Naren Chandavarkar: We did not have to follow the works of other composers

Benedict Taylor and Naren Chandavarkar

Adding music to a tale of a ghazal singer with kleptomaniac tendencies in Abhishek Chaubey's 'Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa' (Ray), composer duo Naren and Benedict wanted to arrive at a score that didn't overpower the conversations between its prime characters, deftly played by Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao. Employing tunes of the tabla and the harmonium, they agree that the final product was enhanced by the performances, and the manner in which Chaubey weaved the story. "Each of the five stories of the anthology is an interpretation of Satyajit Ray's work. So, we did not have to follow the works of other composers. Our aim was to serve Abhishek's vision and story. Both Benedict and I are influenced by the music in his [Ray] films, so we did not have to go out of the way to focus on his music sensibilities while working on the project," says Naren Chandavarkar.

The Indian-British duo is a long-time collaborator of Chaubey, having previously worked on the director's acclaimed 2016 offering, 'Udta Punjab', apart from scoring for movies like Anand Gandhi's 'Ship of Theseus', Amit Masurkar's 'Newton', and Anurag Kashyap's 'That Girl in Yellow Boots'. A project like 'Ray', they say, served as an opportunity to tackle a quirky score, a genre they haven't attempted before. "While we don't have a defined sound, I'd like to think that we have a defined approach. The way Benedict and I think about the music, and how it will work in the film, our interactions with the directors to create music that is best suited for the movie, all these are parameters that lead to creations stylistically different from one another."

The distinction that they introduce in their scores is up for scrutiny as the duo's last release, the Vidya Balan-starrer 'Sherni', was unveiled only weeks ago. Far distanced from the trinkets associated with commercial fare, the movie - another Masurkar offering - unfolds in a listless manner, like a documentary. Were the composers challenged in lending music to a film that lacked dramatics? "The manner in which the film unfolds is what guided us. Amit had established that he wanted everything to boil down to the story-telling, and wanted us to think about that alone. He did not want us to be bothered about the size of the audience that would consume the film, but only how well the music could enhance the narrative. Our job was to make music that supported that decision," says Benedict Taylor.

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