Samira Koppikar: Raags helped me depict the mood

Score composer of Saif Ali Khan-starrer Laal Kaptaan chronicles how her training in Hindustani classical and Jazz aided her compositions in film

Among the few female song composers in the industry, Samira Koppikar celebrates the fact that she was offered the chance to watch the raw edit of Laal Kaptaan before working on the score. "That was crucial since Navdeep [Singh, director] wanted a sound that was edgy. It's a revenge drama with characters that are extremely interesting. I took my lyricists along for the screening of the edit, and that gave us an insight into the motive of each character, based on their dialogues," says the musician, giving us a glimpse of how she weaves her score together using dialogues from the film. "Navdeep wanted music that was eclectic, melodic and slightly haunting. There is a reference of kaal, or death, in the beginning as well as in the end. So, we used that motive to make a song that pretty much became the theme of the film."

Koppikar credits her background in Hindustani classical, as well as her tutoring from Jazz musician Louis Banks, for enabling her to do justice to the Saif Ali Khan starrer. "I've subconsciously learnt raags, and that helped translate the mood, musically." That she had sole control over each song of the film's soundtrack was crucial here since the film "needed a defining sonic quality". "When songs [composed by different musicians] are put together, there isn't a sonic quality to the film. While I'm open to both methods, this one gives the soundtrack a certain character."

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