Dhruv Dhalla dreams to give devotional music a modern touch

Dhruv Dhalla

Dhruv Dhalla

I Grew up in a Delhi home where my grandmother was a staunch Sai Baba follower. So, every Thursday, there was a kirtan in the house and women from the neighbourhood would come over and sing bhajans," says musician Dhruv Dhalla, adding that he loved the energy that these songs came with. Once the Punjabi boy came back to India after studying music at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, he made a CD of all the devotional songs to send to the Sai Baba ashram.

The idea of making devotional songs relevant and acceptable to the youth continued to haunt him. So, last year, he released the Hanuman Chalisa on YouTube, which has a contemporary twist, what with electronic harps and pianos.

"The thing with the Hanuman Chalisa is that it can either be sung or be recited. I really like the way some pundits and purohits recite it in an ambient voice, almost making it sound mystical. So, I wanted to recreate that, yet give it another dimension." When we heard his rendition, we were struck by how powerful it sounded, lifting our mood to a lighter one almost immediately. "That's the kind of feedback I have been getting. One guy wrote to me saying he woke up in a bad mood, and felt instantly better after listening to this version," says the 38-year-old.

Dhalla followed up the Hanuman Chalisa up with a recording of the Sri Krishna Bhajan with singer Kavita Seth. "The arrangement is modern but the melody remains the same. And Kavita's voice adds a Sufi touch. So it just ends up becoming more loungey and hence, cooler." Dhalla, who regards himself as pretty religious, wants to now take these songs to a live audience, performed with a live orchestra and a choir that can do harmonies.

"I want the youth to listen to such music, as it's a great way to stay connected to our roots. It's a genre of music that hasn't become as popular or even actually got off the ground in India. And I want to do that for it."

Along with giving devotional music the modern spin it deserves, he has also been giving background scores for some of the indie movie gangs. He started his career by giving the background score for Khosla ka Ghosla and then followed it up with Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye. "Dibakar (Banerjee, the director) told me all I needed to know was how to 'spot'. What that means is that you need to know where the music needs to start in a scene and where it needs to stop," he explains. A background score composer also needs to understand the story well. "Yes, exactly. A quirk needs to be found. You have to take the idea and go further with it. You need to convey the emotion in a different way. A background score can be formed with just fingers tapping on a desk, or a clap. And that can make a scene better."

He has since worked on Tere Bin Laden, followed by Pravin Dabas' directorial debut Sahi Bande Galat Dhande and then Tere Bin Laden 2: Dead or Alive. For Coffee With D, a comedy revolving around an intense yet humorous interview with a celebrated news reporter and one of the world's most dreaded terrorist D, Dhalla has taken inspiration from movies such as Kill Bill. "When you compose background score, the canvas is much bigger so you can play a lot. But, it's like how Hans Zimmer said 'all ideas are good, but only one is tailormade'." Well said.