it ’ s very important for people to know this . I think even people who are not composers , who are not technically qualified to make a judgement I think it ’ s very important that they stay out of this because it ’ s a composer ’ s job to understand where a singer will sing , how will he or she sound and who ’ s the best singer for the composer song . That strictly remains only with the composer .
You have alluded to the concept of directors working with your silence as well . What do silences mean in your creations and how important are the silences ?
I think it ’ s a beautiful question . Again , I think when I speak of silences in my music I ’ m not necessarily talking about sonic silence . I ’ m talking about the feeling that my music would probably give to my listeners . I choose to believe that I have a very strong connect with my listeners in today ’ s times when people speak so much about social media numbers , for me personally , they don ’ t really matter for me . What matters is my connect with my listeners . That ’ s very important for me . And with the amount of love that the people have given my music that itself speaks volumes for me . And it ’ s very satisfying as an artist because I feel people connect with my music .
And even outside the nation for so many people to connect with the song . I think it ’ s a very fulfilling feeling . And for me , those silences are probably the kind of feeling that I give my listeners . So it may not necessarily be like a sonic silence or a complete pause , but maybe it could be a native flute that speaks of a silence . Maybe it could be just a couple of notes on the piano which just resonate and just melt over the part which comes after that . It could just be something as simple as my opening riff of the piano notes . It could just mean they represent the silence . So I ’ m not talking about sonic silence . I ’ m talking about the feeling of silence , the feeling of Terab , as we call it in our culture . Because I feel that life , anyways , makes us run so much . So I think music has the potential to give us rest , to give us that momentary pause , to give us a few moments to catch up breath . And I think that ’ s what my job is as a composer . That to give people those highs and those silences as well . So the importance of silences , I think my answer covers that I think it ’ s very important because without depth , height would have no meaning . Without darkness , light would have no meaning . So I think it ’ s very , very important that the amount of things we do , it ’ s very important to even do nothing . I think nothingness is highly underrated . So I think that ’ s much the element that I really value in my life that I really celebrate in my life and I personally , as a human being , that hero is very , very important of being with yourself , of being true to yourself , of being one with your creator , I think whichever path you walk on . And that ’ s why I kind of reflect those sensibilities in my music as well .
You are a very profound lyricist , to say , at least . Has writing always come nationally to you or is it a byproduct of your compositions or does it take precedence ?
Yeah , I think you ’ ve said it rightly . It ’ s not something that comes naturally to me . It ’ s definitely maybe I would not choose the word byproduct because that may be a little harsh word for me as a creative person . But yeah , it ’ s something that just stems out of my melodies itself . If you have noticed in the initial part of my career , right after 2010 , right after Murder 2 , I never wrote any of my songs . But I think I had the good fortune of working with some brilliant poets like Saeed Kadri , Amitabh Verma and lately I ’ ve been working with Manaj Muntashir also A . M . Turaz . And I feel that spending time with them , specifically Saeed Kadri , because I ’ m really close to him . I think it really helped me understand poetry a lot more and understand the relevance of poetry in Hindi cinema . And when I ’ m writing a song today , I ’ m always chasing a feeling . It ’ s not that I ’ m always looking for a melody or I ’ m looking , for the lack of a better word , or I ’ m looking for a hit song that ’ s never something that I ’ m looking for . I ’ m always looking for a feeling . This is what I want to feel .
I ’ m always surrounded by a thought where my director would give me and I think in that process , when I sing like I was not supposed to write to Tum Hi Ho , but when Mohit Suri briefed me and when I was surrounded by those thoughts , I just came up with those lines of ‘ Hum tere bin ab reh nahi sakte tere bina kya wajood mera …’. I think it just came very naturally to me . And as you said , it was just an outcome of my melody . And I think because I did it once , people connected with it . And I felt if people are connecting with it , then it ’ s something that I should definitely continue doing . And even today I am writing some of my songs on certain films . I ’ m collaborating depending on what the director is looking
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