Independent choice

Amarjot Kaur

Though most critics may observe the current trends in the Bollywood music as a sorry derivative of the party house music from the West, there are others, who fancy the idea of enhancing the character of Indian cinema while accentuating its music with tunes that complement the script. With Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s comeback film, Jazba, song writer and composer Arko Pravo Mukherjee and singer Vipin Aneja talk about their song, Jaane Tere Sheher Ka, from the movie.

While the two seem to talk quite fondly of their creative pursuits, they acknowledge a few changes that define the current phase of music in Bollywood. However, as they choose to talk only about the songs in the movie, they aver that they are much different from the ones that one has been hearing in Bollywood so far. “Well, I have this habit of making songs just as and when they come to me, and so there is usually a bank of songs that I tend to have,” says Arko while talking about two songs, titled Kahaniya and Jaane Tere Sheher Ka.

“So, when Sanjay Ji, the filmmaker approached me, while looking for a song that fits into the script and adds a defining edge to the characters of the film, I was sure that these two songs would fit the bill,” he says. However, while talking about the making of the song, Arko shares that though Tere Sheher has been modified to a certain extent, Kahaniya remained quite the same as it was. “Having been a part of many Kolkata-based music bands, I have worked as a singer and songwriter for them and I did come back to India from Canada to pursue independent music in 2008, but at that time, the independent music scene was not all that good. I feel one’s creative liberties are a bit toned down when one is making a song for the movie, as it has to appeal to the director and suit the script, so it becomes a collective, but at the same time, Bollywood music has a much wider reach and popularity too,” he replies when asked about how he feels about being a Bollywood musician. Meanwhile, Arko, who has also given music for Jism 2, says that he is currently working on an independent music album, which may release next year. However, Vipin Aneja, who sang Jaane Tere Sheher Ka, shares, “I totally believe in Arko’s music. If you listen to the song, he has made it sound like a new- age ghazal. I just love the way in which the song has been engineered and it goes so well with the feel of the movie and the characters of this film too.” Vipin shares that he will soon be singing for Arko’s new projects and has also sung a song composed by Ankit Tewari for an up and coming film titled, Desi Magic that features Zayed Khan.

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