Aspi's Drift

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009: Literary Edition

2008-10-13T01:08:00.004-05:00

Just the other day Mind Rush and I were discussing SRGMP over email and the thought occurred to both of us: if the varied denizens of our beloved show took a year off to pen a memoir or a self-help book, what would it look like?

But why let the fun stop there? It takes much more creativity to imagine what the citizens of SRGMP could not write about. And so we came up with this list of

The World's Thinnest Books Ever Written

Himesh Reshammiya
Avoid the Spotlight: A surefire way to gain respect and make the A-list

Pritam
Manscaping Made Easy

Shankar Mahadevan
Himesh Fan Club: My journey from skeptic to life-long fan

Adesh Srivastava
Sabse Alag! How to highlight your unique qualities and stand out in the world

Kapil Dev
The Zen of Cricket: How cricket can solve all your problems in life

Tarun Sagar
Safaai! How to avoid Foot In Mouth disease and wash away your sins by periodically uttering Jai Matadi!

Asma Mohammed Rafi
Don't Fall Into The Stereotype Trap: Creating a new identity for Arabs in the Asian World

Sara Raza Khan
Fashion 2008: How not to dress like a behenji

Urmila Matondkar
Down To Earth: Say no to Diva-like behavior and embrace your inner earthiness

Himesh Reshammiya
Tandoori Chicken Dance: Become an overnight Bollywood dance dhamaka

Film Censorship: Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang

2008-10-10T01:03:00.048-05:00

In the upcoming movie HELLO, Gul Panag's character - right before she is about to have sex with someone - utters the line: "Do you have a condom?" At the outset this seems like a fairly responsible thing to depict in the movie.

Reportedly the Indian Censor Board doesn't quite feel the same way and had the makers of the movie bleep the word 'condom' out. Thus we might face the prospect of Gul Panag saying "Do you have a bleep?" and then engaging in coitus right after. I fail to see how this will result in better morals, but then there might be a reason or two I'm not on the Central Board of Film Certification hanging with the Chair Sharmila Tagore.

Censorship is a rather polarizing topic. Lots of people don't agree with the censors - but they are not often on the same side of the fence. And I find myself seeing multiple facets to every single argument that makes its way into this topic.

Let's start with the age old argument of how censorship impacts freedom of speech. True that! But let's look a little closer: why do film makers care? After all no one is censoring their movie. Its just a rating. (Remember the hue and cry over music ratings and the general hatred directed at highly visible proponent Tipper Gore?)

The reasons often tend to be financial in nature. A stricter rating for a movie results in a smaller audience base - which is bad news for box office performance. Studios routinely protect themselves by contracting a director to deliver a certain rating. No studio in its right mind, for example, will fund a Summer Tentpole without a specification for the movie to come in at PG-13. (Director Antoine Fuqua once famously went to town over Disney forcing him to tone down King Arthur)

So understandably directors get frustrated with the boards when they have to chop up their babies in order to meet the suits halfway. The more experiences (or smarter) ones will shoot multiple scenes knowing fully well which ones they are willing to bargain out with the board. So its not unusual to shoot a breast, a side view of a nipple under a sheet and an open back with a bit of a butt cheek showing. Armed with options like these, filmmakers can bargain their movie with the board. It doesn't always work - you have to be influential and charming. But if you are directing a movie, getting stuff out of people is your special skill to begin with.

Censorship rules also have a certain wierdness associated with them. Straight sex and gay sex, for example, don't get the same moral treatment from the board. And violence and sex don't get the same treatment either under the somewhat lame pretext that early exposure to violence for kids results in a certain understanding of what is real and what is not.

So this brings us to Indian movies: I confess I only watch a small selection. And since all of them are released Unrated in the US, I have even less information about their ratings.

For some cultural reason that I don't have the ability to perceive or analyze: Indians play it much looser when it comes to violence and adult themes. As a kid I saw rape, thuggery, dismemberment and torture. And that was all in my first film! Did it affect me? I'm sure it did yet I haven't exactly done any of those things in my life. Well maybe except thuggery if you count hitting Bhinda in the nuts once for announcing my date's arrival with "your maal is here".

This is purely a cultural phenomenon. The US ratings don't prevent kids from walking into any movie (except NC-17 which is rare). If accompanied by an adult, a 3 year old could watch an R movie. The board states its opinion on a movie's content with a rating. Its entirely up to a parent or guardian to enforce it. So in effect, think of all Indian movies as R and the parents making an executive decision about taking their kids along.

