It’s an honour to arrange & perform the Live Rhythms & Percussions for 2 songs “Ghalib Hona Hai” and “Siva Tere (Female Version)” from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s first non film album ‘Sukoon’.
It took 3 years for the album to complete. Working with Sanjay ji is a learning experience. Each project teaches you a lot. His way of looking at rhythms is very exceptional and different. That makes me push myself harder to do best each time. It was bit of a challenge for me to work on these 2 ghazal oriented songs. In such genres you have limitations. Too much of experimentation can be a risk sometimes. The rhythm needed to be very subtle & smooth so that the lyrics & the tune is not disturbed. I still remember when Sanjay ji heard the rhythms of “Ghalib Hona Hai” for the first time, he wasn’t fully convinced. He later heard it for several times and then said “Iss groove me Kuch baat hai”.
Coming such praise from him is a very big thing for me. It is very difficult to please him in the very first attempt. I know a bit about his taste because I have worked with him before in Ghoomar (Padmaavat), Khali Bali (Padmaavat) & Aayat (Bajirao Mastani). ‘Sukoon’ album is very special to me because it’s the first time I arranged the Live Rhythms for ghazals. I want to thank my dear friend Shreyas Puranik who has arranged “Ghalib Hona Hai”, “Siva Tere” and few other songs from the album. He gave me a free hand to design the rhythms and try something different. There are many different world percussions playing in the songs such as Conga, Udu Pot, Hand Snare, Tambourine, etc. I wanted to add different shades of rhythm in the songs. This album has revived the time of ghazals & its charm. I once again thank Sanjay ji for trusting in me & giving me this opportunity.
