Yaara da Tashan -vishal shekhar

Making music: Vishal and Shekhar. (TOI Photo)

Vishal-Shekhar are here, there, and everywhere. Literally! While their compositions for Tashan continue to top the charts, this jodi has their hands full with upcoming projects like De Taali, Dostana, Aladdin, Bachna Ae Haseeno and their first Telugu film.

As if these were not enough to keep them busy, Vishal and Shekhar are also enjoying their second stint as judges for the reality show Jo Jeeta Wahi Superstar.

Counted among the top music composers of the industry today, Vishal-Shekhar may be diverse in nature, but together they are about great music.

High on the success of their recent hits including Om Shanti Om, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Cash, Dhoom2 and others, this musical duo, who claim that all their work "is dedicated to their wives," in an exclusive chat with LT tells us what it takes to be so different

Tashan's music is a rage...
Shekhar: Tashan is a very special soundtrack, and the credit goes to director Vijay Krishna Acharya. His brief to us was 'Surprise me with every single song'. It's very rare that we get a brief like this, so we had to do justice. Plus, Vijay listens to both Sufi as well as rock. So Tashan's numbers are a mix of both desi and Western.

You both have different musical backgrounds. How do you bridge the gap?
Vishal: I may be coming from a rock background, while Shekhar has been trained in classical, but that doesn't mean I don't listen to classical or Shekhar doesn't like rock. Our music is a mix of all that inspires us. Shekhar: In fact, our training in different music forms allows a bigger bandwidth to our versatility.

Today's music comes packed with different genres like rock, jazz, pop as well as English lyrics. Is Indian music losing its touch?
Vishal: Only the musically illiterate harbour such notions. The universe is big enough to allow and sustain every kind of music. Besides, one kind of music doesn't harm the other form. And not just English, but a whole lot of other languages are being included in songs. Mauja hi mauja had Assamese lyrics, Dus Bahane had Jamaican lyrics while Ankhon... was a purely Hindi melodious number that appealed to people across generations.

Shekhar: Actually, Indian music is evolving 'cos its music is progressive. Even internationally, pop artistes including adonna, Beyonce, etc have Indian music in their songs Dard-e-disco received a lot of flak for its lyrics, and yet made it to the top.

Does that imply that music and SRK's presence in the song scores higher than the lyrics?
Vishal: A good song is always a mix of good music, lyrics as well as a strong visual aspect. And anyway the song was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek number. Those who didn't understand this kept criticising it. And where SRK is concerned, his presence elevates the feel of the song. It's only him and Amitabh Bachchan who can do genuine justice to a song.
Shekhar: There was no SRK in Jhankar Beats and yet the songs worked. But undoubtedly, had he been there, perhaps the songs would have been even bigger hits.

How was the experience of composing for your first Telugu film?
Shekhar: Its such a great feeling. Superstar Venkatesh came down especially to ask us to compose songs for his movie Chintakayla. The songs have completely our flavour in them.

Vishal, you seem the more fiery one, while Shekhar is relatively calm. How do you get along?
Vishal: Oh Shekhar just puts on an act. He's as fiery and aggressive as I look to be.Shekhar: We've been friends even before we made a jodi. We complement each other where work is concerned.