose to prominence with the 2020 Hindi single, ‘Tu Aake Dekhle’. He cemented his position as a hitmaker with the track ‘Maan Meri Jaan’, which was Spotify India’s most streamed song of 2023. In the years since, his blend of rap, pop and hip-hop has found international collaborators like Nick Jonas, Jason Derulo, Aland Walker and KSHMR.

Directed by Himank Gaur, Lukkhe follows a young hockey player who infiltrates Punjab’s rap scene to expose a drug syndicate. Having never acted before, King spent time with the show’s writers, Agrim Joshi and Debojit Das Purkayastha, to understand the brooding and volatile Badnaam. There were also weeks of acting workshops with actor-trainer Kulvinder Bakshish. “Sir helped me understand Badnaam’s world and what drives him. The first thing he taught me was to not get intimidated by acting,” he says.

Apart from his six albums, King has contributed tracks to Hindi films Drishyam 2 (2022) and Shehzada (2023). But writing, composing and singing for the Lukkhe soundtrack was a novel experience. “It was incredible to make music that I got to perform as another character. I had to follow a brief while making ‘Headshot’, ‘Bulletproof’ and ‘Jee Lenge’, but I am also very particular about having creative freedom while making music. Thankfully, the makers liked what I created for the show.”

King’s journey from government quarters in New Delhi’s Chanakyapuri is what pop-star myths are made of. He wrote songs while in school, but football was his whole life. After years of disappointment at selection camps, he gave up on sports, dropped out of college and got a government job. This was in the early 2010s—when smartphones and YouTube’s explosive growth altered how we created, consumed and shared media. While the likes of Yo Yo Honey Singh, Badshah and Raftaar were infusing Punjabi hip-hop into desi pop culture, King paid close attention to the rise of gully rap in the bylanes of Mumbai, with Naezy and DIVINE leading the charge.

He dropped his first single as King Rocco in 2015, but it would be another four years before he tasted success. In 2019, he participated in MTV’s hip-hop reality contest Hustle, and though he didn’t win, the show brought him closer to his dream.

King’s burgeoning career is a testament not just to his talent and hard work, but also to his indifference to external validation, and love for risks. “I can’t live life wondering, ‘What will people say?’ If people don’t like me as an actor, I’ll not get any more offers and go back to being a musician,” he says with a laugh.

Now that the show has dropped, King is itching to go back into the studio. “I haven't made music in almost six months, and that is very strange for me.” He carries with him all the learnings from his acting debut. “My first reaction when my business manager told me about Lukkhe was that I wanted to learn a new art form. Acting has helped me understand my body and physicality so much more, and that’s going to help make my stage performances better.”