A Journey That Began With Panchamda - Spectrum The Tribune!!

All for the perfect score As music composer, Raju Singh’s 100th film Ek Villain crosses  the ~100-crore mark, the man behind many a background score steps  out to share notes from his journey that began as a guitarist with  Pancham da  Nonika Singh AS a kid, he would stand in front of the mirror with  a guitar in hand, and hoped to conquer the world  one day. Today talented and prolific music  composer Raju Singh may not be a household name  but beams, "Life is a party." Well, when your hundredth film goes on to rake Rs  100 crore at the boxoffice... one would expect it  to be! Only his bravado over the super-duper  success of Ek Villain, for which he has given the  background score, conceals his persistence and  hard work. It also hides the harsh reality that  till recently background music makers were hardly  given their due. Indeed, he agrees creating  background music for the film means you remain out of the limelight. However, background score is not restrictive as many would assume. Sure, one has to follow  the director’s vision. But, he informs that unlike music director of songs, a background composer  comes into the picture after the movie has been made. Thus, he is free to not only choose  any style or genre but also to play it in any which way as long as it doesn’t stand out like a sore  thumb. For instance, in the film Life In A Metro, Celtic and country musical influences  went into his compositions and for Chandni Bar, he decided to use Shubha Mudgal’s voice in  varied styles. For Punjabi films 1984 and Jatt James Bond too, this proud Sikh didn’t follow the  clichéd dhol-dhamaka path. To lend the right kind of sensibility to the film, he watches it many a times. He laughs "I often  lose count and that’s the reason I never make it to the premier shows." The musician, who began  his career as a guitarist in R D Burman’s musical ensemble, didn’t really plan his career. Certainly  Pancham da’s influence was rock solid and with unconcealed pride, he says. "I come from the  RD Burman school of music." Music, he tells you, doesn’t fall like manna from heaven. "It’s a natural process where what goes  into your head, what flows in your blood and what you receive as inputs, all mingle together to  breathe a new tune." Raju is not only a man of many tunes, but also many mediums and open to all kinds of work. So  if to begin with, he partnered with Adesh and composed for Malkit Singh, he later went on to give  music to a host of TV serials, many of which have stayed with viewers. Be it the album of Javed Akhtar’s immortal poetry or Parsoon Joshi’s lyrics in Big B’s voice…  working with bigwigs have been exhilarating experiences. Expectedly filmy duniya for him is a fairly  congenial place to be in where he has loyal friends like Mohit Suri. He interjects, "As long as  you don’t assume its carte blanche for working together, it will survive." Apart from Suri, who  he believes has an uncanny knack of spotting the right kind of tune, he also swears by yet  another close friend Sonu Nigam. He hails Nigam as a complete singer and he enjoys weaving  tunes around his melodious voice. By the way, Raju is a singer too and has sung for films like Dedh Ishiqya and Club 60. You bet he  would love to sing more and compose music for songs as he has done for some films, including  Raaz 2. But his ultimate dream is not to compose songs for a blockbuster but to render lilting  tunes on his guitar, an album that listeners would reach out to when their nerves are frayed. Film industry might occasionally be devoid of melodies, in his saat suron ki duniya, soulful melody  reigns first and last. After all the little boy has to fulfill the promise he made to himself. And what  better way than music, which as Ellen J. Barrier said, doesn’t need interpreters and translators, to  make the world swoon. Courtesy : http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140727/spectrum/enter2.htm