Ek purono masjide (sung by Nachiketa): It captures the theme of Zulfiqar… this struggle for power. The song sums up the film. The throne remains the same, only the people trying to occupy the throne keep on changing. Different people vie to sit on it. Faces change. They are all power-hungry people. Such people destroy the lives of others for personal gain. At the end they are drawn towards violence. It is a philosophical song. Maybe the murshid (named in the song) is singing the song after he has seen a lot of battle and bloodshed. It describes the power struggle which to the murshid or the spiritual person is meaningless or pointless. But petty humans, they’ll fight for power.
I have always been Nachiketa’s fan. This song is perfect for Nachida and I knew he could do justice to it. I am very close to Nachida. Khub sneho kore. I am his fanboy. I rate him very highly as a vocalist and composer. For the recording of the song, Nachiketa reached the studio before me in the afternoon, and I always come on time! He is hungry for work and he came with many ideas. He is a creative person and I feel it is important to give him the creative liberty if he thinks he can make the song better.
Qatl-e-Zulfiqar (sung by Timir Biswas): The film is about power play, revenge, vengeance and the song captures it. I asked Srijitda if he needed a song when Zulfiqar dies. Enemy camps are being created… a song that would capture the moment. He agreed immediately. The song is composed on a minor scale. I knew the song had to be hard-hitting, which is why it has a dynamic string section. A wound develops after Zulfiqar dies so I was thinking of that word… wound. It’s like time stood still. When a murder takes places, we expect someone or something to strike back…. That’s the kind of ambience I was dealing with. Thom thome abhawa… I remember I had just got married and I had to write this song at that time! Please understand… I was in a different frame of mind (goes LOL).
Ami aajkal bhalo achhi (sung by Anupam): Srijitda had been eyeing this song for a long long time now (smiles). I wrote the song in 2007 during Puja. This song is actually a song full of lies. The one who is saying, ‘Ami aajkal bhalo achhi,’ is actually not happy. So the opposite of what is said in the song is the real meaning. The song ends with a question mark and the last word ‘achhi’ is left unsaid. I wrote this song at night in Calcutta. I was expecting something from someone which I didn’t get at that time. I wrote the song on Saptami-Ashtami, and then suddenly on Dashami I get a greetings card! By then, I had written the song. I’m very proud of this song. It is also one of Srijitda’s faves.
Ghawrbari (sung by Anupam): This is a ballad, and one of my faves. It’s a song that describes a person’s helplessness, unhappiness. Lyrically, it’s a mature and serious song. I wrote it in 2014. The melody came first and then I started writing the lyrics.
Katakuti khela (sung by Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal): Srijitda is the additional lyricist on this song. Both of us wrote the song together in maybe one-and-a-half hours. He actually took time out from his schedule to write a part of this song. He was trying to make me understand the setting of the song. Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal have delivered the version for the film. There’s also my acoustic version on the soundtrack.
Arindam Chatterjee
Pictures: Rashbehari Das
