Sandesh Shandilya has composed and co-produced a world music symphony that will premiere in Cologne
Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 23, 2015)

For the last three years, Sandesh Shandilya who has composed the music for 27 Indian films, including Chameli and Jab We Met, has been missing in action. He had a release last year, Rang Rasiya, but he'd worked on that film five years ago.

Now, Mirror has learnt that Sandesh was working on a world music symphony, Search For Buddha, which will have its world premiere in Cologne, Germany, on February 7, followed by a show in Bielefeld the next day, and then a UK premiere in London. "We plan to have shows around the world, in India too," he says.

The composer admits that he always wanted to create music with a message of world peace. Buddha became the symbol after he took a course in Vipassana Meditation which put him in touch with his inner self through 10 days of silence. "I learnt that by conquering anger, lust, greed, fear and attachment, you can be at peace with yourself and bring peace to the world," he recalls.

Buddha's inner journey will be traversed by 60 musicians from Germany, Hungary, UK Japan, the Middle East, South Africa and India, 40 members of the WDR Funkhaus Orchestra and the WDR Radio Choir and five soloists, including Rhani Kriya, Strings' percussionist on the drums and Markus Stockhaousen, his co-producer, on the trumpet/flugelhorn. "During rehearsals I noticed that the music sounded western classical so I decided to draw musicians from all over," he says.

Sandesh has also arranged the music with Christopher Masand and will do some folk-singing. The symphony will be conducted by Wayne Marshall, but some day soon, like Zubin Mehta, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Illayaraja and Pyarelal, Sandesh would like to conduct too.

All the musicians have been gifted a CD of Rang Ransiya. "Marcus introduced me to the WDR Funkhaus Orchestra, they loved the symphony and when they quizzed on my previous work, I played Rang Rasiya for them which mesmerised them," he reminisces.

Will this new journey bring an end to his Bollywood tenure? "I'll do only two-three shows a month which means I'll be in India for 20 days," he asserts, saying he's working on iPad with Road to Sangam director Amit Roy, Satra Ko Shaadi for John Abraham, Time Out and Sudhir Mishra's Aur Devdas. "Aur this Devdas will have a contemporary score," he says.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 16, 2014)

Rang Rasiya is Ketan Mehta's biopic on Raja Ravi Varma, the celebrated 19th century Indian painter known for his depiction of scenes from the epics, The Ramayana and The Mahabharata and for giving a human face to gods and goddesses.

In the film, Ravi Varma undertakes a journey in his quest for a muse. It began from Baroda, coursed through the deserts of Jaisalmer, took a tour of Khajuraho temples before ending on the ghats of the Ganges in Benares.

His travels are explicitly detailed in the script and Mehta wanted to recreate the artist's trek through a song. "In his brief to me he mentioned a phrase which was common in Sufi poetry a 100 years ago. Anhad naad jaga de is a prayer to the lord for a muse," recalls composer Sandesh Shandilya, explaining that 'anhad' means limitless, and 'naad' is a sound created by God, present everywhere yet only visible to the inner eye, which can inspire an artiste to achieve creative highs.

With the phrase as the starting point, lyricist Manoj Muntashir came up with a song which evocatively describes the painter's struggle ... Main dhoondun tunjhe galli galli, main dhoondun tujhe charon aur, o mere mann ke chor. Har jog mein tu, sanjog mein tu, main tujh mein, aur mujh mein tu, ab chahe jitna mere mitwa, aaja aa jee bhar ke jag-jhor, jhor. And ends with a prayer to the Lord, Anhad naad jaga de, jaga de re.

Sandesh set it to tune using a century-old harmonium, a sarangi and the Middle-Eastern wind instrument called bahu to recreate the rustic melody of the times. "Anwar Khan, a Sufi folk singer from Rajasthan, and his team also brought with them the sound of the kartal," he says.

Anwar and his troupe were flown down from Rajasthan and their first few days in Mumbai were devoted to listening to the song, feeling it and letting it seep into their souls. "These folk singers are not used to the regimental ways of film recording. I didn't want them to sacrifice their khulapan, their freedom of self, so we gave them time to adapt to our ways before taking them to the recording studio where Kailash Kher, a modern-day folk singer, joined them. Their jugalbandi makes Anhad naad jaga de unforgettable," he says.

It took a month for the song to take shape.

It was recorded three-four years ago. "We remixed it again because the technology at our fingertips today is far superior to what we used back then, and it's just fresh and universally appealing going by the reactions we've been getting from all over the world," he smiles.

Sandesh admits that it was worth devoting six months exclusively to the film's score. "It was like I took a dip in this ocean of music and emerged from it after six months. I have no memory of the struggle, all I have acquired from this sublime experience are eight beautiful songs, five of which you will get to see and hear in Rang Rasiya. It's like a miracle of sorts," says the awed composer who believes that Rang Rasiya is his biggest film of the decade.

