Salim of the Salim-Sulaiman music jodi speaks to Sandhya Iyer on the highly anticipated Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and how background music will always remain their first love
Melody is their middle name and with rich Sufi and Arabic influences, Salim-Sulaiman are undoubtedly one of the most interesting composers on the music arena at the moment.
You’ve always been choosy about the work you take on, but you have four high-profile films coming up, including Roadside Romeo, Fashion, Aashayein and the biggest of them all, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. It must be an exciting time for both of you….
Yes, we’ve always selected films with care. We take on about five films a year but itself amounts to a lot. Every film has about six songs which makes it 30 songs in a year. That’s a lot of work. As for the above films, they weren’t supposed to release in such quick succession. Roadside Romeo got postponed a bit, Aashayein was also delayed because of distribution issues. Fashion was pre-poned. The only film release as per schedule is Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
How different was it composing music for an animation film like Roadside Romeo?
The thing is that even though this is an animation film, it has been treated like a proper Hindi film. The only difference is that this has dogs as characters. We wanted to keep the ‘Indianness’ intact and at the same time keep it kid-friendly and modern. The whole idea was to have songs that are simple, urban…lot of repetitive hooks. We never imagined there would be so much detailing involved in the film.
You have been the ‘go-to’ guys where background music is concerned. But over the last few years, your jodi has found much success with music composing. So will background music be taking a backseat now?
Background music will always be our first love. People don’t realise but it is such an integral part of a film. In the West especially, it plays an even more important role – at least here we have a musical tradition and incorporate songs. That’s not the case with films in other countries. Which is why background music becomes the sound of your film…it is the soul of a movie. It has the potential to elevate a film’s story to another level altogether.
Background music has not really got its due in Hindi films…
Not anymore. With our films like Bhoot and so on, people do realise what it can achieve for your script.
Your success record as music composers has been very impressive… there’s been Dor, Chak De India, Kaal, Aaja Nachle – all very credible music. You must be happy with your track record..
Yes, we’ve mostly been successful, even though some of our films didn’t do well commercially. Like Aaja Nachle — even with a certain charm – was a very rushed product. I think Madhuri (Dixit) had given fixed dates and they had to finish the film in the stipulated time. The story was not locked. So both the production and the story were happening at the same time. There was really no time for much brainstorming or detailed planning. We too didn’t know the story…we were only given the idea. This was in sharp contrast to what happened in Chak De India. There, Shimit (Amin) narrated the whole script to us and at the end of it, I was so moved. Everything requires planning, so even though Aaja Nachle was a good enough film, I felt it had something missing in it.
Any film you regret taking up?
Chain Khuli Ki Main Kuli. I’m not very happy with that. We did it for a friend, Ken Ghosh but at the end of it, we felt we could have easily passed that film. Again, Neil ‘N’ Nikki didn’t do well commercially, but the songs were a hit –so we don’t feel bad about that one.
Fashion’s music is doing well, especially, Jalwa…
Madhur (Bhandarkar) was very open about the kind of music he wanted. Besides Jalwa…, there’s also Mar Jawan which is good – it has a lot of Arabic touches. After Fashion, there will be Rab Ne…which will be the icing on the cake.
Yes, fans have been dying to know what you’ve have done with Rab Ne…
All I can say is that the songs are very different. They have a rustic quality to them. There’re a lot of Indianness and simplicity in the songs. But I can tell you, we’re thrilled about the film’s title song. It’s our finest ever….like an iconic love song. When Adi (Aditya Chopra) said we’d be doing the music for his film, we were pretty shocked. We said, ‘Are you joking! You can get anyone to do music for the film. Shankar Ehsaan Loy, A R Rahman…anyone, then why us? He replied, ‘You have an untapped energy in you and I want that element in the film’
Did he immediately approve the tunes you came up with?
Yes, a couple of songs he liked instantly. There were some others which he felt we could work on more or give him more options. It was not a struggle at all.
So when is the music expected to release?
We’re looking at releasing it on Diwali day. I’m sure Adi has planned for something big.
What are your next few films?
We have Leena Yadav’s Teen Patti, Soham’s Luck, Shimit Amin’s next with Ranbir and Rensil D’Souza’s next starring Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan
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