She usually goes to sleep around 3.30am. But on Wednesday vocalist Madhubanti Bagchi woke up at 2.30am and was on the 6.05am flight to Hyderabad, a bowl of rosogolla and a box of sweets from Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick sitting on her lap. The destination? A studio in Hyderabad where Bahubali music director M.M. Kreem was holding centre stage! By 12.45pm, Madhubanti had finished recording a “north Indian folk song” for M.M. Kreem (less known as M.M. Keeravaani) for Sanjoy Nag’s Hinglish film Good Morning Sunshine, starring Revathy, Rituparna Sengupta and Shabana Azmi. Apart from Madhubanti, the soundtrack of Good Morning Sunshine also features singers like Sunidhi Chauhan, Papon, Neeti Mohan, Divya Kumar and Madhushree.
And yes, Kreem Sir “loved the sweets”! “He was very happy with the rosogollas,” smiled the Aami Aar Amar Girlfriends singer (from Behala) who is trained in Hindusthani classical music. A t2 chat with Madhubanti...
How did you get the call for this film?
Sanjoyda got in touch with me on Monday afternoon and told me about Good Morning Sunshine where M.M. Kreem was scoring the music. And I was completely blown away on hearing this. I got to know from Sanjoyda that M.M. Kreem had heard my rendition of Jochhona korechhe ari and wanted me to sing a particular song for the film. Then Kreem Sir called a couple of minutes later.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when we say M.M. Kreem? What’s your earliest memory of his music?
The songs Jaadu hai nasha hai and Chalo tumko lekar chale (from Jism). You remember his songs for their amazing melodies. And Bahubali’s music is so grand… it fits the scale of the film perfectly with its melody and groove.
What was the first thing you did on meeting M.M. Kreem?
I touched his feet first. Then I went inside the studio. Till that time I didn’t know what kind of a song I was going to sing. I wrote down the lyrics in my diary. And then he sang the song for me once. Sanjoyda briefed me on the setting of the song and I saw the portion where my song would be in the film. Then we directly went into the recording of the song.
What was his brief to you?
He wanted a very spirited, uplifting delivery. Rather than sweetness, he wanted a lot of aggression.
How did you find him in person?
Kreem Sir is so jolly, down to earth and humble. He is very specific about what he wants. He guides you really well. He makes his point very clearly and knows exactly what he wants. He was listening to Dhinchak Pooja’s Selfie maine leli aaj, and on a lighter note he asked us (and a group of chorus singers), ‘Have you heard this? I have been missing out on so much.’ His point was as a composer one has to listen to everything.
He made me feel really comfortable. He was very happy with my rendition.
And M.M. Kreem’s parting words to you?
He said, ‘Hope to meet you soon.’
I have been a great fan of M. M. Kreem since Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, and I have been following his work ever since. He did the music for Zakhm and Paheli. Finally we connected in 2014, but for a different film which didn’t get made. He loved my Memories In March (starring Rituparno Ghosh). Later we re-connected for this film. We have been recording the music for the last eight days. The soundscape is really varied, from a love ballad, rock to a folk song. Good Morning Sunshine is a social drama where the lives of four women (Revathy, Rituparna, Shwetha Tripathi and Tejaswini Kolhapure) get intertwined and they become co-travellers on the same journey. While Rituparna plays a director, Revathy plays a reclusive Bollywood diva. Shabana Azmi plays herself.
— Sanjoy Nag, director
Arindam Chatterjee
