Mumbai: Santacruz police Thursday arrested music composer Sachin Sanghvi (45) after a 29-year-old singer he befriended on Instagram filed a complaint accusing him of sexual assault by employing deceitful means, outraging her modesty, & giving her abortion pills without her knowledge when she became pregnant. The Bollywood musician has secured bail.

Sanghavi is known for hit songs in films such as Stree 2, Bhediya, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and the latest Diwali release Thamma.

The arrest was made following a complaint filed by a 29-year-old city singer, whom Sanghavi befriended on Instagram in Feb 2024. He was produced before the court and later granted bail.

The case was registered on Wednesday against Sanghavi by the Vile Parle police and subsequently transferred to the Santacruz police station. "Sanghavi was booked under the BNS sections 69, 74, and causing miscarriage without woman's consent," said DCP (Zone IX) Dikshit Gedam.

Sanghavi's lawyer, Aditya Mithe, told TOI, "The allegations in the FIR against my client are absolutely baseless and unsubstantiated. There are absolutely no merits to the case. My client's detention by the police was illegal and that is the reason why he was released on bail immediately. We intend to defend all allegations fully and unequivocally."

In the FIR, the singer stated, "I met Sanghavi via Instagram, where he praised my voice and offered opportunities. We exchanged numbers and began discussing work. He invited me to his Santacruz West studio where we met regularly in 2024. He claimed to have a troubled marriage, promising to divorce his wife and marry me, but later avoided my questions about marriage."

Composer Sachin Sanghvi composes, while daughter Tanishkaa lends the playback for a song in the upcoming Irrfan Khan-Radhika Madan film
MUMBAI MIRROR (March 20, 2020)

Among the several things that the Irrfan Khan-starrer Hindi Medium, one of 2017’s profitable and critically acclaimed films, left us with, is the climax song, “Ek Zindagi”, which celebrates the hopes and dreams of every child. The actor’s upcoming outing, Angrezi Medium, not only showcases a new version of the soulful track, but also reunites composer Sachin Sanghvi (of the famous duo Sachin-Jigar) with his singer-daughter Tanishkaa.

“It’s difficult for me to define how far I’d go for her, but I do know I’d do everything to see her happy. She was just nine when she sang in the first one (Hindi Medium) and it’s overwhelming to know that she’s doing it all over again,” beams the proud father Sachin.

The composer duo’s other half, Jigar Saraiya adds, ““Ek Zindagi”, has been the soul of the series, it defines the essence of the film and I’m happy that Homi (Adajania, director) and Dinoo (producer Dinesh Vijan) have retained it.”

Homi points out, “Chasing one’s dreams fearlessly is what 'Ek Zindagi' stands for.” Dinesh adds “I loved the original and I love this version even more. “Ek Zindagi, Sau Khwahishaa” (One Life, Hundred Dreams) reminds us to never let go of our dreams.”

The movie will see Irrfan as a doting single father who goes to bizarre lengths to fulfil his daughter’s dreams. Post the trailer’s release, a flood of messages from audiences across the globe requesting for the film to be released earlier have been coming in and the makers have done exactly this, brought forward its date with cinemas to March 13, 2020.

Jio Studios and Prem Vijan present Dinesh Vijan’s Angrezi Medium, a Maddock Films production, directed by Homi Adajania, which releases on March 13, 2020.

A playback singer opens up to BT about her unpleasant experiences with composers Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya
Soumya Vajpayee (BOMBAY TIMES; October 25, 2018)

A playback singer, on condition of anonymity, exclusively told BT how Bollywood’s noted composer duo, Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya, who have composed songs in films like Hindi Medium, Shuddh Desi Romance, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Meri Pyari Bindu, harassed her until a couple of years ago. Here’s a first-person account: “They are extremely shrewd and sly when it comes to maintaining a fake image, but they are far from what they appear to be. They keep making sexual moves on girls. They have tried putting their dirty hands on a lot of girls and exploited them. It all started in February, 2014. They would call me to their studio at late hours, just to make me sing a scratch, and despite knowing that I am not comfortable, they would continue to make moves and comments that would embarrass me. Since I was a newcomer, I would go and sing for them for free, only for the love of music.

