Stills from the video of his latest release Achhe Din Blues 

Surprisingly, the folksy Achhe Din Blues isn't the project of a budding music­i­­an, but an outlet for Patna-born Aziz who quit his engineering job to move to Mumbai to become an actor two years ago. And picking up the guitar was a result of him wanting to do more than shout slogans at protests he would participate in as a student in Delhi. "The nu­mber of lynchings rat­tled me. People were au­thorising themselves to kill others. I wanted to be literal about it because you don't require a metaphor to feel the irony and horror of it," explains Aziz.

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Stills from the video of his latest release Achhe Din Blues 

But speaking out also invited a backlash from the right wing, visible in the comments the video has received since its release last week. "The fear of people finding out your identity and being pulled up for no reason is there. And just my name would be sufficient. People might say, 'He's biased because he's a Muslim writing these songs.' But it's the truth. I'm just trying to put forward the irony of the numbness that has spread," Aziz concludes.

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