Revisiting a loved tale

As Tum Bin clocks 20 years, composer duo Nikhil-Vinay on the making of the romance saga’s soundtrack that found admirers in abundance

As Anubhav Sinha’s 2001 offering Tum Bin clocks 20 years this month, one half of composer duo Nikhil-Vinay say the revered 12-track album of the film was among the defining ones of their career. The recipe for crafting a sore that appealed to the younger generation, they say, was to employ electronic music, and stray from employing too many Indian tunes. 

“We knew the songs couldn’t sound very traditional. If you listen to the tracks, you’ll notice that they don’t have the tabla or dholak. They have a groove. In fact, even if we used Indian music, the rhythm was westernised,” says Nikhil Kamath.

The only exception that they made to the pattern was for the track Koi fariyaad, which needed to carry the weight of what the protagonist was enduring. “It was based on Priyanshu Chatterjee’s character. He had killed a man, and was now in love with his lover. The situations were challenging. So we needed a song, and a voice like that of Jagjit Singh, to do justice to it,” he says, adding that Meri duniya, and Chhoti chhoti ratein were among the hardest numbers to crack.

On the plate for the duo are songs with artistes like Reshmi Kumar, Tori Dattaroy, and Imran Belim. “We will also start working on Margaon: The Closed File, a mystery web series starring Suchitra Krishnamurthy, and Zeenat Aman.” A collaboration with the lyricist of Tum Bin, Faaiz Anwar, who has penned tracks like Aaoge jab tum from Jab We Met, is also on the cards.

Also Read: Anubhav Sinha expresses gratitude as his directorial debut Tum Bin

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