Nested for two weeks at a Panchgani home, the crew members of Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha immersed themselves into telling the tale of “the extraordinary journey of an ordinary man”. The brief given to score composer Tanuj Tiku — who has films like Kaabil, Chhichhore and Ajeeb Daastaans on his resume — was simple.  “It was a slice-of-life film. Aamir sir likes Panchgani, which is why we worked there with a bunch of musicians. We played live, jammed together, and created the thematic music there. Within two weeks, all the thematic material and character motifs were readied,” says Tiku, further crediting Khan and director Advait Chandan for fostering an atmosphere of creativity.

“The culture at [Aamir’s production house], and Advait’s relationship with him, is noteworthy. There is always a plan in place, but the process is organic. We watched the film, and immediately decided to jump into the score composition. My team and I began to ideate, and we [primarily used] the violin, piano, and guitar. We’d perform the themes to him live, and the first few days were simply spent in sampling these [chunks], listening to music and creating different colour palettes for different characters and themes, based on the brief.”

Tiku was convinced that he wanted orchestral influences to be evident in the score in keeping with its theme. He admits that creating a score of over 19 minutes posed a set of challenges, especially since it had to be recorded live. “But the story is beautiful, and we wanted the score to complement it. The harmonic language, and the simplicity of the character is at the film’s core. There are musical layers that help narrate the story. Over 150 people have worked on the score, including 75 musicians from the orchestra. The music for the trailer was recorded in Budapest.”

In his first collaboration with Khan, Tiku deciphered that the “detail-oriented” actor is indeed a lover of music, and enjoys being part of the process of its making. “He loves the process of making a film in general. He’ll hang out with people [across all departments], share ideas, and then leave us to ourselves. He supports his team, coaxes them, and then lets them work on their craft. He really knows how to [extract] the best from his artistes.”