Playback time - Shekhar

How did the names Vishar and Shekhar get to be hyphenated?
I used to sing a lot of jingles for [the late film director] Mukul Anand. Shiraz Bhattacharya, who plays drums for Pentagram, was also working with MAD productions at the same time as me. He introduced Vishal to me and we became friends soon after. So basically we were friends who started working together.

You've sung "Aazmale Aazmale" on Taxi No 9211 and have been regularly singing on your soundtracks. Why do you think this trend of music directors singing their own songs has caught on?
When I performed a scratch of "Aazmale Aazmale" to the director [Milan Luthria], he asked me to sing it, and as the composer of the song, I thought it made sense to sing my own tune. The song determines the singer and sometimes your voice just locks with the song. "Aazmale Aazmale" has a Sufi influence so it was both challenging and fun for me to sing.

Whose idea was it to get Bappi Lahiri to sing "Boombai Nagariya"?
We composed the song with him in mind and gave him a call after it was finished. He said, "Aap ke liye main zaroor gaunga". It was an awesome experience. He usually sings in quite a low voice and "Boombai Nagariya" was composed in a slightly higher range, so we thought maybe we should drop the pitch. We were amazed to find that he was very comfortable singing in a high register as well. After RD Burman, Bappida was the only other music director who was completely aware of the western music scene and used electronics and experimented with voices in Hindi film music.

Taxi No 9211 looks like a very Mumbai film. How did you'll go about capturing the feel of the city when composing the music?
The soundtrack was composed after the film was made, so we got to see it before we wrote the songs. We design the music to the script of the film rather than the city in which it is based. However, the song "Boombai Nagariya" is a full-on high energy song that's in keeping with the fast pace of the rocking city that is Mumbai.

What's your solo album going to be like?
My debut album mainly comprised slow and romantic songs but this time around, I'm not working within any genre space. The three songs I've composed so far are funky, peppy numbers. I'm planning to go for a slight hip hop and R&B feel. The album will also have a more organic than electronic sound and will feature a lot of live instruments as I feel music has become too synthetic these days. Let's see how it goes.
Amit Gurbaxani