So back to Indian ratings: as filmmakers explore the urban market increasingly and as the core audiences' soch-vichaar change with time (or as some call it: globalization), a good Censor Board will keep pace with the times and amend its views on what's appropriate and what is not. To a large extent that has happened. Emraan Hashmi wouldn't have a career otherwise.

But if unwanted pregnancy is a problem and Family Planning is an issue of national significance, perhaps discouraging the use of condoms might be an out of touch kind of thing to do. Censors, aur mehnat karo!

Chatoo Nation on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009

2008-10-09T01:12:00.026-05:00

Happily the fine singing in SRGMP is still overshadowed by the ego blinging. Its called the best of both worlds. So what happened last week that was worth noting? A couple of things.

First, remember Debojit and how SRGMP did the whole cringeworthy "Debo is adhura" bit? Well that took a turn for the worse on Saturday. Here is how it all went down.

Pritam, who houses Debojit in his Dhoom gharana, has been touting the guy as his winner. This apparently led to some envy mongering among the other participants.

Now contestant bhailog, I need to tell you this: it always sounds like a good idea to come clean in front of the camera on a Sunday or Monday - when the taping of the live part of the show is still a few days away. This is the time when the producers maro the chabee and tell you to "rock it" and "tell the world what you're thinking". And you go ahead and say a bunch of things like: "Pritam is playing favorites", "He shouldn't be doing this" and "He doesn't love us as much as Debojit".

But when that little clip gets played on the show in a bhari mehfil, you suddenly realize what a bad idea that was. Its called Being Had By Producerji. Not that I'm complaining - its a nifty trick that is the life blood of any reality show worth its name.

In any case, this happened right after Debojit had finished singing. Pritam picked up the mike and ordered Debojit off the stage - specifically out of earshot. He asked the plaintiffs to get on the stage. "Edit all this out later" he muttered.

Then he launched into the story of a young boy who used to stutter all his life and how he thought he was no good. He wouldn't respond to questions he knew the answers to. But through love and encouragement from his parents and teachers, the boy became a success later in life.

"That boy is me!" finished Pritam displaying a fine propensity for drama. The Tare Zameen Par theme started playing in the background. (Boy is this the most "special" soundtrack of all time or what?)

Now this bit of drama would normally sound really cheesy. And not that it didn't - but coming from a supremely mellow cuddlebunny like Pritam it was downright touching. His fellow judges did wah-wah. The plaintiffs must have felt like heels because they fell on their feet and begged for forgiveness. No, seriously!

At this point all hell broke loose. If I remember correctly, Himesh and Shankar Mahadevan (who Himesh hilariously refers to as "The Nose of India") announced an alliance. Aadesh countered with a one-sided alliance with Pritam. Everyone got on stage and Yashita Yashpal, terribly charming purveyor of fine performances and wacky outfits, was used as the rope in a tug of war to decide if she was a boy or a girl. Please, don't ask!

Second thing of note happened when Abhishek Bachchan showed up on Sunday to promote his much maligned dud Drona. Faster than you could say "Slurp", the judges rushed to heap praise on him.

Now this I don't mind. After all, praising someone isn't a bad thing - it brings good cheer and encouragement all around. But calling Abhishek the "best hip hop singer in the country" is about where I'd draw the line.

That announcement was made by Pritam and even he didn't look entirely convincing while saying it. Abhishek preened. But because Himesh is the best at this particular activity (chatoing) he said something entirely nutty and entertaining.

"You are NUMBER ONE in everything!" Himanshu declared. "First of all, you are the NUMBER ONE Amitabh Bachchan's son" At this point I thought, if he says 'and you are the NUMBER ONE Aishwarya's husband' I'll become Himesh's slave for life. Unfortunately this did not happen but Himesh's declaration that Drona was a super-duper hit was still a lot of fun to listen to.

Abhishek then responded by announcing that he and Goldie Behl had started a Himesh Fan Club during the making of Drona. "On the Internet" he added. "And you weren't allowed to step on the set unless you didn't join the fan club". Himesh shifted in his seat with nervous delight - he wasn't quite sure if he was being had.

Luckily he didn't pick up the double negative Freudian slip in Abhishek's statement. Abhishek probably didn't either.

Now that is not what I don't call good entertainment.

Inside the music of DOSTANA with Vishal Dadlani - An Exclusive Drift Interview

2008-10-06T00:30:00.011-05:00

Its no secret that Vishal and Shekhar have been riding a comet up the ranks of Bollywood's elite music directors in the last few years. But dig behind the hoopla generated by their steady stream of hits and you'll be able to hear a very canny pair of musicians build a versatile and commercial portfolio.

