OAFF on Deepika Padukone’s Gehraiyaan: The music did well, I am not thinking about response to the movie

Tabaahi, the latest creation of singer Armaan Malik and composer-producer OAFF is a harmonious blend of mainstream Bollywood and pop music. Penned by lyricist Abhiruchi Chand, the track talks about destruction in love, when everything falls apart. During the promotion of the song, Armaan Malik and OAFF, aka Kabeer Kathpalia opened up about their creative process and unknown details from their collaboration.

Armaan Malik and OAFF decode Tabaahi

“It’s about having these moments with your loved ones and completing each other. I have been noticing that a lot of people are hooking onto a few lines from the song. They seem to be resonating with the lines,” said OAFF, reflecting on the reception from the audience. Tabaahi released on May 5. “With this song, Abhiruchi has collected the simplest words and conveyed a very deep emotion.” added singer Armaan.

Working on independent songs is different from those on films. Walking us through the creative process, OAFF shared he never thought of collaborating with Armaan. He said, “It was an unexpected collaboration. I am very grateful. I never thought both of us would have a chance to make something together.”

He further reasoned, “Armaan and I never really met till we shot the video. The making of the song was virtual. We never spoke or communicated before that. Sometimes collaborations can go either way.” Most parts of their collaboration took place over Zoom calls.

“Sometimes you jell up well, sometimes you don’t. But, with us, it felt like I am talking to somebody I have known for a long time,” Armaan agreed to OAFF. The lyrics –Thoda thoda sa main hu, thoda thoda sa tu bhi hain–capture the essence of their partnership. The singer mentioned, “We worked together and also gave each other enough space to make it a harmonious thing.

“Not a lot of people would expect us to come together and do something because both of our individual styles are different. Even though we make pop music at the end of the day. In many ways, I felt that he was a brother from another mother.

“When we sat down together to work on the audio after the shoot, we felt like why didn’t we do this sooner?” he smiled. While Armaan and OAFF got lucky with their bond, it might not be the same case for every other musician. “When there are two artists in the room there can be ego clashes, differences of opinion or musical differences. Surprisingly, with us, I didn’t feel any of that friction. We didn’t feel awkward at any moment. Sometimes people are not game to try anything out of their comfort zone I would say but that’s where magic happens. Either you click or you don’t, we clicked and how,” said Armaan.

“It was easy for me to trust Armaan because he is open to trying. That builds trust further,” OAFF backed the singer.

OAFF on response to Gehraiyaan

Last year OAFF made his Bollywood debut with Gehraiyaan title track. While the film saw mixed response, its soundtrack became the highlight of the Shakun Batra directorial. When asked if the response to the movie left him disappointed, OAFF recalled, “The music did well. I am not thinking about what the movie response was like. Songs are like one part of the movie. There are like ten other parts of a movie. I am just grateful that the songs did well and people were interested in the kind of aesthetic. If anything, I am super encouraged to make more music.”

Armaan Malik on being an independent music artist

During the conversation, Armaan also touched upon his transition from films to independent music. “As an independent artist, you can do anything you want to do. Being an independent artist is a very liberating thing because I have been a Bollywood playback singer for most of my life now. In the last -6 years, I have made a transition to doing pop music in gen. I never wanted to be a Bollywood singer. It is just how life happened. Today there’s no separation in music,” he answered if he was ever cornered in Bollywood.