Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee in KANKShankar Ehsaan Loy

lWas it a foregone conclusion after Kal Ho Naa Ho that a Karan Johar movie will have music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy?

We had no clue about that. Karan just called up and said that he was making his next movie and whether we would like to do the music. We of course said definitely. But yes, we have heard that from the time it came out in the media that Karan?s new film is called Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, several music directors have sent him demo tapes of the title track.

lWhat was the KANK music brief from Karan?

We had a long narration of the script along with Javedsaab. We tried to grasp the direction, the mood Karan was looking at. Within no time, we came up with the title track and got back to Karan. He loved it and that turned out to be a good stepping stone for the rest of the movie. But it was also a very long process from there on since it?s very difficult to please Karan.

lYou have used the prelude theme of the title song as a full-fledged song in Tumhi dekho na. Is that the logical evolution for a Bollywood soundtrack?

You know what, we had recorded a beautiful love song for that situation but it turned out to be a bit too frivolous. Then Shankar came up with this brilliant idea that we can use the piano theme of the title song as a separate song in itself and that?s how Tumhi dekho na was born. It?s not something new we have done. We used same themes in different songs in Kal Ho Naa Ho and Bunty Aur Babli. But the KANK use has been particularly magical.

lAre those Chinese words in the harmony section of Tumhi dekho na?s interlude?

No, no (laughs). We just gave Caralisa the basic tune and asked her to sing some gibberish. That gave a very different flavour to the interlude. It is the one pressure we take on ourselves to work very hard on the interludes and not just the lines. The song should sound good in totality, not in parts.

lWhat made you invite Fuzon singer Shafqat Amanat Ali to sing Mitwa?

We wanted to use different kinds of voices for the songs. Karan suggested that there was so much talent across the border. We have been big fans of Shafqat for a long time. When we approached him, he said he definitely wanted to be part of the soundtrack. There is a shortage of good male singers in our industry and Shafqat brings that different texture to the song.

lWhere?s the party tonight has an It?s the time to disco hangover. Is that deliberate, like the Kuch kuch hota hai interlude in Suraj hua maddham?

When we did It?s the time to disco, everyone said it?s like Koi kahe. Now everyone?s saying Where?s the party is like It?s the time to disco. See, you can?t do a Koi kahe for Karan Johar. It?s his personal choice of having sweet sounding melodies irrespective of the genre of music. Also, it?s sung by the same singers ? Shaan and Vasundhara Das ? so the possible similarity. But we feel the songs are very different and the kids have already got hooked to it.

lKaran Johar and Farhan Akhtar are two people you have worked with more than once. Are they two very different musical people?

Yes, very much. Karan loves melodies. Farhan likes melodies too but he wants his music to be cutting edge. So he pushes us to try very different things. Also there?s the fact that Farhan is a musician himself, he plays the guitar. So the musicality in him is a lot more. We actually keep one keyboard for him in the room with which he messes around all day and finally comes up with some sound he likes and we use that in any of the songs. It?s fun working with both, though.

lSo, how?s Don?s music coming along?

It?s coming along very well. We have used two of the original songs in Khaike paan Banaraswalla and Yeh mera dil. Of course, we have done new versions of them and the two can?t be compared anymore. We have also done four fresh tracks for the movie.

lThen you are also doing Nikhil Advani?s Salaam-e-Ishq. Is he a man of music away from the Johar camp?

Nikhil is very much into music. His music sense has a very different soul. Salaam-e-Ishq is a romantic musical and has a lot more songs. Then there?s Shaad Ali?s next, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. We are doing six songs for that. We really feel very honoured to work with the best minds in the business.

lYou are doing some very good work but which, do you think, is the next Kajra re?

You know what, when Kajra re came out on CD, it was not received well but when it came on TV it became an absolute rage. We don?t know, but maybe Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna?s Rock ?n? roll soniye which has Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan together again after Kajra re may just be the next big song.