Take their last few major releases for instance: Om Shanti Om, Tashan, De Taali and Bachna Ae Haseeno all contained a distinctive theme for each CD. The fact that between them they have successfully employed a variety of their own talents (composing, live shows, song writing, vocals) gives them a unique 360 view into the process of creating hits.

On the soundtrack for the new movie Dostana - one of this year's major releases - Vishal-Shekhar amp down the theatrics to create a smooth, sensuous clutch of songs.

Vishal Dadlani was cool enough to stop by the Drift and tell us all about it.

Aspi: Hey Vishal, thanks for stopping by the Drift and doing this with us. How's the leg doing now (given that you survived all that bouncing around on The Unforgettables)?

Vishal: The leg is outta action for a bit. Just got that much overdue surgery a few days ago, and it'll be about six weeks before I hit the studio again!

Aspi: Ok, how did you and Shekhar meet? Mwa-ha-ha, I'm just kidding, you don't have to answer that ghisa-pita question. You can put the gun away now

Vishal: Thanks, can't tell you how much I appreciate this! ;-)

Aspi: But I will ask you this: is there any specific fuel (food, drink, etc) that you keep handy in the studio to get through those long days?

Vishal: Chinese jasmine tea is a big booster for me! I do about four cups a day!

Aspi: Listening to Dostana, I got the feeling that you were creating the definitive Lite FM CD – it sounded breezy and reminded me of sunny days. Was there an underlying theme to the music or did each track evolve independently?

Vishal: I have to give all credit to [Dostana Director] Tarun [Mansukhani] . He's the guy who went all out to find a sound that, while commercial, was unique to him, and different from the well-established Dharma [Productions] sound!

He made us put in a lot of work (maybe 200-300 different tune options), and gave us a lot of space and patience. But, it was all worth it! He wanted the light, breezy vibe you feel when you hear it, but without losing sight of the fact that it's a huge commercial score!

Aspi: On Jaane Kyun there is a Vishal Dadlani who turns in a bravura vocal performance. That doesn't sound like you at all! Is there another Vishal Dadlani in the industry that I don't know about or is that you truly singing a personally game changing song?

Vishal: Well, I do a few voices you haven't even heard yet! ;-) Seriously, though, I was getting a little trapped into singing songs that were solely within the rocked-out style, and this was a big opportunity for me to do something different with my voice. I'm glad Tarun and Shekhar took a chance on me, and I'm glad people dig it!

Aspi: Vishal, who hires lyricists? Is it the director, the music director or it depends?

Vishal: Usually, we (music director/director) suggest their names, and the producer pays them.

Aspi: You've worked with Anvita [Dutt Guptan] before on Bachna Ae Haseeno and now here on a couple of tracks. Her lyrics seem to suit your music really well. What's the one thing you hope and pray for in a lyricist?

Vishal: The ability to understand that a music director's opinion is a somewhat valid one, and the patience and humility to sometimes change lyrics accordingly. That, and a new approach, a fresh insight. Easier said than done, believe me! And Anvita has it all!

Aspi: Do the actors always stop by to listen to the songs? And what kind of inputs do you get from them? Any specific inputs from John , Abhishek and Priyanka on this CD?

Vishal: Sometimes they do, but on this one, it was all Tarun, all the way. Nobody (except Karan [Johar] on a couple of occasions) heard a song till it was recorded! Luckily, everyone loved 'em!

Aspi: I think it's really cool that you have found a new way to use an old world voice like Saleem. I think Maa Da Laadla is one of the most unique club tracks of the year but I'm not convinced about those helium vocals. How did that song happen?

Vishal: It's a mad story. We were badly stuck on that song. It's a bit of a joke situation, and Tarun hadn't gone nuts over anything we'd done for it yet, so in a fit of frustration, Shekhar took a day off, and promised Tarun six options the next day.

He played them all to him, one by one, and Tarun kept bouncing them, until he played this one. The duck vocals were a bit of a joke, but Tarun just loved it, and so they stayed as they were!

Aspi: Could you walk us through the other tracks as well?

Jaane Kyun (Vishal Dadlani)

Vishal: Meant to reflect the spirit of the film, it's a song of friendship, of people getting to know one another, and starting to rely on one another. It's a beautiful emotion, but we had to express it in a new way, both sonically, as well as lyrically. I especially love the line 'dushman ke iraade, sachhe lagte hain'.

