His repertoire ranges from heavy metal and rock to jazz, blues and Bollywood. He has been participating in the prestigious MTV Coke Studio series with leading producers, Karsh Kale (2012) and Ram Sampath (2013). Apart from live gigs, Jai does regular studio recordings with leading Hindi film composers, such as Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Vishal Shekhar, Pritam etc., having played drums for popular songs in movies such as, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ and ‘Chennai Express’.
Jai is shortly building up his own studio cum drum room where he plans to start giving drum lessons again. Jai officially endorses Pearl Drums, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth Drumsticks and Evans Drumheads, all leading international brands in the field of drum kits.
However, Jai faced more than his share of difficulties early in life. In his own words:
“I struggled a lot around the 7th grade, could not understand most of what was taught to me i.e. Math, Science, Algebra etc. I had great difficulty remembering things even when I studied hard. My spellings, at times, were extremely incorrect. Most of my teachers pretty much gave up on me. I genuinely loved subjects like Geography and History, but struggled to remember things that I needed to. I failed my 8th grade. I remember actually scoring half on 25 in a Chemistry test! Most of my teachers back then weren’t too familiar with Dyslexia and neither was I. Until the MDA came along, I think I struggled a lot like other people with LD.
“The day I started playing drums, everything changed. Truly, it felt like I had started doing something I love doing. I’m still as excited every time I play.
“I work as a freelance drummer, which sometimes involves having to learn a lot of different songs. Sometimes I need to write music charts. Learning music notation was initially a bit difficult for me, although over time I came up with a system that works for me.”
Jai’s message to kids with dyslexia: “Find something you enjoy doing, and set your mind to do it. Things may seem really hard at first, but they will most certainly get better. Don’t lose faith, always be nice to your parents, they are the reason you’re here.
