Achint Thakkar is truly a genius when it comes to his musical sensibilities. From his first independent album Shalimar that in his own words was a homage to AR Rahman to his folk escapades with the Manganiyar group Khan brothers, Achint’s style of music can be bracketed into a holistic blend of eclectic and electronic sounds with a tinge of creative and refreshing interludes.
Besides the independent music, Achint also forayed into movies and OTT projects after Hansal Mehta gave him a break for his critically-acclaimed series Scam 1992. The young composer then followed it up with an evergreen album for Vasan Bala’s flick Monica, O My Darling, one that was touted as a time-machine to the RD Barman era. Adding more feathers to his cap, Achint collaborated once again with Hansal Mehta for Scoop. In an exclusive interview with News18 Showsha, Achint spoke about his collaborations with Hansal Mehta, his musical inspirations over the year, his upcoming projects and more.
Here are the excerpts:
How did you go about composing the theme song for Scoop? Was there anything in particular that Hansal Mehta wanted out of you?
Hansal Mehta basically urged me to do my own research on it. He has given me way before he started shooting when it was in pre-production, he had told me about the whole fiasco that had happened back in 2011. So I basically went and googled myself . He told me the kind of show he was going to make and he told me that he wanted me to come up with the theme and tell him that this is it. I took my time. Before they started shooting and while they were shooting, I sent him the first track and he was like this works and let’s go ahead with this. It was like a newsroom kind. He told me about the environment so I just did my own thing and he loved it.
What about Rocket Boys? The theme music used a lot of string sections?
Rocket Boys needed to have an old world vibe to it because the setting was like that. It was based in the 40s and the 50s and so I couldn’t really make it sound too modern. So I had to play around with traditional instruments and found my way through that. So that’s how the whole score of Rocket Boys has nothing edgy about it. It’s very rich and traditional.
How did Hansal Mehta rope you in for Scam 1992?
I think it would be Jai. Jai Mehta asked me to pitch a track for Scam. That time, they were taking in tracks from new composers and seeing what they liked. And Jai had asked me to pitch a track. So I pitched the track and they seemed to like it. That’s how I came on board and then one thing led to another I guess.
What’s the best thing about collaborating with Hansal Mehta?
I am really grateful that Hansal Mehta trusts me as a collaborator and he is very collaborative. He puts a lot of faith in the people, his whole crew. Even the actors, the cinematographers or production designers, he basically lets make it their own. So he creates that environment that you have skin in the game kind of thing. Creatively, there are no pressures and it is satisfying to
work with him. It’s just the time pressure for every project that is always there but creatively there is no pressure because he really trusts you and the way he does it is a very broad stroke. He doesn’t micromanage too much. Even if he has some feedback, it is very broad. He is always looking at the larger picture. In that way, it is creatively satisfying.
Tell us something about your album ‘Achint And The Khan Brothers’ ? Where did your fascination for folk music start?
I’ve always been a big fan of folk music. Since my college days, I’ve been a big fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I love the way that AR Rahman does qawaalis. He used to do it back in the days and he still does. So that was my gateway to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan which I had a big phase of. That got me into more folk music and then I started listening to more music because of him so it was a gateway through a gateway. Because of my interest in folk music, I started going for these folk festivals in Rajasthan. That’s where I met this troop. We met and I told them I was also a musician. They seemed interested and we kept in touch for years. After that, I called them over to Mumbai and all of it happened very organically. Then I thought, why not do something with them.
Considering you both came from two different worlds, was it challenging?
In the beginning, it was challenging because I am used to working with musicians that are polished in some way or have a very western sensibilities. Until that point, I wasn’t used to working with folk musicians. Because the way they see music is very different than what we see it. For them, it’s very spontaneous, in the moment and impulsive. For us, it’s a little more calculated and we think it through. But you can’t get them to do the same thing twice because they are so in the moment and that’s how folk music is. It’s been passed down through generations and there is no formula to it, it’s just oral. Working with them was a great experience in learning how to let them free and that was a really fun experience. I just had to leave them wild on the mic and then basically work around it.
Speaking of your first album Shalimar, what is the story behind that?
That was just me expressing my love for AR Rahman I guess since I grew up on his music. Ever since I can remember, my first memories with music is probably Roja or something as a kid. His influence has been very strong and because of him, I got to discover a lot of other music like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or Peter Gabrial or so many others. The film music also I explored through his course because he has been such a massive figure for my generation while growing up in the 90s and early 2000s. I had this strong influence of his and I guess the music I was making also reflected that in Shalimar. And it was basically an album of experimentation.
When Monica, O My Darling came to you with all the briefs and everything, what was your initial reaction? Were you hesitant considering you had to recreate the evergreen musical landscape of the past?
Yes and no. Vasan Bala who directed Monica O My Darling, he had a very strong vision of the kind of film he was going to make. Initially, Varun and I made something that was more modern than commercial stuff that we play today. He made us go in a more traditional direction and then it snowballed into a thing where we started casting the singers that was also a big process, casting the right singers. Because without the right singers, it wouldn’t really have the impact. So I basically went on a two or three month research of watching the old movies and listening to RD Burman, SD Barman, Kalyanji-Anandji. I always was a fan but I never actually studied their music the way I did not. And I really studied the arrangements and the compositions and everything. And we went on a scavenger hunt on YouTube to find singers. We screened hundreds and hundreds of videos and then we came upon Anupama Chakraborty, Saud Khan and the singers that know how to do this naturally. They were not going to put up an act. This is how they sing. And that was a key part of it as well. It was a lot of fun.
What was the most challenging and difficult song to crack from that album?
I think the most challenging one was Ye Ek Zindagi because it was the first one we did and it was the first crack into the movie that I got musically. Before that song, I didn’t have any direction. I was just shouting in the dark and was trying to see what Vasan wanted. Because before ‘Ye Ek Zindagi’, we also did a song that Rafiq had rejected and once we got The Ek Zindagi down, then everything became very easy naturally. We cracked the code for the film that would follow. And we did it way before they started shooting the film. The music was the first thing that we did.
Do you feel because of your OTT commitments, your indie catalogue has taken a backseat? How do you plan to navigate your career now? Would you like to divide the time between the two mediums or would you like to focus on one thing at a time?
From now on, I’ll be focusing more on my own music as well and try to balance it out a bit. The pandemic and the Covid wave had pushed everything in last two-three years. So basically a lot of stuff has gotten up and down and pushed. But I am planning my own stuff as well and hopefully I can strike a balance between the two.
How more do you wish to experiment with your musical style?
I am hoping to work with more pop music and I would really like to experiment more with pop music and see what more I can do with it and stuff. I don’t know. I have not thought about that, I’ll take it as it comes and see how it goes. I don’t really plan much.
Growing up, who were your major musical influences?
So I started off with rock music early on in schools, playing in bands. I played in a band myself through college and school. So lots of rock music, lots of Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, classic rock and contemporary rock of that time like Tool and lots of progressive music as well. Those were like my music making foundations. A lot of punk rock in school as well like Green Day and Blink-182. That’s the kind of work that I started with, the punk rock music. So the rock influence is still very strong and that’s what I started with and I really enjoyed playing in a band, guitar, bass and drums and just screaming in the mic.
What’s next on your plate?
Right now I am working on Lootere which is Hansal Mehta’s son Jai Mehta’s show. We are working on that and hopefully it’ll be out in a couple of months.
Comments
0 comment