The song has a lot of shiny, happy energy, and is one of the few tunes in this film that was approved by Tarun in the first thirty seconds of hearing it! He also loved the expressions I'd done on the scratch, which is why he insisted that I sing it.

Desi Girl (Shankar Mahadevan , Sunidhi Chauhan )

Vishal: First up, I firmly believe that Indian women are the most magically beautiful women in the world! The root idea for this one was brought to us by our sound engineer Calvin [Vaz]. We were looking around for a hook for this particular situation, but hadn't really found anything. He came up with the idea "I like my girls Indian", or something like that. We rejected it outright as being cheesy, but then Tarun changed it to the concept of "desi girl", and suddenly, there was the song!

Between conception and recording, we made five scratches, and each time, Tarun wanted it faster, and higher, for more energy. So, by the time we finished, the song was pitched so high, that only Shankar could possibly have sung it. We called him, he came in and totally rocked it!

Shut Up & Bounce (Sunidhi Chauhan)

Vishal: This is a light hearted party-song, the intro for the film. it's shot in Miami, so there are lot's of hot girls everywhere, there's the super-hot Shilpa Shetty , and there's the ocean. Can't ask for more.

There's a sinister story behind this one too, though. Tarun the Tyrant kept "bouncing" options for it, until, as a reference to our predicament, Karan said "Maybe we should call the song 'Shut up and Bounce!'" I loved it, ran into the studio, and came up with a basic idea, which went thru many transmogrifications before eventually becoming what it is!

Khabar Nahi (Vishal, Shreya Ghoshal , Amanat Ali )

Vishal: We were stuck (again) for a love song that was simple and true, but yet new and not filmi at all. Anvita and I were brainstorming on the smoking-verandah outside our studio, and I asked her "what happens when you fall in love?" And then, answered the question with a phrase I use often, "You don't know which way is up!".

Then I translated that, came up with the first line. She took it from there, and made it magical! It was Tarun's idea to add the Sufi bit, as a stark contrast to the pop melody of the main song. Shekhar came up with that bit, and completed the song.

We both instantly though of Amanat as the perfect voice for that bit, and called him. We also tried Raja Hasan out, but that didn't gel. You still hear him the backing vocal track behing the first interlude, though.

Kuch Kam (Shaan )

Vishal: A song of loss, of loneliness. But, true to Tarun's nature, not expressed in an earth-shattering way. It's almost colloquial, almost casual. It's about how everything is a little less true without friends to share it with.

And, I think Shaan shows great maturity as a singer by restraining the innate joy you usually hear in his voice. This is the second time he's done this for us (Dastaan-e-OSO being the first). He's still learning and growing as an artiste, and as the person who did his first film song with him, I'm truly proud of the guy!

The rhythm on this song is programmed by Samrat Bharadwaj, along with our regular producer, Abhijeet Nalani. That combo is what made Jhankaar Beats happen, and I think that's one of the reasons why this song is very special to me.

Aspi: I wanted your thoughts on the following three new singers who I've grown quite fond of.

Shilpa Rao

Vishal: Beautiful voice, great determination, will do great things! Her voice made Khuda Jaane even more special!

Himani Kapoor

Vishal: Great singer, unique voice, will also achieve great things! Jogi Mahi was just a voice-test for her with us. We'll definitely do something big with her soon.

Harshdeep Kaur

Vishal: We worked with her on Le jaa in the film Karam , and she's absolutely fantastic too! I hope this Junoon victory does big things for her.

Himani (stylistically) and Harshdeep (stylistically and sonically) will have to step out of the Richa Sharma mold, and find their own personal niches, though.

Just so you know, I love the fact that there are so many new singers around! It makes me happy too see so much talent all around. Shekhar and I wish we could do songs with all of them! And, maybe we will! ;-)

Aspi: Hey, will there be another Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar next year?

Vishal: Who knows. I mean the way SRGMP has bombed this year, maybe we just managed to escape the reality show melt-down! ;-)

Aspi: Final question: and it's mandatory on the Drift: can you fold a fitted bed sheet?

Vishal: Ummm.........sure. Why the hell not! I can do anything! ;-)

Aspi: Vishal, thanks again. Best wishes for much success with Dostana and beyond. Megan Diwani (you remember that Shekhar-Megan episode on SRGMP don't you?) sends her love. And just about everyone on the Drift wants you to know how much they love you (and Shekhar).

