Shake your bootiya, Saturday Saturday, Jadoo ki jhappi, Chaar baj gaye… that’s Sachin-Jigar for you. The duo known for pumped-up music turned it on for the Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged (season five) at Calcutta Swimming Club last month. Before rocking the house, they said... 

What’s your fondest memory of Calcutta?

Sachin: My fondest memory of Calcutta is that of Babughat and the boat ride that took us under the second Hooghly bridge. Time just froze and I wish I could do that often.... Until that experience, Calcutta came across as too stubborn and there was too much traffic and angry men around. But suddenly the entire idea flipped and I’d never want to erase that memory. Another thing is, of course, the sweets. Every time we come here for recordings, the first stop is for music and the second is definitely at a sweet shop.

You are here for Royal Stag Barrel Select MTV Unplugged. What’s special about it?

Sachin: The whole ability to express freely without having the pressure of a script and to be free from prerequisites is the most special factor. The other factor is that this show allows the audience to find the other side of you. How Bollywood works is that when you have a hit song in a dance zone, then they expect more dance songs from you and tag you ‘dancemakers’. This concept of ‘Unplugged’ helps us break away from such impressions, and surprise the audience. 
 

You have party tracks and also soulful melodies like Issaq tera. Is there a particular kind of music you like to compose more?

Jigar: Not really, we are open to every genre. I didn’t learn music because I didn’t want to get limited to one genre. We don’t ever limit ourselves to any fixed genre but instead break these boundaries and mash them up. But we also make sure that whatever we come up with is at least bearable (laughs).

How has working with A.R. Rahman and Amit Trivedi shaped your musical style?

Sachin: Working with these composers, all of whom have their own distinct style and their own perception of what works with the people, we’ve acquired this sense of perception.
Jigar: We basically came in contact with their perception of the audience, which made our perception of the audience broader.

Sachin: We understood that the Indian audience likes a bit of everything on the platter, like a little bit of mishti doi as well as a bit of tadka dal. We knew we had to be versatile and deliver most flavours and not stick to one fixed genre.
 
Which is your favourite Sachin-Jigar composition?

Jigar: Saibo (Shor in the City).

Is there a story behind the song?

Sachin: We were not ready with a song and it came about in just seven-and-a-half minutes. We came across the word saibo, which is a Gujarati word, and thought it might click with many as sahebji or the beloved. And then the song happened.

Last year you took on two projects only: Badlapur and ABCD 2….

Jigar: We plan to do only two-three movies every year from now on, as we don’t want to do individual songs anymore but whole albums. We believe in doing albums as we also get to compose the background score for that movie. We also want to go beyond this idea of hit songs and compose music that stays there.
 
Your message for t2 readers?

Jigar: Keep listening to good music and keep promoting good music.

Which is your fave Sachin-Jigar song? Tell t2@abp.in