Jigar would frantically call me at nights, wanting to “see me” or “meet me only for five minutes,” even after clearly telling him that I’m only interested in meeting him for music-related work. This was after a couple of inappropriate sexual passes he made at me. No one else in the industry has made me feel so small and insignificant as they have. Other people I have worked with have always treated me with a lot of respect.

Once I was in the recording studio with Jigar, and without wasting much time, he pulled me towards him and tried to kiss me, saying, “Whenever I see you, I feel like grabbing you and this doesn’t happen with everyone.”

I was sadly shocked at the hypocrisy of a married man, who otherwise keeps posting pictures of his wife and kid on social media. Such a bloody hypocrite!

Sachin also made inappropriate passes at me with the hope that I might just be ‘available’ for him. I remember once he said something that made me really uncomfortable. I was recording a song, when he stopped everything, looked at me and said, “You know if I ever watch you perform on stage, I would love to come up and make love to you, in front of everyone, while you would be singing. I don’t care if anybody is watching.” Disgusting isn’t it?

Jigar once asked me, ‘Hey what do you think of a threesome – Sachin, me and you, if you are up for it?’ I was so disgusted by that statement that I decided to never work with them, nor stay in touch with such sexual predators. It has almost been two years now, but I have heard similar stories from my friends/colleagues about them.”

BT tried reaching out to Sachin-Jigar for a response, but there was no reaction from their end till the time of going to press

The background and music composers of Ghoul and Stree discuss the challenge of composing for creepy scripts
Sonia Lulla (MID-DAY; August 27,2018)

It's almost discomforting to visualise the picture that Ghoul background score composers Naren Chandavarkar (left) and Benedict Taylor (down; right) paint, when describing the lassitude of the environment that inspired their work. Having worked on Netflix's latest Indian offering - the horror that stars Radhika Apte at its front - Chandavarkar says the brief given to them from the onset was to focus on building an environment, instead of resorting to jump scares to keep the tension up.

"A large part of the series is set in an underground bunker with no daylight and no sense of time. We were keen to create that claustrophobia and disquiet, with the score ticking away like some sort of a morbid heartbeat. There had to be the sense of impending doom and alarm."

As Taylor asserts that the "zone, pace, rhythm and mood" are kept at the fore when composing for a horror, it is evident by the duo's choice of words that a marked element of tenebrosity is up on offer. "Using scratchy synthetic sirens and martial drums, we created motivic elements. A siren like motif was created when we ran a synthesiser into a bizarrely fast tremolo, which resulted in a mosquito like, scratchy distorted buzz. We played with that pitch to create a rising, ominous and queasy sound. There's also [an element of] mythology [in the show], explaining the world of Ghoul, and the ancient Aramaic chants to summon it. We played with strange vocal techniques to arrive at a sound that worked for it," reveals Chandavarkar, adding that even Taylor's vocals were modulated for use in the score.

Interestingly, while a dystopian set-up is made evident owing to the methodology that the duo employed, another set of music composers, Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya (below) reveal that composing songs for a horror venture is starkly different from creating its score. The minds behind the soundtrack of Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor-starrer Stree, the composers point to the commercial angle of filmmaking that comes into play, which can even overpower the demands of the genre they are tackling.

"Music is the first part of the film that viewers are exposed to, and hence must be the defining factor that draws them to theatres," says Sanghvi. He adds that since they knew they needed to create tracks that could be played at discotheques and parties, they decided to tackle the theme of horror via the lyrics, not the music. "Having said that, we had to be certain that the songs could carry distinct contexts when seen in the film, and as solo numbers.

For instance, the lyrics of the song Milegi Milegi, which read: "Tujhe bhi milegi, mujhe bhi milegi", refer to the [paranormal] character in the film, but can easily allude to a lover a man seeks, when heard outside the theatre," Sanghvi adds. Having jetted off to Dubai to give their undivided attention to the creation of this soundtrack, the duo asserts that the commercial approach was essential since they had to draw viewers to watch the film featuring "young stars". "This is not a Shah Rukh Khan film where the music can be the secondary aspect. The songs had to serve as promotional material," Saraiya admits.

Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; July 13, 2018)

Unveiled yesterday, the latest track of Reema Kagti’s Gold sees leading man Akshay Kumar in an inebriated state, entertaining a bunch of foreign dignitaries. To add an element of peppiness to Chad Gayi Hai, music composer duo Sachin-Jigar reveal that they played with an array of glasses and glass bottles for the creation of the beats. While the use of props to make music is common, Jigar Saraiya says it was RD Burman’s Chura Liya (Yaadon Ki Baaraat, 1973) that served as their inspiration.

“He had used a glass [to create music in] the song. In fact, he often used real elements to make his beats. Since the song was about getting intoxicated, we decided to use liquor bottles to add a distinct effect.”

Interestingly, the duo didn’t settle for a limited number of bottles, but requested for as many as 100 to create sounds of different frequencies. “The bottles and cans were from different brands, which helped us procure the right sound. We also imported a few. Eventually, only a limited number was used for the final song.”

Rendered by Vishal Dadlani, the track has been arranged by Zakir Hussain’s brother, Taufiq Qureshi, and took 20 days to be crafted. Sachin Sanghvi says, “We have been working on the film for over 18 months and this song was a last-minute addition. We created four versions before zeroing in on this final cut. We wanted a modern sound that didn’t deceive the era that the film is based in.”

Director Kagti, he says, was particular to note that Dadlani sang in Bengali accent, in accordance with the character.

Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 15, 2017)

Sanjay Dutt is no stranger to the recording studio. In his career spanning over nearly four decades, the actor has displayed his singing skills quite a few times. But, in his comeback film, Bhoomi, it is no ordinary ditty — the actor has crooned to a song titled Jai Mata Di. “I am reciting shlokas in the song. I’m an ardent believer of Mata Rani, who has given me the strength to face hard times. When the makers came up with the idea, I was immediately sold,” says Dutt.

Composers Sachin-Jigar reveal that Dutt’s deep baritone made him an ideal choice for a song such as this. “We always wanted to use his voice in the track. His baritone is impactful and adds heft to any track,” says Sachin Sanghvi.

Despite his previous brush with music — his last being Samjho Ho Hi Gaya for Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) — Dutt doesn’t consider singing an easy job. “It’s slightly easier nowadays because there are instruments to enhance your tonality and voice. But during my early days, I’ve seen legendary singers like Lata ji [Mangeshkar] record songs in a single take. During Rocky (1981), I was in awe of her prowess. We are fortunate that our singers make us sound so good on screen. Singers and musicians need to be lauded more than they are today.”

He knows with the Omung Kumar-directed film, the stakes are high. “I feel fortunate that the audience cares so much for me. It’s because of my fans that I have overcome the hard times and am still around.”

Shilpi Sampad (MID-DAY; February 3, 2017)

"When she walked into the studio, we were hoping to get her to do a fair job at the least, leave the rest to us,” recounts Sachin Sanghvi, one half of music composer duo Sachin-Jigar, about Parineeti Chopra, who recently recorded her first Bollywood song. “But when she went behind the mic, we knew we wouldn’t need the help of technology.”

The actress plays a singer in her next, Meri Pyaari Bindu, co-starring Ayushmann Khurrana, and decided to attempt playback for an “unusual” track. “It is about a sweet agreement between two lovers who are parting, and carries the narrative forward. She sings for both, the guy and girl,” Sachin shares.

Although Parineeti is trained in Indian classical music, crooning for a film’s track called for flair and flourish. “She has sung bits for the film’s background score too. But for a full-fledged song, we decided to put her into a routine, where she had to devote at least an hour daily for riyaaz with us. That continued for over a month. Even when we weren’t available, she would do it on her own. Initially, she was scared about pulling it off, but with more practice and jamming, she grew confident,” reveals Sachin.

Unlike most cases, where actors turn singers for a lark, Parineeti was made to sing because it was central to the film’s story and her character, argues Sachin. “It’s not a gimmick. She has the dubbing experience, so she got the tonal expressions right. And since she is an actor, getting into the mood of the song was no big deal. Eventually, it was her preparation that impressed us. It [recording] was over in three hours flat. For someone who has never done playback, I think that’s quite something.”

Debarati Sen (BOMBAY TIMES; August 26, 2016)