Sachin-Jigar On Why The Hindi Music Industry Tends To Overuse Star Voices (EXCLUSIVE)

In a music industry that loves to repeat a trend till it becomes uncool, that love for repetition spills over to the saturation of an in-demand singer. It’s something that can be  held true about Arijit Singh, Shreya Ghoshal and more recently, Vishal Mishra and Faheem Abdullah.

Speaking to Variety India during a sit-down interview, composer duo Sachin-Jigar, fresh off composing the soundtrack for “Chand Mera Dil” had a lot to say on the matter. The soundtrack,  which sparingly features the voices of popular veterans like Shreya Ghoshal, Jonita Gandhi and Neeti Mohan, also employs the use several newer, fewer heard voices like Tushar Joshi, Raghav Chaitanya, Suvarna Tiwari, Junaid Ahmed and Faheem Abdullah.

Going with the feeling

“Each to their own,” feels Jigar Saraiya, adding, “But see, even an artist is hungry. So, you have to offer them. Our process is very democratic. So if we have three songs we think a particular singer can sing, we will pitch those three songs to the singer, then ask them if they feel anything. ‘Do you want to sing any of the three?’ That is our question. We will never say, 'You have to sing this one or that!' Select the one you connect with. All three if you connect with all of them. For Sachin and me, it's never been that we want so-and-so on a song. It’s always been like that and I don't remember the last time we have not followed this. We have always played the song – to newcomers included. There's no ego here. So each to its own. Some would go for the numbers, some would go for the face. But we'll actually only go for the feeling.”

Sachin Sanghvi cautionally notes. “There is a lot of say externally as well. We can suggest names, but we are not the final calls for the voices. So much money is blocked in a project, the producer feels “ke mujhe iski fandom mil jaaye.” He jokes, “That's why perhaps the industry tends to overuse star voices because they feel like, 'Kisi tarah mere ₹400 crore recover ho jaaye.” (laughs)

When asked about the voice casting for ‘Chand Mera Dil,” Sachin lets on, “Most of the processes here are quite democratic in that way. Sometimes some voices have been retained from their scratch level. For example, "Khasiyat" was always in Raghav Chaitanya's voice and we decided to value his merit and retain his voice. I think we don't want to change a scratch unless thought of otherwise, because there's some merit in it. When you present it to the producer, he is your first audience. You don't want him to hear it in a bad shape. We definitely try to envisage a voice in head (sic). For “Chand Mera Dil”  the whole male voice identity was becoming very boisterous, generally, na. I mean, it's a phase. We love Kishore Kumar, we love that male instinct voice. So we wanted that whole male instinct that fame brings.  Faheem Abdullah (who sung the title song) also looks for that honest moment. So, it was such a 'pair made in heaven' sort of a marriage.”

Saraiya adds that while Abdullah worked for the title song as well as for “Aitbaar’ on the soundtrack, “But there's one very important thing that we even told Faheem… and he's really sung it like how he would have sung it. But we really miss KK for this song. I think this song, if KK was there, man… There is nobody other than KK who would have come on to this song. So yes, wherever possible, I want to mention that, you know, we miss KK on this song.”

Appreciating the fact that they got a good mix on the “Chand Mera Dil” album, Sanghvi notes, “Jonita (Gandhi) has sung, really so pretty songs, but I don't remember where I have so fondly heard my songs that we made here in the studio, the way Jonita has sung the antara of “Khasiyat” Similarly, Suvarna Tiwari for “Tumhi Ko” and Junaid (Ahmed) for “Phir Ajnabi. So there's such a beautiful mix of fresh talent and it, you know, like how fresh faces make films look fresher, fresh voices will make songs sound fresher. There’s that and then to have the experience of having somebody like Neeti Mohan or Shreya ji to balance out the whole thing. So yeah, it's a mixed bag, but it has been very democratic. Songs are like small babies. They shout and they cry and they continue to, until you give them what they want. Perhaps, we’ve been serving that very purpose.”

Streaming sets you free

The two have composed for OTT shows like “The Family Man” and “Farzi.” Speaking of the freedom to make those choices, the duo believes that streaming offers far more liberty, as do plays. Shares Sachin, “An OTT platform gives you absolute freedom of speech. You can have, you know, like  explicit language in your songs. Sometimes, as a mainstream artist, you shy away from doing some things that, you know, you can perhaps do on OTT, which allows you that much more freedom to be more experimental.”

Theater boys

He reminds the writer that they composed for a musical (“Rajadhiraaj”) last year and that it had a successful run. “It's coming back to NMACC (Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre) again this August. [That being said] I thoroughly love the dynamics that every platform gives you. But for me personally, I am raring to do another musical because I think just the freedom there and the response there is so immediate. You know, there is only so much you can show in one go. So music has to automatically step up and do some part of storytelling, which I love… taking on that extra responsibility. Jigar and I have done so much theater together, we love that!”

He continues, “I think I love theater as a genre, and it is different because of the way it's marketed, because of the way it is consumed. Bollywood is now consumed in such a micro, objectively personal way that you cannot not appreciate the demographic of the listener, but when you are composing for the theater, whatever age it is, they have bought a ticket and they have come out to see an experience you have set out for them. So yeah, I love the dynamic and I respect every medium for having its own dynamic. But somehow, I think I will always be a theater boy.”