Music
How indie crossed over to mainstream in the Gehraiyaan soundtrack
Music producer OAFF and singer-songwriter Ankur Tewari explain how they merged the worlds of indie and mainstream while making music for Gehraiyaan.
Very soon along the process of working on the soundtrack for Hindi film Gehraiyaan, electronic artist OAFF aka Kabeer Kathpalia and his co-composer and singer Savera Mehta realized they had gone well beyond their usual cozy bedroom producer zone.
After all, this was a creation of Dharma Productions, with a soundtrack releasing on Sony Music and a movie starring Bollywood actors which would end up on Amazon Prime Video. Kabeer says, “New systems had to be created – we shifted into a proper studio. We got more people working with us – we learned to delegate a bit more, which was hard for me, because I’m a bit of a control freak.”
To that end, the producer does mention that all the work for the music of Gehraiyaan – from the background score to the atmospheric pop songs like ‘Doobey’, ‘Beqaboo’ and the title track – were all mostly created on his trusty laptop. “We had our one software, which we do our indie stuff with. In that sense, it was cool. Anybody could have the possibility to do this. That’s kind of nice and encouraging,” he adds.
OAFF
© Ishaan Nair
Keeping the team tight
OAFF, Savera and their go-to mixing engineer Prathamesh Dudhane were more or less the core team behind the music, alongside their collaborators. That included vocalists like Lothika, Shalmali, and music supervisor and singer-songwriter Ankur Tewari.
Working with the label and director Shakun Batra (who had sought out OAFF and Savera in the first place), there were additional features that were all green-lit by the composer duo. Kathpalia says when they saw the skyrocketing popularity of the singles ‘Doobey’ and ‘Gehraiyaan’, the label pitched a reprise version with a different vocalist as a surprise.
“The label suggested a couple of names and Mohit Chauhan was one of them. We’re all fans. We sent him the song and he loved the song. We created a new interpretation of the music and we released it on Valentine’s Day because it’s kind of an emotional song,” Kabeer says with a laugh.
Later on, a remix of ‘Doobey’ was created by Sickflip and another viral remix of ‘Gehraiyaan’ by Goa-based DJ-producer Skeletron was picked up after gauging social media, and both added to the soundtrack album. Kabeer says about remixes, “You realize here (in the mainstream space) that once the song is out there, people really make it their own. There are hundreds of remixes.”
Teaming up with Ankur Tewari
Although OAFF and Savera had worked on a few commercial projects prior to Gehraiyaan, they knew this was a big job. “The big aspect of the film is the sonic landscape in some sense. It was a big job for us. There were a lot of moving parts and coordination with different departments,” Kabeer says. Help was at hand, thanks to Ankur Tewari.
Ankur says that he’d heard OAFF’s music and later got introduced to Savera’s releases as well. “They make beautiful, sad music. That’s what we were looking for – sad ambient music. My job was to make sure they were unhindered and not intimidated. You team up with people who can create a good experience and assure them that we can all have fun,” he says.
OAFF
© Ishaan Nair
Crossing over
For indie artists to step into the film industry is no small feat and though there have been plenty from leaps in the past – from Indian Ocean to Sneha Khanwalkar – the landscape is always changing in terms of practices and processes. Director Shakun Batra had found OAFF’s songs like ‘Frontline’ and decided to bring the duo on board, but most times, it takes a lot of convincing to let an alternative sound like the one heard on Gehraiyaan to make the cut.
Ankur lays out the equation in the most straightforward manner, “Financiers and decision-makers (in the film world) tend to take risks and move out of their comfort zone only if there’s some kind of example or trend of it making money. As long as we can deliver good projects which also make money… Gehraiyaan was important for me because after Gully Boy, It was important for me to get involved in an album that can rule the charts.”
The legal side
Songs like ‘Gehraiyaan’ were adapted from existing compositions by OAFF and Savera, which led to an interesting detangling when it came to talks of copyrights, royalties and licensing music. Where the label would usually (in the case of Bollywood soundtracks) buy the rights to the songs from the creators, it was different this time around.
The composer-producer behind the song ‘Frontline’ (which was adapted into ‘Gehraiyaan’ with Hindi lyrics by Ankur) was thus paid a licensing fee and a composing fee. “So it was for the creation of the new song and also licensing the song from ‘Frontline’. There are technicalities,” says Ankur.
Kabeer impresses upon the need of a good legal team or just a good lawyer to handle these matters. “For any fellow indie musician or anyone in this situation, a really important thing to do – in this film project or otherwise – understand the legal aspect of what it means to own your music,” he says.
OAFF
© Ishaan Nair
Advice to artists
Although Kathpalia modestly says he doesn’t consider himself qualified to give any kind of binding advice to indie artists hoping to get their foot in the door with mainstream film soundtrack work, he does share what has worked for him.
“I took all the money I made from commercial projects and put it into my indie music – videos, mixing and mastering; being top-notch even if I have to do it two or three times. I had some money for marketing and ads. If you take ownership of your music, I think that pays off,” says Kabeer.
Ankur, for his part, says indie music being courted and accepted by the film music industry is no longer a passing fad. In a few years, he hopes for more music supervisors and movie-makers that have their ears tuned towards the independent music circuit.
“Years of work has gone into this in terms of copyright law, what IPRS (Indian Performing Rights Society) is doing in terms of collecting royalties and making artists believe in themselves. It’s a confluence of all this work,” Ankur says.
His advice is centred on all parties considering projects with an open mind. It’s been demonstrated that collaboration is the way forward, but an “equal partnership” is important and artists need to value their work.
“The movie needs your song as much as you need them. You have to hope that you get a new audience and get heard by a different set of people. Nobody is doing anyone any favors here. It should be a win-win. You’re not selling soap. You’re not selling ‘content’, you’re selling a piece of art – the prices can be variable. It should be an intelligent bargain. You should hope and make way for good things to happen,” Ankur adds.