Vishal: Love you all right back, especially Meg, who we both dream about constantly! :-)

Notes:
All links in the conversation inserted by me.
The Dostana CD is out now. The movie opens November 14, 2008.
Many thanks to Saniya Makker for the picture of Vishal-Shekhar at The Unforgettables

Also:

Bella is glad Vishal was his usual funky self
Megania khush hui
j felt a thrill going up her leg and now loves the Bachna remix
girlie girl misses V-S on SRGMP
Mind Rush enjoys the playfulness
VS fan notes that Vishal is the only celeb who can fold a fitted bed sheet
Deep likes Inside the Music better than the Drift reviews
meena is all set to give Dostana a listen
V-S's music seems to be going downhill says Anon
bollywoodjunkie loved Dostana and the making of
maxdavinci appreciates V-S giving new singers big budget breaks
musical is now loving jasmine green tea even more!
Cinderella hasn't heard Dostana but can't wait for the weekend now
Drift Memsaab asks: Vishal, how do you balance the professional, creative and personal?
Shubhchintak proposes a music reality show for the music directors
ADF loves BAH and Dostana - especially Maa Daa Ladlaa
Vishal = coolness unlimited says Kanan
j is in love with Vishal's first pic and envious of Priyanka's body
Lin has become a fan of Shilpa Rao
Sidekick hands out love to Vishal and does a mini-DOSTANA review
Pappu has a request for V-S (its related to Amanat)
Cinderella's favorite songs from the CD

The Drift list of Travel DOS and DONTS

2008-10-03T01:30:00.009-05:00

Traveling anywhere can be a test of patience. Long ago I decided it go Maharshi with the whole concept and treat the travails of travel as part of the journey to mera goan mera desh. This helped me relax, cocoon myself from the world of annoyingly inconsiderate travellers and have much fun along the way.

Yet a few things remain that snap me out of my travel trance and make me feel negative-like. These are my list of DONTS.

DONT: If you get in an airport shuttle and plan to grab an overhead rod, thus exposing your underarms to me, you'd better be wearing some deodarant. How to know you are smelling stale? Take a look at my face. If it is any paler than a tan, you're less than fresh. Please move to a sidebar grip - preferably opposite mine and at the far end of the vehicle.

DONT: Its best not to stuff yourself at dinner time. But if you do, avoid yawning or burping right over my nose when I'm sleeping in the Tansen posture with my head tilted to your side. I rarely wake up over a certain type of smell, but in this case I've found my body makes a spontaneous exception. Bonus markdown if you see me wake up with a start and smile and greet me with "Good morning!"

DONT: If you are planning to stuff something in the overhead compartment above my head, by all means do so. Take your time, stand on your tippy toes, whatever. But try not to jam your groin into my shoulder. This type of humping is uncalled for.

DONT: For god's sake, don't get all defensive about your country and try to slam it when explaining things to first-time visitors. Especially avoid brilliant observations like "You'd think the signs would be in English, no?" No.

DONT: If you plan to do cricket commentary, please don't be Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and spout repetitive and unhelpful observations in a faux English accent. If you are Arun Lal , avoid saying "nego-see-ate" - you can't ape just one word and pass off for a plummy British commentator. OK, this last one has nothing to do with travel, but I thought I'd slip it in there.

To stay positive about my travels I thought I'd also list some DOS.

DO: Do get up on the baggage weighing machine during check-in thinking the airline wants to weigh you and not your bags. I've seen this only once, but I'd love to be entertained by such a sight on every trip.

DO: If you are more than four seats away from me, do pick your nose or adjust your package with a flourish. It fascinates me endlessly to see how oblivious people can be when performing bodily housekeeping in public.

DO: Feel free to discuss just about anything. I'm always amazed at the propensity of people to devour global information, analyze it and redistribute it. And from the junta, I always get a welcome perspective that newspapers might dismiss as being too simplistic.

Note: Random pictures from my travels are not related to anyone in the post

Also:

bollywoodjunkie is pissed at Drona
girlie girl's biggest peeve: unpacking food after boarding
Busy Bee might need a desi travel refresher course
Hey that monkey in the pic looks familiar says Bee
Kanan particularly hates the third DONT
Bitterlemons adds four more DONTS
girlie girl lists a gassy DONT
Drift Memsaab's universal DONT: peeing on the bathroom floor
j's four DONTS
Mind Rush analyzes the Travel DONTS
Pitu is in two minds about filling out disembarkation forms for others
Asif Z is now in first class and stymied
Nawaz S explains why (he's a weapon of mass flirtation)
H&R is stymied by desi gastronomic discussions
xoxangelxox will watch Kidnap for Imraan
Kidnap is much better than the reviews suggests says seemab
Cinderella on why she finds travel so interesting

Inside the Music of DRONA with composer Dhruv Ghanekar - An Exclusive Drift Interview

2008-10-01T01:31:00.059-05:00

Dhruv Ghanekar has been around for a long time on the Indian music scene – first with the band Chakraview and then composing jingles in the advertising world. Though he’s done film music before, Drona (Abhishek Bachchan , Priyanka Chopra) is his biggest release to date as a music director.

