Naseeruddin Shah with co-actors in Shoot on Sight

No, he didn’t give his studies a miss for music nor was there any fuss from the family when he chose to make music for a living. Headstrong and independent, Abhishek Ray has steered clear of all the standard coming-of-age pains simply because he’d rather find his calling in whatever comes his way.

So, no, the going hasn’t been tough for this 30-year-old music composer-arranger-singer who shelved his MCA degree to create a funky composition for Domino’s Hungry Kya? campaign or his symphonic scores for Ahista Ahista, the recently released Shoot on Sight starring Naseeruddin Shah, Sadie Frost and Greta Scacchi and Tamil hit Thoondil. With a CV packing in music albums with Gulzar, film scores and awards, meet yet another Bengali making a bang in the Bollywood music circle....

Abhishek Ray

You have cracked Bollywood, Kollywood and now the UK film industry. How did it all come about?

This year’s been pretty good and I owe it largely to my first album Udaas Pani with Gulzar saab. It was a blend of his poetry and lyrics and my music. After the album turned out to be a rage, people in Mumbai started taking me seriously. Bollywood came to me in the form of Haasil directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia for which I composed one song and the complete background score. After Haasil I did the background for the Abhay Deol and Soha Ali Khan starrer Ahista Ahista.

Then K.S. Adhyaman, for whom I had scored the soundtrack for Tumse Milke, invited me to Chennai to compose for his blockbuster Thoondil. I also sang three of the songs. The music became a big hit and the film ran for nine weeks this February. The moment you have a huge hit down south, which is financially big, Mumbai starts looking up to you. Singing and composing the title track of Shoot on Sight was a big high. Jag Mundhra (director) had heard my album Symphonies of the Taj from the Amazing India series and was keen on that kind of a sound for his film, which would blend Victorian and Arabic sounds, to make it palatable for the international audience.

So will we get to hear more of you now?

Maybe, because I’m awaiting the release of Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Shagird, produced by Adlabs, for which I’ve scored the entire music. It has jazz and blues influence to build a gentle and tragic theme around the dark film starring Nana Patekar and Rimii Sen. I’m also working on three other Bollywood films. One is Petrol Pump written by Chetan Anand and directed by his son Ketan. Shafquat Ali Khan of Fuzon will sing one song for me. I’m also working on a huge period film set in the 1950s, for which I’m trying to design a soundscape larger than life.

Was it hard trying to surface amidst a wave of new music makers?

I don’t feel threatened because I’m not yet slotted. My life has three parallel tracks with a non-filmy side of world music, jingles, TV serials and documentaries and then there are films. I still do one music album every year and the cream of serials. Music for a documentary is realistic while the sound for television would be more soloistic and not tense and cinematic like in films, which I would back up with larger-than-life symphonies. I inhale life and exhale music and don’t get inspired by music from here and there. In this process, I take up whatever good work comes my way. That’s probably why I like to write my own music and programme it myself instead of leaving things to an arranger to colour my creation. I prefer having an absolute command over my sound canvas.

But isn’t it difficult doing film work based out of Delhi?

I have my own studio set up in Delhi, built completely with money earned from the work I’ve done for television and jingles. I call it Angel Breath Productions and all my albums and some of my feature film tracks have been produced here. But now I have a double set-up in Mumbai and Delhi, so I keep travelling on a bi-weekly basis.

Any interest in Tollywood?

Of course, I’m looking forward to working for a Bengali film. I’ve explored so many music territories but not my own hometown. Being a Bengali, it’s a shame that I haven’t collaborated with a voice from Calcutta. This year I intend to travel to Calcutta and reconnect with a music venture.