Tapping a genre

Amit Trivedi is known to almost everyone in the Bollywood music industry. Despite that, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that the music composer hasn’t received his due recognition, considering the kind of talent he has.

Amit started his career with the films Aamir and DevD, and has composed music for Aisha, Ishaqzaade, Kai Po Che, Udaan, Lootera, Ghanchakkar and Queen. He now anticipates a successful launch of his toughest and most challenging work — Bombay Velvet, which stars Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar. This is Anurag Kashyap’s most ambitious project yet.

It was singer Shilpa Rao who introduced Amit to director Anurag Kashyap. And since then their association has become much more powerful and engaging. As the composer admits, “With Phantom (production house formed by Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, Madhu Mantena and Anurag Kashyap), it’s like an extention of family.”

Amit and Anurag worked on the music of Bombay Velvet for more than three years as the subject needed focus and time. “The challenge was to recreate the jazz music of the 50s and 60s in Mumbai! No half-hearted job, please. Fortunately, one of my favourite genres is jazz as it is expressive and allows exploration. In India, we have fewer listeners of jazz.” Connecting them was another challenge for Amit.

Jazz trail

Amit shares that they had considered a ‘big band’, a jazz ensemble with horn and string section featuring hundreds of musicians, first. “So, my option was to go to a jazz hub in New Orleans in the US. But I ended up in Prague, a place known for Hollywood music recordings and some amazing musicians.” The songs of Bombay Velvet were recorded in Prague. Amit feels that his style of composing music is straight from the heart. “I can’t pinpoint how I get that. Producers and directors push me to visit the world in which I create unconventional music.”

Neeti Mohan is the singing voice for Anushka Sharma’s character Rossie in the film. Rossie is a jazz singer at a club called Bombay Velvet. “Once I came to know about Anushka’s role, I set about finding her a voice. I knew I had to choose someone who could match up to Anushka’s personality,” the singer adds. Oh yes, he is a singer. Although he believes that he is not a great singer, and the times he has sung were his director’s decision to use his voice in the film.

Amit’s musical endeavours are not limited to Bollywood. Having a good connection with Coke Studio, he has fostered friendship with traditional folk singer Mame Khan. They have produced Chaudhary, somewhat a cult song now. Amit’s experience of it is this: “Mame Khan and I met in Jaipur, where he was called for a New Year celebration. When I heard him sing, I was amazed and immediately got in touch with him for music collaboration.”

Not for him

Amit is of the belief that many singers are born every now and then owing to the number of reality shows, but that not all possess the special talent of a singer. We will never see Amit in a reality show as judge then? “Yeah, that’s right. I have often received offers from various reality shows and I have said no to every offer.” However, he has encouraged singers Shalmali (Mein Pareshan in Ishaqzaade) and Kavita Seth (Iktara in Wake Up Sid) to explore their voices.

The music composer has a strong reservation when it comes to scoring music individually for a film. “Sometimes, a director-composer duo looks for the instant-hit song that can grab the audience present during weekends. It’s a game for the audience on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and it’s a business for the duo. Films and music are scripted and composed based on the song’s success rate, which is quite unfortunate. And in a film, when the main focus of the composers is to create hit songs, it makes for an unsettling ambience. I am not comfortable with this concept and I will never associate myself with it,” resolves Amit.

It perhaps can be explained with his musical inspirations... “Since my childhood I have only heard good music. I am a huge fan of Jaidev. Composers like O P Nayyar, S D and R D Burman and A R Rahman have commanded my attention a lot. I have a high regard for Vishal Bharadwaj.” Amit Trivedi’s music compositions can be heard in the forthcoming films Udta Punjab, Guddu Rangeela, Shandaar and Fitoor.