Composer-producer Kabeer Kathpalia and singer Lothika Jha talk to us about the soundtrack of the upcoming Shakun Batra-directed romance drama
There’s really only one way to describe the music of Gehraiyaan: it’s a total vibe.
Two songs from Shakun Batra’s upcoming romance drama have been released (with more to come), but the album is already a rage, due to the soundtrack’s innate synchronisation with the aesthetic of the film’s visuals, that star Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa.
Be it Gehraiyaan or Doobey, the songs — with lyrics by Ankur Tewari and Kausar Munir — have captured the essence of love, attraction and perhaps even infidelity to rousing effect. And at the centre of it all, is Kabeer Kathpalia aka OAFF.
Kabeer’s immersive score for Gehraiyaan and Sony Music India comes from his background as a music producer and his earlier collaborations with breakout artists like Kayan (So Good, Heavy Headed). Describing his work as “atmospheric pop,” he says that being drawn to doing background scores that immerses listeners – as opposed to just hearing it from outside – is what came into play while composing for his debut Bollywood film.
Kabeer Kathpalia/ OAFF
“We had to work with feeling the emotions of the characters in the story. Some of the key words that Shakun used to brief Savera Mehta (Kabeer’s music partner) and I were ‘hollowness,’ ‘complex’ and ‘nuanced.’ This feeling of sometimes being stuck, not knowing what you want to do next, and not knowing whether you have a choice or not; we wanted to express all these thoughts through our music. It was very important for Shakun and for us to make sure that all the music — whether it’s the score or the songs — was helping the story go ahead,” Kabeer tells us.
Both tracks have been sung by Lothika Jha, Kabeer’s friend from school in Ahmedabad, a fantastic new and original voice in the indie music circuit, who also makes her Bollywood playback singing debut.
“I was always a private singer-songwriter, keeping my music within my closed circles, jamming just with my friends, and so on. Music is an extremely emotional expression for me, and I think somewhere inside, I was a little scared of the possibility of how wonderful it would be to put my work out there,” says Lothika.
Lothika Jha
The title song of Gehraiyaan is actually adapted from an earlier English song that Kabeer and Lothika composed called Frontline, created when the latter was dealing with the loss of a family member.
Lothika recalls, “A couple of years ago, I’d come to Mumbai and was and was talking to Kabeer about losing my grandmother, coping with the grief, and how this person will always live in my memory. I’ve always enjoyed working with him, and Frontline just happened organically in one flow. Fast forward to now, and it’s amazing how we have used the track for Gehraiyaan; the same pieces of music have been translated so differently and used to express such contrasting emotions.”
Kabeer also says, “Shakun happened to hear Frontline, and its themes of feeling broken and hollow inside resonated with him, because that’s what the character (in the film) is also going through; that feeling of melancholic pain. The production and vibe of the song works in both situations, and then it was just a matter of tweaking it to fit this project.”
“Meanwhile, Doobey happens at a crux point in the film and is really important to a character’s arc; it had to be fun and sensual, but also reminiscent of that first time when you feel the rush of love,” Lothika adds.
Kabeer’s inspiration for his music also comes from another unusual source; his college education, where he majored in maths and took up physics. “The way I’m fascinated by maths and physics is the same way I’m fascinated with music. It’s basically trying to understand what’s happening inside the bonnet and trying to figure out what these patterns are. Why do I like some of them? Why does it work? The same principles are used to figure out why I like certain kinds of music and how I can learn from that,” he grins.
The duo — self-confessed fans of Shakun Batra’s Kapoor & Sons — insist that they don’t have a set process or guidebook to creating music. “Kabeer and I have been making music together for so long now; it’s an organic process with no major objective or expectation. There’s a guitar, throwing sentences together and a lot of experimentation which eventually leads to something great,” Lothika explains.
Going forward, both of them are looking forward to more artistes from the indie music scene in the country collaborating with Bollywood filmmakers. “During the pandemic, there was a lot of amazing indie music that was coming out, and lots of listeners discovered new talent. Now, different ways to work together have emerged, and people have started approaching me for other projects too As long as I get to make the music that I like – which I’m making anyways – and I get to work on stories and visuals that really resonate with me, I’m excited,” says Kabeer.
Lothika also says that a lot of interesting stuff is coming soon from her end, such as her collaboration with Yohan Marshall. “The indie music scene is growing at such an enormous rate, and there are so many musicians like Kayan and Rachel Varghese, who bring such immense texture and depth to their work. I really do think this is the beginning of a new era of music in Bollywood, as the way people consume content is also evolving with every day,” she concludes.
Gehraiyaan releases February 11 on Amazon Prime Video
For all the latest Entertainment News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
