Composer Alokananda Dasgupta is making a splash in the male-dominated field

Mona

Essentially a visual person, much in love with moving images, music composer Alokananda Dasgupta is inspired by the emerging new voices and moved by dark meaningful cinema.

Having given music for films like Trapped, AK vs AK and background score for web series Sacred Games 1 and 2 and lately Jubilee, Alokananda is making her name in this largely male-led field.

Daughter of a famous poet and filmmaker, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Alokananda feels fortunate to have grown up in a musical environment. “Growing up, when I couldn’t even understand English, it was background score that intrigued me,” shares Alokananda, who changed her stream from literature to music. “I was really discouraged, our relatives were like who studies music, just play an instrument in the living room and that’s all about it.”

She’s happy that she had taken that call, “When doing Jubilee, I saw a Shakespearean tragic hero in Srikant Roy and Madan Kumar. After all, it’s a story of rise and fall. I could draw from my knowledge of literature, as such in music all of one’s life experiences become a part of the expression. Working with Vikramaditya Motwane and the team, that I had earlier collaborated with, was great.”

Trained or instinctive, what works when it comes to music? “I wouldn’t say training is a prerequisite but it helps,” avers the composer, who has worked in her father’s films, including Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa, Tope and Urojahaj and also National Award-winning Marathi films, Shala and Fandry.

A trained pianist, Alokananda chose the field less trodden and the beginning was rather intimidating. “In India music is generally song driven. The background score doesn’t get as much emphasis,” she says. Couple it with the fact that there are only a few women in this field, she says, “It’s absolutely not true that men are better than women at this. But this fear of an age-old tradition that it is an industry with RSVP men only, women cannot enter. I wish that this notion is uprooted and with many women recordists and composers coming forward, hopefully it soon be the thing of past.”

Alokananda finds her biggest inspiration in music legend AR Rahman. “His music has been a significant part of my journey.”

If Rahman tops the list of composers that she wants to work with, when it comes to singers, it’s new talent that she scouts for. “I like unusual textures and emerging voices.” With many composers singing their creations, is she tempted too? “Yes, I am and usually do the scratches of my numbers but I lack the sophistication, so I haven’t really given to this temptation.”

As much as she wants to romanticise music, at this stage it is more about survival. “Like it or not, we all are living lonely lives in metros. It is no more just my passion, or profession but I wouldn’t know what to do if I don’t do music.”

Not much of a social person, Alokananda likes to work at her own pace. “There is a certain joy in loneliness. While existential questions bother me at times, I somehow manage to keep making music!” Pretty busy, she has a dark socio political series, a horror one and couple of other projects in the pipeline. “I have been wanting to do the score for a horror series and give my own spin to it!”

Playing favourites

Song: I have been obsessing over song Besuri from the film, Ved. I love Ajay-Atul’s simple melody and beautiful arrangement.

Film: The Banshees of Inisherin moved me. Its powerful narration, edit, cinematic value is above par.

Series: I hit the Succession wave much later than the rest of the world but I loved binge watching it. Fall of a family and rise of corporate and how beautifully classical music is well integrated in it is a marvel! 

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