Shashwat Sachdev on juggling duties as score and soundtrack composer for hostage drama, Attack
Johann Sebastian Bach
German composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s age-old musical form, toccata, appears to have formed the crux of the John Abraham-starrer, Attack, composed and scored by Shashwat Sachdev. Toccata is a virtuoso piece designed to exhibit a performer’s touch and technique. “We created a metal version, another hip-hop creation, a western piano version, as well as an epic iteration of it,” says Sachdev, adding that while it took a fair share of convincing, he managed to win director Lakshya Raj Anand’s trust. “I was keen to [revisit] the toccata, because I wanted to create an epic soundtrack for this film. The music is larger-than-life, yet entertaining. Toccata is extremely expressive. It is a melody that begins at one point, but transforms into something else. The protagonist in the film also has a similar arc; one in which he transforms into a super-soldier.”
That Sachdev has attempted to do something out of the ordinary is evident from the trailer. A distinctive score enhances both the action sequences as well as the romantic scenes. “Lakshya told me to do as I pleased. That is also how a good collaboration should be — artistes should have the freedom to introduce their own colour into the movie. I wanted the music to be conversational,” he says of the film that, apart from Abraham, also stars Jacqueline Fernandez and Rakul Preet Singh.
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John Abraham headlines the film
Juggling duties as score and soundtrack composer enabled him to have a better understanding of the number of tracks that were essential. Asserting that he avoids playing the “number game”, he says not every romantic sequence warrants a song, and a skilled composer should be able to decipher whether or not one is needed.
“The process that I follow makes it easier for me to make such decisions. Right from the [script] reading sessions, I begin to react to the narrative. When I think about what I want to hear when a particular scene is being played out, I am able to create a suitable composition. That’s a conversation I have with myself. I ask myself what it is that I want to hear when two characters are interacting in a particular scene. That is how I work.” The actioner, set against a hostage crisis, is set to release on April 1.
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