He remembers how impressed he was with Milos Forman's Amadeus that depicted the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and believes that this film would have a similar impact on the audience . "Everyone should watch this film at least once," he asserts.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 28, 2014)

Five years ago, when Ketan Mehta approached Sandesh Shandaliya with the script of Rang Rasiya, the inspired music director instantly came up with a mukhda using just the two words of the title.

The connect was immediate. As Sandesh points out, the film's artist hero, Raja Ravi Varma, was from his community, his world. His story is that of every artiste. The meditative state, the creative flourishes, the lifelong struggle to make his art reach out to the world was something he could easily relate to and empathise with. "It was almost like seeing my life unfold before my eyes even though before I started work on the film, I was clueless about this man who hailed from another century. It is a beautiful story and it offered me a huge canvas and a gamut of emotions to play with," he smiles.

Thereafter, Sandesh collaborated with Manoj Muntashir to come up with the rest of the lyrics."Today, Manoj is well known in music circles for the Ek Villian chartbuster, Galliyan. Back then, he wasn't a familiar name. But the song he presented us with, flirting with words and hues, was poetry at its best. We didn't feel the need for even minor changes," he recalls.

Rang Rasiya was recorded five years back, and the delay, he insists, wasn't disheartening. Being a period film, it will never look outdated. And as Ketan pointed out to him, the extra time gave him an opportunity to improve on this song and five others.

"We mixed this track again early this year. With more sophisticated software at our fingertips today, it's definitely sounding better," asserts Sandesh.

He insists that every artiste-- be it a singer, composer, actor or writer--like a child starts from zero. "We create something out of nothing and need someone to inspire us. I found that man in Ketan. Bahut hausla diya hamein unhone," he reveals, adding that as an artiste he is not insecure or afraid of criticism. "I don't overthink. I just go with my heart rather than follow my head."

In this case however, since the film is a fictionalised biopic of a legendary 19th century artist who left an indelible mark on Indian art and culture with his paintings of Gods and Goddesses inspired by his muse and lover, Sugandha, a certain amount of research was involved. "I discovered that in the late 1800, the British era, Indian folk and classical music blended beautifully with Western classical strains. You'll see this fusion in our music too," says Sandesh.

Also, since Raja Ravi Varma was from South India, they used a lot of Kerala's local traditional instruments which are played during festivals and by wandering minstrels. "You can hear the Panch vadiyam in this song," he promises.

Sandesh is best remembered for the evergreen Piya Basanti Re even though he has scored hardcore commercial hits like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham's You Are My Soniya, and Chameli's Saat Samundar. For him music has no boundaries, classical flows into the commercial and back.

"The idea is to create variety. Monotony bores you and others," he reasons. "Sunidhi Chauhan and Keerthi Sagathia's melodious, romantic Rang Rasiya is undoubtedly the best song I have composed to date."

The Randeep Hooda-Nandana Sen starrer is releasing this Diwali, along with Shah Rukh Khan's home production, Happy New Year, and Indra Kumar's Rekha starrer, Super Nani. Will he, with his songs, be able to draw people to the theatres? "The effort always is to reach out to the maximum number of people and this kind of a film is Ketan's forte. It's a bhandaar of knowledge for both the young and the young at heart. I'm sure even those who don't see it today, will see it tomorrow. It's the kind of album you'd want in your library," he says.

Rang Rasiya is the first song to be released online. And the response, says Sandesh, has been encouraging. "I hope this is just the beginning of a colourful musical journey," he smiles and croons...

Lal, peele, hare, champai, surmayi
Ek tu hai magar tere rang kai,
Mohe rang de re, rang de re...

Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; April 11, 2014)

Ustad Hamid Ali Khan has sung a song for Vijay Raaz’s directorial debut, Kya Dilli Kya Lahore. This is the first time that he has recorded a track for a Bollywood film. Belonging to the Patiala gharana, Ustad Hamid Ali Khan is the son of Ustad Akhtar Hussein Khan and the youngest brother of singers, Bade Fateh Ali Khan and Amanat Ali Khan.

Dealing with the subject of Indo-Pak partition, Kya Dilli Kya Lahore is an upcoming film set in 1948; it is being presented by Gulzar and stars Vijay Raaz, Manu Rishi, Raj Zutshi and Vishwajeet Pradhan in lead roles.

Sandesh Shandilya, the film’s music composer, says, “We recently met Ustad Hamid Ali Khan at an event that was held in Amritsar. When we requested him to record a song for our film, he readily agreed upon hearing that Gulzarsahab is associated with the project. It turns out that both of them share a very good equation. Soon after, he came down to Mumbai for two days and recorded the song, Kaleje mein lag jaati toh kya hota. It’s an emotional song that advocates putting humanity above border scuffles.”

Shandilya adds that since the film revolves around Indo-Pak relationship, they have roped in singers from both countries for the film’s soundtrack. “There are four songs in all; while Sukhwinder Singh and Papon have recorded one song each, the other two have been sung by Pakistan’s Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan and Ustad Hamid Ali Khan respectively,” he says.