Facing his commercially biggest challenge yet, Dhruv delivered a deft, delicious CD that balances sonic complexity with minimalist arrangements. It’s a piece of work that really got me excited when I first heard it not so long ago.

I thought it would be really cool to have Dhruv stop by the Drift and tell us all about it.

Aspi: You have been at this since the age of 9 and you’ve been making music that really challenges mainstream Indian audiences to step out of their comfort zone. Bollywood requires composers to be more conservative. Are you in this to change the world or are you paying the bills?

Dhruv: About Bollywood requiring you to be conservative – I don’t think so. Given the kind of composers and musicians who are working, they are all young people. I can cite lots of names from Vishal-Shekhar, (Shankar-)Ehsaan-Loy, they bring a young aesthetic.

So there have been a lot of changes and the industry is evolving and people also want to hear new sounds. Everything that has worked in the last few years has worked because it’s been a different sound.

Actually a classic case that is current is Rock On!! The music is a huge rage. The idea of Bollywood [music] is very different from the way it used to sound.

My motivation for doing [Bollywood] is not so much the money. It’s just honestly to be heard by a wider audience. I’ve being doing music in different forms for films and advertising for a while now and there have been days when you land with some really hip stuff and it gets heard but people don’t really know who you are. Or it gets heard by a minority.

Aspi: How did you get involved with Drona? You’ve been doing jingles, you’ve been doing other music on the side. Suddenly this fairly large project comes along – how did you get pulled into it?

Dhruv: [Director] Goldie [Behl] has a television software company which produces content for television. He asked me to do a title track for a television show that he was doing. This was about two and a half years back. I did one and he asked me to another one and I kept doing them and I did about four or five. I was wondering why the hell was he bouncing my tracks and apparently he was just checking out my chops.

He called me finally and said he liked my work a lot and just wanted to see my range. He said he was going to be starting this new movie in a few months called Drona so would I be interested in it. I was a bit: yeah, ok. A lot of people say a lot of things in this town.

But sure enough, he called me up and said ‘Listen I’m ready to go and I want you to do this!’ When he narrated the story to me I was literally jumping out of my seat and wanted to get into the studio right then.

Aspi: Dhruv, tell us a little bit about each song on the CD?

Drona - Title Track (Dhruv Ghanekar)

Dhruv: I had finished a couple of songs for the film when Goldie came up to me and said he wanted a title track. Now 'Drona' is not an easy word to spin a song around. It’s kind of a tricky word you know.

So I took the approach of going into a more industrial, clubby type of feel for it. The first thing when composing that I was conscious of was that I had to incorporate that word in.

The way it happened was almost like a war cry. I played the song for Goldie. He really liked it. He played it for his friends. Everybody loved it the way it was. That’s basically how my voice ended up on that song.

Oop Cha (Sunidhi Chauhan)

Dhruv: Goldie has a really wonderful way of working with people. He gently points you in a direction without being specific about what he wants. He never gave me any specifics and I really liked this about Goldie. So you feel like a part of the process and this is really important.

The “hit” aspect of this song was kind of unsaid. Goldie said this would be an item song – let’s not kid ourselves. So I decided to take a hip hop approach. The words 'Oop Cha' were originally dummy words I used as a place holder – but Goldie really liked them. People have either loved it or hated it. But it’s playing in all the clubs right now so I’m not complaining!

After I finished composing, Sunidhi came in and slammed the song out of the park. It was the first time I’d worked with her and I was completely amazed.

Then I hit upon this idea of giving it a slightly grungy tribal vibe. So I had Sivamani come in. The only thing I told him was that it should visually match with what Goldie wanted - grungy, dirty, grimy, garage setting. So we added a lot of metallic sounds, like hubcaps. Siva added the second part of the song – he was very creative. So it kind of evolved.

It took forever to produce this song – about 10 days staggered over a period of time.

