Hours before a Fender & Friends gig at Someplace Else, The Park, on Saturday, and Ehsaan Noorani is listing the Top 3 Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy soundtracks. “Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Naa Ho and Rock On!!... no, I would also include Bunty Aur Babli, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Zindagi... actually each one has something special,” he smiles. And the same goes for their latest, Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do. A t2 chat with the music man.

 

The initial response to the music of Dil Dhadakne Do was lukewarm. Was that because it sounds different from the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy style?
There’s no S-E-L style so to say... the music of Dil Dhadakne Do is not like 2 States, and people get surprised every time, starting with Dil Chahta Hai till date… people say it’s not like the previous soundtrack and the next thing you know it’s under the skin and they can’t get it out of their system. A tune that slowly gets in will last longer. Good music has got depth.

This is the first time Zoya Akhtar has a Punjabi dance track, Gallan goodiyaan, in her film...
Yes, Zoya briefed us about the songs last year. The situations were well laid out, and she wanted a Punjabi song for the first time. And we composed all the other tracks and saved it for the last. I just got this idea driving to work and recorded on my phone and told Loy about it in the studio. The tune’s almost like a nursery rhyme. I felt there’s something about this ‘hello hello’ that’ll get to people. And sure enough it caught on. You’ll see each character’s personality come out in the song.

Did Zoya want a pop-rock sound for Dil Dhadakne Do?
She doesn’t like techno or trance. She likes songs that are melodic… retro yet cool. 

Pehli baar is like a retro rock tune and the opening few seconds of Pehli baar reminds one of MJ’s Billie Jean…
It’s done in a new way, but it’s got a certain 1980s vibe to it, you know Huey Lewis and the News, Prince.... As far as rock is concerned one heard the best songwriting in the 1980s. The songs were all catchy and had a lot of depth. Songs by Tears For Fears or Whitesnake were anthems. For Pehli baar, Zoya said that two people would be dancing to a song. I started playing a riff, Loy picked up the mic and started singing, and it fell into place. 

Girls like to swing has the electro swing thing going. Are you guys big on that?
We listen to everything. It’s about writing the song and one can dress it up in any way. Zoya came up with the idea of using swing jazz. That’s the first song we did. We didn’t go full-on electro, but kept it acoustic, with a lot of groove. We wrote the brass sections here and then sent it abroad to Chicago, for a 12-piece band from Chicago to play it, and also the horn section in the title track. They recorded it in Chicago and then sent it back to us. 

How does a Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy tune take shape? What’s the process like?
We jam, like a band works. We sit together and come up with ideas. Simplicity is the most important thing in songwriting. Little kids have picked up on these melodies. The chorus of the title track (of Dil Dhadakne Do) is very simple... it’s a common gospel-R’n’B kind of change. And it works! Both Farhan (Akhtar) and Priyanka (Chopra) are really good (they have sung the title track). We have worked with Farhan before, and it was fun. And anyway, Farhan sings in most of his films. It lends a certain authenticity to the film, like in Hollywood where the tradition is that actors sing themselves. 

Do you guys (S-E-L) argue a lot?
All the time, every day we fight! I walk out of the studio. I have done that many times (laughs). And then again when I come to my senses and come back, Shankar and Loy don’t ask anything… we just start from where we had left off. It happened with DDD also (laughs)! But we have so much fun making the music. It’s like a marriage... we spend more time with each other than at home. You have to overcome the hurdles… there are so many factors, each person has got so many facets that you are bound to have problems. But you overcome it. The music is worth it. 

Are you guys going through your best phase, creatively?
We went through a bit of a lull five years ago. Then we bounced back with Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. And with 2 States we rocked the charts. We are on top of our songwriting now, the 
creativity is flowing without any pressure. We are at a stage in our lives right now where we don’t need to prove anything. Now you write to leave a legacy behind. 

What about competition? Do you feel any pressure?
No, we are not here to step on anyone’s shoes. We have tremendous respect for everyone else. We love composers like Amit Trivedi, Pritam…

What about Honey Singh?
His songs are well-produced, the programming is fabulous. And his music is popular. People like it, so there must be something right about it. It’s all about emotional connect. I listen to everything but not Bollywood, apart from say A.R. Rahman or Amit Trivedi’s music. I don’t want to be influenced by my own industry.

When guitar legend BB King passed away, you tweeted that you had attended one of his gigs...
BB King is one of my biggest influences for sure. I heard him for the first time in 1979 on the album Live At The Regal, and I was blown away by his blues playing. BB King’s one note has a million mega tonnes of emotion behind it. That is the magic of BB King. A few notes can just make you cry. He played slow and beautiful and has influenced millions of guitar players, including me. And then in 1988, I saw him live at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland… it was fabulous. He has left a DNA of his playing in so many guitar players. Recently I bought four BB King albums (Live At The Regal and Live In Cook County Jail are two of Ehsaan’s fave BB King albums). I listen to music mainly on flights, and on the way to work (from Bandra to Andheri, at Yash Raj Films Studios).

Arindam Chatterjee
What’s your fave tune from Dil Dhadakne Do? Tell t2@abp.in