Gaurav Pandey, Prosenjit and Indraadip Dasgupta at the music launch of Hanuman.Com at City Centre 2. Picture: B. Halder

Last year you went to Iceland to shoot portions of Hanuman.Com. Did you have the music ready by then?

Gaurav: The music of the film was germinating but it crystallised after the Iceland shoot. Iceland was completely unknown territory for me and after that schedule the musicscape became clearer to me. When we came back from Iceland, we composed a song, Chal chal chal, which has a Norwegian soundspace. We heard Norwegian music and we got the basic tonality from Scandinavian music. Then we thought of doing a rap song, and we fell back on Ikir Mikir! And three songs –– Hanuman chalisa, Mama chitte and Gautam Chattopadhyay’s Prithibi –– were woven into the script.

Prithibi is a song about technology coming in between people in relationships...

Gaurav: It’s about how technology intervenes or becomes a barrier between human beings. Hanuman.Com looks at relationships in the context of technology, what technology is doing to relationships.

Indraadip: The song Chal chal chal has an erratic graph. Gauravda wrote the song. But his handwriting is so poor that neither he nor I could understand it later (laughs)!

What happened in Iceland? Tell us about the creative process...

Gaurav: When we would go out to shoot, we would sing Lykke Li’s I Follow Rivers like an anthem. We would listen to the song every day on our way to the shoot. So when we came back from Iceland, the song was playing in our heads. The song has this anthem-like quality. So I thought why don’t we go to a space where meaning can be created by what you hear?

Indraadip: And Arijit Singh has sung Chal chal chal very interestingly. There’s an amount of depression in the track.

Gaurav: Chal chal chal represents what I felt in a cold place. A song is representative of the temperature; of the weather. The music gives you the meaning, gives you what you need to know about the song. Our cinema in its content and theme has travelled (to South Africa, Egypt, Iceland). So how do you make the elements that form a part of your film also evolve and travel. How does music evolve? What would be the music of 2013? We have taken modern elements and broken down known elements.

How have you done that?

Gaurav: For example, we have broken down Ikir Mikir.

Indraadip: Gauravda and his daughter Saloni, 15, have sung Ikir Mikir!

Gaurav: And then we created a rap around it! The way we have used Mama chitte is also quite remarkable. We have fused it with thumri. It is possibly one of Tagore’s greatest songs. The tragedy about modern life is that you are not creating space for somebody else. You do not wish to communicate, you do not wish to get out of your beautiful prison of illusions. Mama chitte epitomises a man who is tripping on illusions.

So going to Iceland, travelling, shooting there, listening to the music there permeated into the soundscape of this film...

Gaurav: We have created noise and silence! We have purged noise with silence. Indraadip has effectively created noise and silence...

Indraadip: And after all this he says he won’t take me in his next film (laughs out loud)!

Gaurav: Indraadip is a friend. We spend a lot of time together. He is also a competent astrologer. He has OCD! He likes to eat, run...

Indraadip: OCD?

Gaurav: Of course, you are always cleaning your house!

Is there an element of surprise in the music?

Gaurav: We want to surprise you in every way! The film aims to surprise. Hanuman.Com is a difficult film. It switches between real and unreal.

Indraadip: The music for Hanuman chalisa is done in a Gothic way, and Mohan’s (singer) rendition makes all the difference. I thought of Mohan since his voice has a certain kind of robustness. Hanuman chalisa talks about veerta, about overcoming hurdles, you grow as a human being… you tide over situations.

Gaurav: Not many people can sing the Hanuman chalisa. Mohan brings to the table a degree of sexiness.

Indraadip: Edginess!

Gaurav: Sexiness!

Indraadip: Eta cholbe, maanbe na!

Gaurav: Indraadip approaches music from an intuitive point of view rather than from an academic point of view. Hanuman.Com seeks to open doors in your mind and heart. It is the music of who we were and what we have become.

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