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In Tune With Vishal-Shekhar
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 Bollywood’s most happening composer duo Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani have constantly created music that has hooked the audience, right from Salaam Namaste to Sheila Ki Jawaani and now the latest Chammak Challo. Here's all you wanted to know about Vishal-Shekhar, Vishal's band 'Pentagram', the current independent music scenario in India and lots more....
- What do you think about the current independent music scene in India?
Vishal: Independent music in India has hit a stage where what you call critical mass. From now on you’ll actually see it explode. Indian bands have already started to go abroad. In fact, my band Pentagram was the first band to go abroad and play at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK in 2005. A lot of other bands have followed and reached abroad now. So, lots of great stuff is happening in the English and Hindi independent scene. In today’s time, I think Ankur Tewari’s music is fabulous. Also, Raghu Dixit has really exploded in the UK now. So, I think music is finally taking the right direction. All the stuff that people have heard like indipop, etc a lot of it was all pretty much junk that came out to make quick money. Legitimate Indian independent music is finally making itself known now.
- Where do you see independent music going from here?
Vishal: I think its going to be the next big thing, honestly. Shekhar and I, have made great plans for our record label as well as for ourselves as artists. Of course, we’ll continue to be Bollywood composers but we’re also looking at ourselves as artists on a global scale. That’s where its going to go.
- How did the 'Vishal-Shekar' music label come about?
Vishal: We were actually looking for artists who could write, produce and compose their own music, basically someone who’s a complete artiste. We found all of that in Raghu and that's why we started the label. We launched him under our label. In the last four or five years, we haven’t been able to find any real artist who can fulfill that vision. But, we’re in the process of locating them to various means.
- How do you manage to take out time for your band from your busy schedule?
Vishal: You just need to get the right people to do the right job. If Shekhar and I, try to run the label we’ll end up killing ourselves and each other. We’re busy composing music and performing. So, we find people who love and understand music and get them to do the job. A person needs to have true love and understanding for music, only then can he be a part of the label. That’s the main fault with all the record labels in India currently. They’re all businessmen, none of them are musicians.
- What kind of music did you grow up listening to?
Shekhar: I’m from a business family and music for me was just a hobby. But, my dad was very fond of music and he loved playing the accordion. We soon decided to buy a piano and I then started making some music just for fun. I was about 16 or 17-year-old. A few months later, one of my friends who was working with MAC Films told me why don’t you do some jingles and I said I don’t know how it works. So, he insisted that I try it out and that’s how I got introduced to the commercial scene of music. I started doing some ads. Mukul Anand soon got in touch with me and wanted me to prepare tracks for Dus. I did two tracks for the film, but unfortunately those tracks never released and then he passed away. Later, his assistant Raj Kaushal was making Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi and he asked me to compose and sing some songs for him. That’s when I met Shekhar at the studio one fine day and we decided to work together. We already knew each other, but it never struck us that we could work together.
- When was the turning point in your lives?
Shekhar: Vishal and me, we’ve never gone and approached people for work. After Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, we chilled for a year and a half. We were busy setting up our studio and we never bothered to go and meet people. And then we finally got Jhankaar Beats. I think, post Jhankaar beats, we took off really well. That changed our lives completely.
- You also sing for other music directors, why is that?
Vishal: For me, music is an ocean and I’m a fish. So, I swim in it. Whether, its electronic rock with Pentagram or Bollywood mainstream with Vishal-Shekhar or whether, its independent music or collaborating with other music directors, I’m open to doing all of it as long as its fun. I don’t want to go to an office wearing a shirt and a tie and I can do anything to avoid that.
- Do you and Shekhar have arguments while composing?
Vishal: Right in the beginning, we discuss all of it. But, yes I’ve often heard that composers have arguments over various things while working together. In our case, we both compose so, we just throw ideas at each other. We even modify each others ideas and it's good fun. There are times when we disagree with each other's ideas, but then we discuss it because the objective is the song at the end of the day. People hearing it should love the song, get up and dance when they hear the beat and remember it all their life. So, our objective is common and we work it out till the time both of us don’t agree.
In fact, it’s not just the two of us, there’s also an arranger Abhijeet Nalani and we take his opinion very seriously. Usually, it’s the director who works with us, whether it’s Farah Khan, Anubhav Sinha or Siddharth Anand, it’s a jam. When everyone’s in the room, we throw ideas at each other. As long as everyone likes it, you can be sure that the audience will like it too. So, we work until we arrive at something that everyone in the room loves.
- What inspires you to come up with such great music?
Vishal: To a large extent, all the music you hear is growing up in your head. Also, Shekhar is a very studied musician, so it's not just me working hard, but also Shekhar who comes up with excellent music. The directors who work with us, all of them love music and know music. Conversations and ideas define what you want and what direction you need to go in. There’s a very strong vision that comes in from a director and to me, to fulfill the identity of the film is what drives you in a particular direction. To that we bring our own flavour of fun, youth, madness, love, etc.
- How do you guys cope with competition in today’s time?
Shekhar: There's no competition for us. We just have fun, make music and enjoy it. I think, people who are blessed, automatically get an opportunity to do some great work. No random person can become a music director. Songs have to come to you.
- Which are your favourite bands in India?
Vishal: There are so many genres and styles, but if I have to choose my favourite I would say Raghu Dixit. He’s fabulous. Apart from him I really like what Nikhil D’souza does. I also love bands like Tough on Tobacco and of course, my all time favourite Pentagram. On the heavy metal front, I love Scribe, it's just fabulous. Also, The Bicycle Days is pretty good. They’ve got brand new sound and great vibe. I was also very fond of Supersonics from Kolkata and we were quite heart-broken when they broke up. So, these are a few bands I'm fond of.
- In which of your compositions till date have you experimented the most?
Vishal: I think songs from Tashan were pretty experimental. It was like a Indian folk mix with electro rock, etc. So, that was pretty experimental for us. But, we’ve also done other crazy things like Sheila Ki Jawani and Chammak Challo which became a mass hit. For us, Sheila Ki Jawani was experimental because basically it’s a street band, like a Ganpati band playing the rhythm. We actually took one of the bands from those pandals to the studio. Then, we cut the loops, produced the song and wrote the song around that. So, this was a pretty new way of doing it.
Shekhar: We keep trying crazy stuff. On the Ra.One soundtrack, we worked with Akon on a couple of songs, again which was something completely new. So, we’re always trying to figure something new.
- What are you guys currently working on?
Shekhar: We're now busy with Dostana 2, Student of The Year, Kahaani and Shanghai.
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