“If I don’t connect with the director or the theme I say no to the project” – Amit Trivedi

By Subhash K. Jha -

November 25, 2016 - 10:07 AM IST

They created durably dynamic music in Gauri Shinde’s directorial debut English Vinglish. Now music composer Amit Trivedi is back with Gauri doing the amazingly expressive music soundtrack of Dear Zindagi.

“If I don’t connect with the director or the theme I say no to the project” – Amit Trivedi

Amit, who is very particular about the filmmakers he works with, finds Gauri’s insistence on original sounds very reassuring .Earlier Amit has had huge differences of opinion with the likes of Anurag Kashyap and Vikas Behl for incorporating derivative sounds in Bombay Velvet and Shaandaar, respectively

Says Amit appreciatively, “If I don’t connect with the director or the theme I say no to the
project. If I take on something I don’t believe in it would be unfair to the filmmaker and his project. So I try to avoid what I don’t believe in. Gauri is a very honest and a genuine filmmaker that reflects in every aspect of filmmaking. She would never compromise on her aesthetic sensibility for any unwanted gimmicks love that quality of hers. And I love Gauri’s creative vision. She is one of the finest filmmakers I have worked with…she is a very cool person. My bonding with her is very pal like. It is always a pleasure to work with her and we connect very well creatively.”

Initially the much loved title song in Dear Zindagi was hard to compose. But Amit got down to it with Gauri and the lyricist, “Yes, it was difficult to crack the initial idea. But after jamming for some time when (lyricist) Kausar Munir, Gauri, (producer, filmmaker) Balki and I were on the same page it was easy to execute the song”. Commenting in the quality of present day music Amit Trivedi says, “I don’t listen to much of what is going on. I do hear Bollywood songs playing at clubs and on television. But honestly, it does nothing to me. I don’t pay attention to the current songs.”

Amit feels the potential for music in our cinema is not being tapped properly. “I don’t know why we are not tapping the full potential of music and songs in our films. I am doing my best. As for other composers, I can’t talk for them.”

Has the era of lip-sync songs in Hindi films ended? Amit ponders over that one. Then observes, “If you look at the history of our music from the 1930s all the best songs were lip-synced. To this day unless a hero or heroine lip-syncs a song we don’t take it seriously. If it’s not lip-sync it is considered a background cinema. Contemporary songs drive the narrative forward. In a sensitive realistic film like Udaan it’d have looked really awkward and weird. Sensibilities have changed. You can’t show your characters singing unless she’s a singer like Anushka in Bombay Velvet. I love doing what I do. But yes its struggle to remain true to myself.”