Zakir Hussain scores background music for Nandita Das's Manto
7:44 AM
Tabla maestro has done the background score for Nandita Das’s upcoming biopic on the literary great
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 24, 2018)
After composing the score for Aparna Sen’s National Award-winning Mr. and Mrs. Iyer in 2002, Rahul Dholakia’s Parzania, another National Award-winning drama, and Sona Jain’s first feature, For Real, in 2009, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain returns to films after nine years to work on the background score of Nandita Das’s Manto biopic which features Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the titular role.
Nandita, who has been editing the film for the last few months and recently started working on sound and music, informs that she wanted the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee as he is rooted in Hindustani classical music but at the same time is very knowledgeable about world music and has performed with many international artistes. “Initially, the work had to be long distance as Zakir bhai lives in California. I am glad that at this time of the year he comes down to India for his shows. His passion, openness and his brilliance as a musician made it all very exciting,” she exults, adding that it didn’t take much convincing to bring the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award recipient on board.
“It was literally a message and a call, and of course, I sent him the rough cut of the film as well. I was a bit hesitant as our budget is so small, but that never came in the way,” she informs, admitting that she has thoroughly enjoyed watching the maestro at work with a bunch of young musicians. “And like every field has its own vocabulary; I have now learned lots of new words that musicians use,” she adds with a laugh.
Nandita recalls meeting the Ustad years ago. Her father Jatin Das is a celebrated artist who knew Hussain’s family and they often went for his concerts. “Considering we didn’t really ‘know’ each other, I was overwhelmed by his readiness to work on this project. After every piece, we would look at each other and gauge whether the other was happy with it. There were a few times when we had different ideas or even disagreed, but that in itself gave rise to something more creative, which often was a more interesting outcome,” she gushes, going on to rave about the tabla maestro’s great sense of humour, and that he is full of stories which she enjoyed listening to.
The actress who returns to direction 10 years after Firaaq points out that though Hussain is primarily seen as a percussionist, his understanding of pretty much every instrument is incredible. “I do not like overloading a film with music, so while this background score is fairly sparse, it plays a huge role in transforming the experience of watching a film,” she asserts.
Composer Sneha Khanwalkar, who has earlier worked on Dibakar Banerjee’s Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye and Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, has composed the music for this film as well.
Prod her on why didn’t she rope in Hussain to do the music as well, she says, “I had contacted her much earlier as we had needed some songs while we were shooting. We have bonded well ever since. Zakir bhai lives in California and I needed someone closer home (Sneha too lives in Bandra). I contacted Zakir bhai after the shooting was done, as we needed a solid collaborator for the background score,” she signs off.
After composing the score for Aparna Sen’s National Award-winning Mr. and Mrs. Iyer in 2002, Rahul Dholakia’s Parzania, another National Award-winning drama, and Sona Jain’s first feature, For Real, in 2009, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain returns to films after nine years to work on the background score of Nandita Das’s Manto biopic which features Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the titular role.
Nandita, who has been editing the film for the last few months and recently started working on sound and music, informs that she wanted the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee as he is rooted in Hindustani classical music but at the same time is very knowledgeable about world music and has performed with many international artistes. “Initially, the work had to be long distance as Zakir bhai lives in California. I am glad that at this time of the year he comes down to India for his shows. His passion, openness and his brilliance as a musician made it all very exciting,” she exults, adding that it didn’t take much convincing to bring the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award recipient on board.
“It was literally a message and a call, and of course, I sent him the rough cut of the film as well. I was a bit hesitant as our budget is so small, but that never came in the way,” she informs, admitting that she has thoroughly enjoyed watching the maestro at work with a bunch of young musicians. “And like every field has its own vocabulary; I have now learned lots of new words that musicians use,” she adds with a laugh.
Nandita recalls meeting the Ustad years ago. Her father Jatin Das is a celebrated artist who knew Hussain’s family and they often went for his concerts. “Considering we didn’t really ‘know’ each other, I was overwhelmed by his readiness to work on this project. After every piece, we would look at each other and gauge whether the other was happy with it. There were a few times when we had different ideas or even disagreed, but that in itself gave rise to something more creative, which often was a more interesting outcome,” she gushes, going on to rave about the tabla maestro’s great sense of humour, and that he is full of stories which she enjoyed listening to.
The actress who returns to direction 10 years after Firaaq points out that though Hussain is primarily seen as a percussionist, his understanding of pretty much every instrument is incredible. “I do not like overloading a film with music, so while this background score is fairly sparse, it plays a huge role in transforming the experience of watching a film,” she asserts.
Composer Sneha Khanwalkar, who has earlier worked on Dibakar Banerjee’s Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye and Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, has composed the music for this film as well.
Prod her on why didn’t she rope in Hussain to do the music as well, she says, “I had contacted her much earlier as we had needed some songs while we were shooting. We have bonded well ever since. Zakir bhai lives in California and I needed someone closer home (Sneha too lives in Bandra). I contacted Zakir bhai after the shooting was done, as we needed a solid collaborator for the background score,” she signs off.
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