MUMBAI: One of India’s very first production designers in Hollywood, Uzair Merchant is about to change the art, music, and film game with his latest Sci-fi Hip Hop single and its music video – Stardust. Being given the title of ‘Best Music Video’ and ‘Best Original Song’ at the New York Movie Awards 2021 and the Milan Gold Awards 2021, this Hip Hop track is not what you’d usually expect; it is a “Sci-Fi opera”, says Uzair, to watch out for.
This new-age single is the original soundtrack to Uzair’s upcoming Sci-fi show, Black Rose, and has received numerous awards at 8 different film festivals so far. The show would be directed by the Hollywood stunts legend, James Bamford, who has been the sole directing producer of the series Arrow (2012). Bamford is also the executive producer of the music video for Stardust.
Stardust’s creation has been all about pushing boundaries. Not only does the track push cultural boundaries by featuring artists from various parts of the globe such as Dubai (Salim Dahman), India (Uzair Merchant), Vancouver (Aaron Drew) and Kelowna (Sian Flanagan), but it is bilingual – merging the English and Arabic languages. All the artists along with Stardust come under the group Kri8.labs; Umair’s venture which aims to push creative expression. To push things even further, the entire music video is an enrapturing cinematic experience all shot on the iPhone. Just like Uzair’s last short film called ‘Chasing Lines’, which has won him 14 international awards.
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“Stardust is a tussle between two worlds where the character is desperate for an escape to find answers, only to learn life has a flow of its own. It is to be observed, not fought with – the idea that we all come from Stardust and to Stardust we shall return.” – Uzair Merchant This intriguingly unique project is the first of its kind as Uzair is working with Finhaven Private Markets to make Stardust the first security NFT music video in the world.
“NFTs will present many innovative possibilities beyond traditional asset ownership, and Finhaven is well positioned to provide the technology solution and the compliance framework required for investor protection and a better user experience. Most importantly, we are thrilled to work with Uzair Merchant and James Bamford, both talented film artists based in Vancouver, Canada to expand the territory of the film industry by leveraging blockchain technology, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality” says DH Kim, CEO of Finhaven.
The creation of this innovative bridge between NFTs, art and traditional finance is bound to introduce new audiences to Uzair’s prodigious work. In over 12 years of work in the film business in various countries, Uzair has worked on a variety of projects such as films Deadpool 2 and The Misfits, TV series Sesame Street, and commercials with Cadillac, McDonalds, 7Up and many more. Hence, it comes as no surprise that a true innovator and creator, Uzair Merchant, is pushing the boundaries of art and widening the scope of creativity with his new single, Stardust.
