When you cast a new voice for your songs, what essential qualities you tend to look for in the singer? How easy or difficult is it to work with and prepare a newbie behind the mike?
The most important quality I extensively hunt for in a singer is the honesty in his / her expressions. I’ m allergic to plastic renditions and neither am I a fan of fake perfection. I don’ t mind a few flaws here and there but I rather lend priority to sincere articulations. I prefer working with greenhorns because they give me the amount of time and effort I command while creating my songs. That is why some of my chart-toppers have been with relatively new singers and some of the most loved singers in the fraternity whom I have a personal fond equation with are Atif Aslam, Shilpa Rao, Mohd. Irfan, Arijit Singh, et al. All these guys have had their first song under my directorial tunes.
Your album Tuhi Mere Rab Ki Tarha Hai was critically acclaimed and many have noticeably appreciated its quality output on the networking sites as well. Despite the fact that you are running a hectic timetable and wish to solely concentrate on your film assignments, aren’ t you in a way depriving all the fans of independent music, who are sold on your unique, individual sound, which is unrestricted by Bollywood constraints?
After Tu Hi Mere.. I got tied up with a string of plum film offers like Murder 2, Jism 2, Lamhaa andAashiqui 2 and I could not give time to anything else. But now I have organised myself in a much better fashion. I have finally set up my own studio with a highly dedicated team working on the parallel projects. Well, I’ d definitely want to be part of the larger independent music scene on the digital medium and I will be surely venturing out into that direction later this year.
You are not averse to dance numbers and have conjured up quite a few chartbusters in the said genre. But you are dead against item songs. Why so?
I’ m not outrightly condemning item songs but at the same time, I still haven’ t really gripped the exact meaning of the term, let alone its controversial baggage of vulgar shots and profane language being used into certain tracks. I just feel that as composers, it’ s very interesting for us to create good quality music within the inspirational premise of the script and there is certainly no need to thrust a number into situations, under the pretext of promotion and commercial entertainment. Often songs get filmed on the blunt excuse of grabbing attention and minting money, which I fail to digest.
As a lyricist when you hold the pen, you become responsible for the words your creative juices ooze out. Given the kind of double-meaning wordings that are often used in today’ s songs which critics call crude, unpleasant and distasteful, does it hurt and annoy your poetic instincts if the expressions border on the offensive?
I have always heard words such as divine, sincere and hearttouching from people who define my music and the songs written by me. I believe that my music should uphold the very moral values I stand for in life. So I have a huge responsibility involved here to live up to. There is no place for any vent in my music that is unpalatable or I don’ t relate to. The songs I have penned the lyrics for may not be poetic stunners or be grammatically impeccable but I take immense pride in the fact that they signify a certain value system, ethics and virtues I can gladly vouch for. That’ s my stance as an artiste as well as a songwriter and I do not judge others who think any differently.
What inspires you as a writer? Which poet / lyricist do you adore and why?
You see, human life is a very big well from where the greatest of poets have drawn inspirational waters to quench their creative thirsts and I too have frequently given in to that temptation. There are stories floating all around us, amongst us and we just need to hear them out with the right mindset and approach to be able to convert them into nice poetry. One writer who have had a great impact on my penchant for compiling verses and poetic thoughts would be Saeed Qadrisaab who I remember having first met as a teenager and like a guardian angel, he played an instrumental role in my career to hone my writing skills. He did whet my appetite to further raise the bar of creativity and enhanced the quality of my songs with his rich poetry. Besides him, I have always admired the works of poets like Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, Hasrat Jaipuri and Saahir Ludhianvi.
Enlist your forthcoming films as a composer.
A slew of upcoming endeavours is lined up for final shape. For example, Aksar 2, Sons of Sardar 2, etc.
Musical trade-offs are very common in the music industry wherein one tunesmith-vocalist sings for another composer and vice-versa. For instance, your very talented good friend Ankit Tiwari has sung for you in Sanam Re. How do you view this camaraderie and does this kind of a mutual rapport augur well for the industry?
See inside the studio, I’ m nobody’ s friend to be very frank as there it is just a composer listening to a singer and taking a call. It’ s a practical world after all and we as seasoned pros can’ t dilute that principle when it comes to work. I thought Ankit’ s voice aptly suited my song in Sanam Re to the tee and that’ s why he was on board to deliver the goods. Look, these little trivial things and minor changes of adjustment do not make any tangible difference to the industry. What counts the most is that we all work hard and intend to make some good, ear-pleasing music to captivate our audiences. And that is very important.
Would you ever sing for any fellow composer?
Honestly to speak the truth, I’ m never comfortable with this idea, though I have got a few offers on this front in the past.
News has gone viral that you are synergizing with none other than ace Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh over an interesting project. How did it fall in place and what is it all about?
It’ s actually a thought that Bhajji shared with me. We have been close friends since a while now and he has always expressed his keen interest in music. He wanted to do something to celebrate our national heritage and culture. We were always contemplating on working together and were in talks for collaborating on a single since over a year now. This concept cropped up on his birthday and while many ideas got exchanged, this one particular struck us the most.
I always believe that music should address a higher purpose and collaboration of ideas must carry meaning to the fore. This would be Harbhajan’ s debut shot at singing and he is already taking lessons in the studio to perfect his grip on the art and sounds super-excited about his new task at hand. The song will celebrate the contribution of real life heroes who strove hard towards the nation’ s welfare. The single will be sung in Hinglish and premiered in December by this year-end. The video song will be picturized across different states of India, featuring the real lives of the common man, who are the actual driving force of our country.
The Score Magazine
14 highonscore. com