The setting: Sula Vineyards in Nasik. The stage: Near the vineyard. The man on the stage: Amit Trivedi. Yes, wine flowed freely but it didn’t take wine to get intoxicated when the Bollywood composer-singer started his set at the 11th edition of SulaFest on February 4. “This is my first time here. I’ve heard a lot of amazing things about SulaFest. The energy, the crowd and the overall vibe of the festival, especially with the international lineup…. I am most excited about my set,” he told t2 before his 90-minute gig. Want to read the full conversation? Here you go!

Do you like music festivals?

It’s an absolutely different experience from composing music in a studio. It’s a festival and it’s about making people happy. There’s so much to explore and a variety of music to listen to; you can choose your favourite artistes and enjoy their performances. You can eat and drink and be with your friends, having a ball of a time. It just makes you very, very happy and this happiness is something that we all need at the end of the day.

Performing at a festival vis-a-vis one-off concerts, how different is the experience?

It’s very tough because we usually play a two-and-a-half-hour set and here I have only 60 minutes (he went on to sing for around 90 minutes). It’s very difficult to cut it short. So choosing the right songs for only 60 minutes is a terrible task! When we do a regular set, the crowd enjoys every bit of it. I have a lot of songs, and picking the best ones is very challenging for the entire team.

Choosing musicians is another difficult task….

I choose the best people for their respective jobs. Whether it’s a guitar player or a drummer or somebody who plays the sarangi… whatever instrument they’re playing, I choose the best guys in the business. Also, I check their temperament to see how they gel with my kind of music. That’s all I see.

You’ve delivered one hit after another in Bollywood. What’s the secret to coming up with a track that’s sure to do well?

I don’t think like that. It’s the last thing on my mind. I just follow the director to create the music for the situation at hand. And if it turns out a hit, that’s great! Because everything cannot be a hit. If you’re dealing with a particular situation and a character and vibes… there are so many layers. I just try to follow my instincts and heart, and honestly give my best to whatever I do. Whatever happens later, it’s not in my hands. When they lap it up and love it and enjoy it, then I’m like: ‘Ah, good, yeah achha hai.’ But I don’t actively start off with the thought ki, yeh mujhe hit karna hai.

Tell us about your writing process...

I’m a film guy, not to say that I’m filmi but that I work with cinema. The writing process starts from the narration process or the script that I read. I try to gauge the mind of the director and understand his vision of what he needs... I try to read his mind and then I start thinking and start writing. Again, the thought process is the jamming process between the director, lyricist and me. The three of us jam. Sometimes the melody comes first, at times the lyrics… whichever works for that particular situation. And that’s how we start working.

What was it like working with Aamir Khan, who has acted in and produced Secret Superstar?

It was awesome. It was an exceptional experience. He is truly one of the finest we have today. There’s a reason behind it — he’s truly a perfectionist. Because of the sheer experience that he has... I’m just nine or 10 years old whereas he is 25 years old in the industry. He was like a mentor and it was a beautiful experience for me.
 
That brings us to the question of how you choose or reject films.

If I reveal this, nobody will come to me! Mostly, I reject a film because of the time factor. Scoring a film is a lot of work, it takes a lot of time and a lot of thought and a lot of creativity. You can do maybe three or four films in a year. If more films come in, I have to say ‘no’ 90 per cent of the time. Then, 10 per cent of the projects don’t excite me. But this is something rare; mostly it’s the time factor.

Who are your influences?

I’d love to learn some jazz from Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin… the way he does vocals. Some electronic musicians, like Brian Transeau, excite me for the way they produce music. He’s known as BT.

We will hear your music in Pad Man (releases on February 9). How did you come on board?

It’s based on one character... a true event, the person who actually tried to manufacture pads for his wife. It’s his story, and everything revolves around him... the songs, the music, the background music. Everything revolves around just one particular character, his journey, his life, his ups and downs, his aspirations…. It’s all depicted in the music that I’ve created. Not just the music, but the score as well. When you watch the film, you’ll know.  

The current music scene relies a lot on automation and VST (virtual studio technology). Do you feel that robs music of its human touch? How do you arrive on the balance between VST and real instruments?

Auto-tuning is used only for a singer and it’s also used for the best of singers, whether it’s Sunidhi Chauhan or Aditi Singh (Sharma) or anybody for that matter. If there was auto-tune in Kishore Kumar’s time, he would’ve used it as well. It doesn’t take away from talent or calibre. It should sit perfectly with the melody and music, pitch-wise... sit melodically with the track. It doesn’t have anything to do with besurapan. That’ how I use it, I don’t know about others. I prefer working with fantastic singers. So many singers that I work with, they’re damn good! They don’t need auto-tuning. We just use it for a nice vibe and sound.

Some people in the industry use auto-tuner for people who are not able to sing very well. They are not great singers, but they have very good tone. Even I’ve done that. Their voices and textures are fantastic, but they can’t sing too well. For them, we use auto-tuner and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

At the end of the day, the song and the music have to work and have to connect with the audience.... Whether you use a computer or technology or auto-tune or go live, whatever all of that jazz is. At the end of the day, it has to bloody work! If it doesn’t work, then it makes no sense.

What else are you working on?

This year is packed until December, with films coming out back-to-back. As of now, I’m working on Blackmail, Raid and Bhavesh Joshi. With these three films to work on, I’m just going kind of mad!

Amit’s 6 on the t2 spin list...

• Manmarziyan (Lootera)
• Pashmina (Fitoor)
• Meethi boliyan (Kai Po Che!)
• Ha raham (Aamir)
• Jugni (Queen)
• Pareshaan (Ishaqzaade)

Nikhil Sen
Amit Trivedi is my favourite musician because.... Tell t2@abp.in