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After years in the Hindi film music industry, Pritam finally tasted success with ‘Barfi’. Rajiv Vijayakar talks to the ward-winning music director
about his latest claim to fame.

It takes forever to run him down for an interview each time. You could even say that Pritam is so used to his way of working that it could be the very reason why the man has always led at the charts for eight long years.

Pritam laughs when I tell him this, and says that he is trying to set everything in order, including a long-planned vacation, and his fixed pattern for making music is as per the needs of the film and the vision of the director. About his slew of awards last year, mainly for Barfi!, and also for Cocktail, he simply says, “I am happy about them.”
“My mother used to be very distressed that I barely won awards earlier and would pray everyday,” says the prolific composer. “Last year, I even won two competitive international awards — the 55th Asia-Pacific Award in Macau, and the 7th Asian Award in Hong Kong, both for Barfi! — I am the only Indian to have won this latter award so far. I think that is her prayers and destiny, because the Asia-Pacific one was held in the same venue as the final award I got a few weeks back for the same at IIFA. It was a full circle.”

Pritam has scored the biggest album in both 2013, and in recent times in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. This was his entry into the Karan Johar camp, thanks to director Ayan Mukerji. “While making the music, Apurva, the CEO of Karan’s company, and Ayan would joke, ‘100 crore ka music banana hai’, and that happened,” laughs the composer. Tell him that its universally appealing music boosted the otherwise upmarket film even in single-screens, he says genially, “I am very happy that I helped boost the business of the film. I am excited each time that happens.”

Coming up are two more sequels, Shaadi Ke Side Effects and Dhoom 3, and Pritam would rather do them with complete concentration before signing new films. He has already composed a song for Aamir Khan in the latter — their first collaboration. How has that shaped up? “It is nice,” he says.

Being rewarded

Does he expect another slew of awards this year for Yeh Jawaani…? “I don’t know,” he quips. “See, Barfi! was technically not a massy score, while Yeh Jawaani… is.”
Have not all these awards whetted his appetite for trophies? “Never. Awards are my last priority, even if they make me happy,” he says emphatically. “I have always said that right in the beginning of my career I made a conscious choice — to make songs that are hummed by all, rather than run after pleasing just a few. I knew I too would face the kind of flak all popular composers did — like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, R D Burman, Anu Malik, Bappi Lahiri, Nadeem-Shravan and Himesh Reshammiya. I knew I would never be given the respect the so-called elite musicians get. Haven’t you pointed out in the past that my songs would dominate at after-award parties where such music got awards?”

One charge against Pritam is that he uses too many raw and untrained voices and reduces both the charm and the longevity of some truly splendid compositions. Many of the voices he uses are from his own circle of assistants and programmers, like Anupam Amod (who doubles up as his manager), Arijit Singh, who still programmes some of his songs, or even Amitabh Bhattacharya, now better-known as a lyricist, who began working with him as singer.

“I do not agree,” he says. “I do look for novelty in a voice, but not at the expense of competence. I never make songs for a specific singer anymore, unless it is a film by Tips where they want some songs for Atif Aslam, or like I used to in the times when Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt wanted most of their songs sung by KK. I use fully qualified singers. Arijit Singh has proved himself with Yeh Jaawani… as well as my ex-partner Jeet’s Aashiqui 2. Maybe some of them need a certain polishing. I am also very glad that Benny Dayal, who was discovered by A R Rahman, has given his biggest hits in Latt Lag Gayi (Race 2) and Budtameez Dil in Yeh Jawaani… I have found the right groove for him now.”

How does he look back at his decade of prolific work? “It’s really nice that I have lasted with so many successful films and scores. At the end of the day, it is more important that my songs are remembered many years from now too. I know there is no formula for achieving this, but I have followed this logic from the beginning that when I like a song, most people like it too, and so far I have been fairly lucky.”

How does he actually compose a song? “I start approaching a situation the way I have been told to,” he replies. “I compose on my guitar and most of the time the basic germ is settled on first. Then we get to the individual lines and fine-tuning, and personally, I avoid disturbing the natural flow of melody that comes. I also prefer, if possible, to fix the phonetics with a key word that fits the needs, like the word Teri in Teri Ore (Singh Is Kinng).”

Pritam has been a trend-breaker and a trend-setter. What is his secret there? “Trends can be broken and reset only when I know what is working and what is not in the huge world that exists beyond my own music.” he says thoughtfully. “I think listening is the biggest exercise for a music director; otherwise, he remains happy with his own work and stops assimilating. Exposure to what’s happening around also leads to avoiding repetition and remaining fresh. To change trends, you have to look at the existing one and must keep reinventing every now and then.”