Harmeet and Anjjan at HHI on Saturday. Picture: B. Halder

A couch, a recording studio in Lokhandwala, four dudes chilling with beer, wine, tea and milk at 11pm and thinking of one girl — Sunny Leone. Sounds like a scene from a boys’ night out? Well, inspiration strikes in mysterious ways and Bolly composers Meet Bros Anjjan made full use of the situation by coming up with two hits — Baby doll and Pink lips. Harmeet Singh and Anjjan (two of the trio, along with Manmeet), who were in town for the music launch of Partha Chakraborty’s Bengali film Kkoli (for which Meet Bros Anjjan have composed the music), took t2 back to those Sunny nights.

How did you come up with Baby doll?

Harmeet: Ekta Kapoor wanted us to do a new-age item song for Sunny Leone. So, all three of us, with our lyricist (Kumaar), met at our recording studio in Lokhandwala, shut our eyes and started thinking about Sunny. And this was at 11pm! We thought she is an international artiste, she is beautiful, and she looks like a baby! And someone said she looks like a doll. So we combined the two words and came up with Baby doll. We had also thought of the name Barbie Doll, but then didn’t use for copyright issues.

How did you put together the music for Baby doll?

Anjjan: First we came up with a line, then a guitar riff, then the bounce in the rhythm and a little bit of strings.

Harmeet: It’s an item number, and yet it is not. Baby doll’s a mix of UK underground and Punjabi folk with Bengali tadka. There’s a whiff of Sufi music but the track is UK-style.

What was Sunny’s reaction when she heard the song?

Harmeet: We got a nice peck on the cheek, which I feel is a good enough payment for us (laughs). She was happy yaar, she is travelling the world because of the song.

Do you hang out with her? Harmeet: I don’t know what you are hinting at (laughs). People think we are having an affair (after the success of Baby doll and Pink lips) but she’s happily married. She’s more like family now. We don’t go personal with her, ’cause she is very professional. Yet we have a great vibe with her. She trusts us. All her big numbers are coming to us. And when it comes to party songs, she is the hottest girl.

How did you think up Pink lips?

Anjjan: Well, Baby doll’s lips are pink, so…(smiles)

Harmeet: For Pink lips also, we went back to the couch in our studio at night once again! Hey, this is like a movie scene actually (laughs). Four guys who are lukkas don’t know what to do… one is sipping on tea, and the others are having beer, wine and milk, and thinking of one girl! On that day we were talking a lot of crap and then suddenly we zoomed in on her lips in the Baby doll video. There are a few great shots of her lips. And we were like, ‘The song is sitting right on her lips.’ And we thought, ‘Let’s pick that up and make a song on that.’

Anjjan: We come up with names very easily. It’s not like we are banging our heads against the wall.

Yo Yo Honey Singh and your group are ruling the party scene. Any competition there?

Anjjan: No competition. He’s like our brother.

What is your signature sound?

Harmeet: We want to be known for our versatility.

Why did you decide to compose for a Bengali film?

Harmeet: The producers came to us before Baby doll became big! One thing we have realised after studying the songs of RD Burman and Salil Chowdhury is that music means melody. But there are great music composers in Bengal. So we thought how do we bring our touch. Our style is versatile. The songs on the soundtrack of Kkoli are melodious and romantic.

Don’t you feel the Bengali audience would rather like to hear a club song like Pink lips?

Harmeet: In fact, only when they hear something different will they feel that we are not repeating ourselves. Calcuttans love good melodies.

fave composers

Anjjan+Harmeet: RD Burman, he’s so versatile. We love his melodies

Anjjan: MJ and Abba

Harmeet: Pitbull

Arindam Chatterjee

Which is your fave –– Baby doll or Pink lips? Tell t2@abp.in