Bandagi – (Sunidhi Chauhan, Roop Kumar Rathod)

Dhruv: This was the last song we recorded for the movie. I was literally forcing Goldie to insert a romantic song in the movie. And after a lot of plugging finally Goldie relented. I immediately went into the studio and had the song within an hour. I finished producing it at two in the morning and called Goldie right away. I met him the next morning and played the song for him. He loved it.

I had sung the whole song at that point. I was quite keen on singing it, but Goldie was convinced that I shouldn’t sing this one and we should get a more seasoned singer. I was ok with that and I’m glad that I chose Roop for this because he’s done a fantastic job with this song.

Sunidhi brought such a cool energy to the studio, she totally got what I wanted so I invited her back again to sing a third song.

Nanhe Nanhe (Sadhana Sargam)

Dhruv: This song came out of a theme I had composed for the movie, in fact the very first theme from a lot I wrote for the movie. Everyone loved the theme so much that we thought it might be cool to make a song out of it.

Sadhnaji was actually my mother’s idea. Often I’ll go and play my songs for my mom and she has a really cool for sense for casting, which is really important. And the song had a kind of Lata feel to it for which Sadhna works really well.

Khushi (Shaan, Suzanne D’mello)

Dhruv: The thing with birthday songs is that the concept is so situational that it can go into this really cheesy state like (sings): ‘It’s my birthday, Happy Birthday!’ So I wanted to get far away from that.

I had just seen The Producers in London and I was blown away. There is something very interactive about doing a song in the big band jazz medium because it lends itself to telling a story. At the same time musically there is so much going on.

Shaan was an obvious choice because is young and has this Robbie Williams thing going on but he has an understanding of the Old World. I was very conscious about the fact that this was a big film and I didn’t want people to talk about whether Goldie made the right choice. So I was very nervous about this track.

Drona Redux (Sunidhi Chauhan)

Dhruv: This was a marketing call because we wanted to show a video where Priyanka would introduce Drona. That was the idea behind it. Sunidhi had just finished singing Oop Cha and she was an obvious choice for me because I felt she would hit it out of the park and she did that for me.

Aspi: Dhruv, have you seen Rock On yet? Your old band is given a tip of the hat in it and your ex-bandmate Suraj Jagan has quite a nifty role in it.

Dhruv: Farhan (Akhtar) is a friend and we used to hang out together back in the days because my bass player Anand and Farhan were school buddies. So he told me about the movie and asked if it would be ok to use the name in it.

Aspi: One question about Chakraview – I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that someone with your interests started a rock band. Was it about the chicks? Did you want to slowly morph into something bigger? Did your interests change while you were in it?

Dhruv: Chakraview wasn’t a rock band at all. It’s a funny story about Chakraview. I had borrowed a guitar effects processor from a very close friend of mine for rehearsal and I lost it on the way! So I basically had to pay this guy back about 30, 40 grand which would be like Rs. 10 lakhs today.

Just then we saw an ad in a page about this competition at IIT called MoodI where the winner would get 30 grand and there were other prizes as well. So if we won it we would pay my friend off and it would be a fun road trip.

We went there and basically won all the prizes. And then we felt ‘This is cool!’

But the only gigs we were getting were in lousy clubs so for one whole year we went and hit all the colleges and played all the competitions and won a lot of the prizes. And that’s how we became famous.

Our sound developed into this strange music with a lot of elements: World, Indian, Rock. But it kind of started by accident.

Aspi: Do you miss being in a band?

Dhruv: Well, I do play as much as I can. Blue Frog was born out of our frustration that there aren’t enough places a musician can go out and play on a fantastic stage. And fans don’t have a place to go to and watch cool acts from diverse genres.

Blue Frog is a label, a night club, a music production company and a fantastic recording studio. It’s doing really well. We’ve signed an incredible guitar player called Sanjay Divecha from LA who has moved to India now. We signed John McLaughlin for the India side of the deal. Ashu[tosh Pathak]’s independent project comes out in October. My solo album comes out in January.

Drona releases October 2, 2008

October Linkology

2008-10-01T01:00:00.006-05:00

For anyone new here, welcome the the Drift. Here is how Linkology works: if you find anything funny, touching, entertaining or just plain worth sharing, leave us a link in the comments section with your take on it. I'll put it up here and on the front page as soon as I can and we can take a look at it, amuse ourselves and discuss it here.

