‘Working with Rahman sir is just incredible’

Singer Hriday has worked on many projects under Rahman’s guidance

Hriday Gattani was six years old when he realised that music was his calling. His reference to the musical world was A R Rahman; his father, Deepak Gattani, was managing the singer’s concerts.

When Hriday finally decided that it is music that truly made him happy, he took to YouTube to upload his first song with Suchismita Das. This was in 2012. His father sent the link to Rahman and that paved his path into the industry.

“Rahman sir said that I have a good voice and I should work on it. I even had the opportunity to speak to him and tell him that I wanted to go abroad and study music. It was Rahman sir who told me to come to his music school in Chennai, KM Music Conservatory, instead. I packed my bags and I’ve been with him since then,” Hriday recalls.

Through Rahman’s guidance, Hriday has worked on a number of projects, including Bollywood ones. In 2014, he sang for the film ‘Lekar Hum Deewana Dil’. He, later on, did songs like ‘Tango Kalalo’ in ‘Kaatru Veliyadai’, ‘Udan Choo’ in ‘Banjo’ and so on.

Hriday also sang his first international song ‘For You My Love’ with AR Rahman, for this year’s British comedy-drama film ‘Blinded By The Light’ helmed by Gurinder Chadha.

At the studio, Hriday and his fellow teammates work day and night making new music. He’s worked across industries and on his individual album over the years. He says that true energy is watching his mentor work.

He says, “Working with Rahman sir is just incredible. It’s a perfect combination of him knowing exactly what he wants and yet being open to interpretations and trying new things. So whenever we do a session, we create something we think he will like and also an option from us. Sir then tells us what can work and not work.”

Under his guidance, the 28-year-old has produced, composed and sang for various albums.

“When I compose music, I usually try to catch the emotion and work around it. It is mostly a word that I think will work, a feeling of what the song should be like and then start working on it,” he explains.

When Hriday became a music director for Marathi movie ‘Youngraad’, he used this trick. “The only difference in working in a movie and individually is that you are given a brief here. But here, I was given the complete freedom to do what I thought was best.”

He was part of a musical at the time where he would be at rehearsals for about 10 hours. He recalls, “It was absolutely tedious but as soon I would finish rehearsals, I was back to the studio to work on the song for the film. It was absolutely exciting since it was my first time.”

Right now, he’s busy listening to as many pop albums as he can for inspiration for his upcoming album. “There are bad days but there’s nothing a bit of music cannot fix. The thing is, I never had a second option. I always wanted to be a part of the media business. I can’t do a desk job; maybe I would have been able to do it if I didn’t have any other choice, but now that I have tasted the blood, there’s no going back,” he laughs.

Hriday is also dabbling some international projects, Bollywood and other secret projects simultaneously.