The Archies sound engineer and supervisor Ankur Tewari explains how he hopes to keep viewers entertained as they gear up for his 16-song musical
The cast of the film at the launch of Sunoh
The transitive property in mathematics states that if a equals b, and b equals c, then a equals c. In cinema though, we wonder if this equality would be challenged. Zoya Akhtar never makes a bad film; musicals rarely work in Bollywood; Zoya Akhtar is making a musical. Given Akhtar’s past streak, and the fact that The Archies is set to serve as the launch pad for the kids of the industry’s biggest stars, it’s safe to suppose that the film would be delightful. How accurately though, does it fit into the defined template of a musical? Entirely, promises sound engineer Ankur Tewari.
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“We have 16 songs, some of which are as short as 20 seconds. A piece of poetry, or music, takes the story forward, and the idea was to do it in a way such that the viewer doesn’t notice that a song has begun. It needed to be done, organically, as though the audience was seamlessly flowing into and out of the dialogues and the songs. It needed to feel as natural as simply watching a scene, which is why we used music as a texture. We wanted to keep viewers on their toes—excited, and indulgent. We wanted to tease and flirt, but not overindulge. It’s interesting to see how Zoya has used the music.”
Previous successful collaborations would have, perhaps, contributed to their equation, with Tewari—who also supervised the music of Akhtar’s hit, Gully Boy—referring to the filmmaker as a friend who he “continues to learn from”. Tewari was elated to be associated with the project for more reasons than one. Apart from the fact that he had grown up with an appetite for The Archies comics—which have inspired this film—he would get the chance to explore the soundscape of the ’60s, the “golden period of music”.
“Because it is set in the ’60s, I dug into a few books and did some research. Since it was not set in [this day and age], we recorded every bit of the album, live, including the guitars, drums, horns, vocals, and harmonica. The idea was to record as if we were doing so in the ’60s. Even when we were choosing the mics and the hardware to record on, we picked those that would not make the music sound new-age. At the same time, we created a balance so as to ensure it doesn’t sound dated. Live-recording is a different discipline. One needs more practice, and rehearsal, because [all the artistes] play together. Even though some may find it cumbersome, you find yourself at an advantage when you play off [another artiste’s rendition].”
Zoya Akhtar
While the film’s soundtrack was composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Tewari also doubled up as the composer of the number, Sunoh. With the film set in an “Anglo-Indian hill station”, Tewari had to immerse himself in research work before creating the sounds. “The screenplay is extremely breezy. [Surfing through every page], we could come up with a gazillion ideas on what we could do with the music. It is reminiscent of simpler times. So, we knew that a lot of rock and roll, and jazz would be used. That’s where we were headed, as far as the sonic palette was concerned. We wanted it to reflect the energy of the kids, and the exuberance of youth. Also, because it is Anglo-Indian, we knew it would be nice to have English in it. So, apart from taking it to Javed sir [Akhtar], we got [musician] Dot involved for the English lyrics. It was amazing to see somebody as seasoned as Javed sir sitting with Dot, who is like a new kid on the block.”
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