Sourav Ganguly to quit (from Bee)
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - First look at SRK's new look (from Cinderella)
Aishwarya on inviting SRK to the DRONA premier - and other good deeds (from j)
Karishma Kapoor - the making of a style icon (from j)
Is Himesh a point man for aliens? (from No-Idea)
The Asif Zardari-Sarah Palin Fatwa (from Bee)
Mallika Sherawat - Snake Woman! (from j)
Mahendra Kapoor passes away (from Bee)
Drona to Krrish: we should meet (from Busy Bee)

Battles lines are drawn on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009

2008-09-29T01:16:00.043-05:00

After a long time harnessing his somewhat quick temper, Himesh Reshammiya finally decided to unleash his inner Battle Droid - much as some of us had hoped for. He built some bridges, then burned them and then went ahead and half-heartedly tried to patch the charcoal. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In the last few weeks - and I confess I have missed several episodes - fellow judge Shankar Mahadevan had effectively put Himesh in his place. This he did by not mincing his words whenever his opinion differed from Himesh. At the same time he back-slapped the other two judges - Pritam and Aadesh Srivastava - and cajoled them into providing somewhat veiled support.

Himesh, not doing himself any favors, gradually realized he was being pushed into one corner. And Mr. Roji Roti became Goody Two Shoes and the SRGMP show sputtered on in aman and shanti. Yes, that was me you heard snoring.

Thankfully the knife's edge was been restored on the show thanks to some rather silly disagreements - the best kind when it comes to judge jhagdas.

This week Himesh decided to announce that the judges would not dismiss a good singer over one bad performance . It might have helped to consult his fellow judges because as soon as he said that both Shankar and Aadesh jumped in to undermine him. Himesh, looking visibly troubled, trotted up on stage - perhaps not realizing that this grandstanding would piss people off even more. Finally to salvage it all, Himesh declared that Shankar and Aadesh were in one corner and Pritam and he were in another. Poor Pritam look a little shell-shocked if you ask me at this impromptu recruitement.

Later, Himesh announced his support for the girls on the show by stating that a girl should and will win SRGMP this year. But the taalis he was looking for instead came as a gaali. Somewhat inexplicably Aadesh referred to Himesh uncharitably as Chanakya. "I don't have any girls in my gharaana" he sniffed, implying that Himesh was shutting down Aadesh's house by throwing his lot in with the girls. Sa Re Ga Ma Kindergarten Pa.

On the second of the two shows this weekend, Imraan Khan and Minissha Lamba showed up to promote their new movie . The SRGMP producers manufactured a promo subplot of tremendously infectious silliness. This required Head to pretend that he had been kidnapped. Head freed himself and took the entire show to realize that Imraan had done it.

This brilliant bit of comedy showed that not satisfied with spanking the TRP covers of Voice of India and Indian Idol, SRGMP now had the kiddie shows squarely in its sights.

I enjoyed the presence of Imraan and Minissha quite a bit. Imraan seems to be of a new breed of actors - those who consciously try to act un-starry and strip any semblance of adaas from their body language. And Minissha - because she spoke articulately and didn't once try to "charm" us via unnecessary giggling - got major points from me.

All wasn't done yet. At one point Tarun Sagar delivered a rather lukewarm rendition of Gadar's mega hit Mein Nikla Gaddi Leke. Himesh immediately jumped to his defence by informing everyone that Tarun's throat was not in good shape. Yes, nodded Tarun sadly. Pritam issued an eye roll and warned Himesh not to play the galleries for sympathy. Himesh waved his middle finger around - supposedly unintentionally.

Aadesh, by now stewing over Himesh for some reason I can't explain, asked Tarun to prove it by singing the same song. Tarun croaked something out. "Beta" Aadesh shook his head "acting mat karo!" Tarun tried again - this time it sounded better. He got a hammering from both Aadesh and Himesh, who looked a little embarrassed.

But enough about the judges. Next week, I'll have to force myself to talk about the singing on the show.

Also:

Shubhchintak is happy
Bella is underwhelmed by Imraan but loved the tattoo
dockaul is looking for a name for Aadesh
Something is wrong with Minisha says j, who is enjoying Pritam, Shankar and Aadesh on the show
bee knows why Himesh is supporting the women now
Busy Bee shudders at the thought of a Drona related skit on the show
girlie girl can't believe Himesh was waving the middle finger around
j on Reva, Kaushik and Naina Saxena
m defends Shankar and bemoans the lack of a hottie on the show
Lin can't understand Asma's presence and the drama surrounding Sarah Raza
Something is wrong with how Asma's Hindi is wrong thinks m
Lin empathizes with m on the loss of a loved one on Junoon
Nepali Head identifies two more redos on Indian Idol