Trio enters tollywood!

What inspired the three of you to compose for Tollywood?

Well, producer Bujji and director Kishore were our fans. We didn’t know that! They approached us and things fell into place. Also we were excited about this project because Siddharth was in the lead and we think he’s a fine actor. It was a great experience working with them –– they know their craft.

What was the challenge composing for a film in an unfamiliar language?

When you compose, you do the melody or the arrangement of the musical notes, which are syllables, not words. It has nothing to do with any particular language, in fact Shankar was singing Tamil words to our composition! Once the lyricist hears the melody, he composes the poetry. And Chandra Bose did a marvellous job that was perfectly metered and melodically beautiful. Words only add to the melody.

Some of your best works include scores for Bollywood. What’s it like making music for Bollywood?

Great, but some of the tracks we did like Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho and Bunty Aur Babli were special –– they took India by storm. Rock On!! was our maverick album
which is still number five on the charts. And then there was Konchem Ishtam, Konchem Kashtam (Telugu) which is number one right now!

Your music is a mix of three traditions. How do you describe it?

We do eclectic music not fusion. I don’t like the word fusion because it’s all about labelling. We are influenced by world music and you can clearly see the influence of the best of various styles–– rock, blues, jazz, classical in the music we do.

How did you manage both critical and commercial success?

Well it’s a fine line to walk and difficult to achieve. It’s like Rahman’s music, aesthetically beautiful and also commercially successful. To achieve the fine balance we have to work very hard–– keep trying all sorts of permutations and combinations till we get it. It’s a long process.

Future plans?

We are doing the scores for Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan and for Wake Up Sid which is directed by Ayaan Mukherjee, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma. Then there’s It’s My Life which is a Bollywood remake of the Telugu film Bommarillu. And we have a couple of other Telugu projects.