Tanishk Bagchi is raking in praise for the title track of Saiyaara. Directed by Mohit Suri, the Yash Raj Films production introduces Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda to Bollywood and releases in theatres on July 18. t2 chatted with Tanishk — a Calcutta boy and an alumnus of The Frank Anthony Public School and Scottish Church College — on the song, his career and more.
The title track of Saiyaara brings love back! What went into its making?
It is a Mohit Suri film and one of the earliest projects of my career was a film of his (Half Girlfriend, 2017), for which I scored the popular song Baarish. We also did Ek Villain Returns (2022) together. The title song of Saiyaara has the same feel as Baarish. Mohit sir’s films call for romantic music, but the songs don’t necessarily have to be old-school. Saiyaara has very strong emotions, which will strike a note with everyone. The melody also has a lot of chord progressions in it, which hark back to the flavour that Aashiqui 2 (also directed by Suri) had.
Saiyaara is my first song with Yash Raj Films, which is a production house known for its romantic films and grand melodies. Scoring it was a very big thing for me and I dedicated a lot of time to Saiyaara. This is also my first collaboration with two singers from Kashmir, called Fahim Abdullah and Arslan (Nizami), who I met three years ago.
Tanishk Bagchi
Saiyaara was a half-made song. When it came to me, I reconstructed it entirely, structured it and presented it to Mohit sir and that is when it started taking shape. He told me that this is a song that matches with the film, and that was a big compliment for me. The best thing about the making of the Saiyaara title track was that I was a part of it right from the scratch level. Hence, I understood the kind of vibe that was needed. The song has both a rock concert and a romantic feel.
I think we have achieved a very beautiful track, especially with Irshad (Kamil) bhai’s lyrics. I have recently done two films, Sky Force and Bhool Chuk Maaf, with him. He understood the soul of Saiyaara the film... he writes songs like screenplays. The process involved a lot of learning for me.
What has the feel been like to the song?
People have been liking the song from the first day. I have worked with all the big stars, whether it is Aamir Khan, Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan. But making a hit song for these two new kids (Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda) gives me a lot of creative satisfaction. This is possibly the first time I am working on a project that is launching actors who have the potential to make it big. I also did Loveyatri (that launched Aayush Sharma) a few years ago, and the songs became massive hits.
Mohit Suri’s films have always been known for their songs. He is known to have a keen ear for music. How have you experienced that firsthand?
He is perhaps the only filmmaker here who looks at music as the first step, or at least as one of the earlier steps, of a film. He looks at music as the foundation of a film, and that helps create a tone for the film right from the st
Most of the films that I work on come to me after they have been shot. Housefull 5 is a recent case in point. We are mostly asked to make a promotional song or something. But Mohit Suri involves his music composers — whether it is me, whether it is Mithoon — right from the beginning. That helps us understand every aspect of his films and craft our music accordingly. I feel very fortunate that he is a friend, a brother and the captain of the ship.
Do you feel that Hindi film music now doesn’t focus on romantic melodies as it did even a few years ago?
I don’t think so. I scored some very popular romantic songs for Sky Force a few months ago. I don’t think melody can ever be lost. There is a robust independent music scene in India and all kinds of different films that demand music of varied kinds, are happening. In fact, I think soulful, romantic melodies will make a strong comeback soon.
Though you have scored popular original music, it is largely the remakes of party numbers that your name has been associated with since the beginning of your career. That has invited both praise and criticism. Does that rankle somewhere?
I think I have been appreciated for both my original tracks as well as the recreations I have done. Makhna (from Drive) is an original song I scored that came out so many years ago but is still played at nightclubs. Raatan lambiyan (from Shershaah) is a romantic number that I am still praised for. The entire album of Sky Force is original.
But I guess the recreations have far more recollection in people’s minds because they connect instantly with the new generation. All the recreations I have done have been collaborations with other artistes, but somehow it is my name which has been attached to them and occupies top-of-mind recall whenever people talk about them.
Somehow, the narrative has been created that I only do recreations, which is definitely not true. Sachin-Jigar, Amit Trivedi and Vishal-Shekhar have also done recreations, but people only talk about me. But that actually doesn’t bother me because I get to work on big projects. For Bhool Chuk Maaf, I recreated Chor bazaari (from Love Aaj Kal, 2009), but I have also done original tracks for it. I maintain a very good balance and that is why I am at a stage in my career where I am getting to score all kinds of songs.
What are the things that must be kept in mind when one recreates a song in today’s times?
The first should be the question that why are you recreating the song. Your intention has to be honest. I chose to recreate Aankh marey (from Tere Mere Sapne, 1996) for Simmba (2018) because I thought it resonated well with the spirit of the film. I recreated Tip tip barsa paani (from Mohra, 1994) for Sooryavanshi (2021) because of the Akshay Kumar connection in both. For every recreation, I look for a connection; they don’t just happen randomly. Even Chor bazaari phir se is from a film from the same production house (Maddock Films). I don’t do recreations just for the sake of it... it has to make sense and make a connect somewhere.
Also, I never overdo a recreation. The attempt is to always keep the soul and spirit of the original song alive. Most recreated songs in Bollywood fail because they tend to overdo it... they tend to make them into DJ remixes.
My recreation of Humma humma (from Bombay, 1996) called The humma song has the complete essence of the original track, but also has its own unique vibe. One thing one must be careful about is that the BPM (beats per minute) has to be similar to that of the original song. For Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, I retained the original beat as well as the original singer and kept the BPM as close as I could to the original.
What are you working on next?
Dhadak 2 will release soon. I am presenting a new artiste in that project as well. Plus, there are some other projects, including Baaghi 4.
Any plans of making Bangla music? Is there the intent to work in Calcutta?
I have done an international collaboration with a French-Nigerian artiste called KikiMoteleba, whose song, Tigini, blew up on the Internet last year. In the song that we have done together, I have used Bengali lyrics. It is a Bengali-French song that will come out soon. I am trying to promote Bengali as a language internationally because it is my mother tongue and such a beautiful language. My friends are producing a Bangla film and I am making the music for it. It is in the pipeline.
My favourite Tanishk Bagchi song is... Tell t2@abp.in