With ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’ winning an award for the Best Music at IIFA awards recently, music composers Saurabh-Vaibhav who composed the film’s ‘Sweety Slowly Slowly’ are on cloud nine. The duo who also made music for Sandalwood film ‘Birbal’ believe that music is music, whichever industry it be.
In a candid chat with Metrolife, the twosome share about their journey, favourite musicians and more.
What brought the two of you together?
Vaibhav: It was the city. We belong to the same city, Ambikapur.
On one hand, it is because of our roots, and on the other, it is because of the like-mindedness that we share and the kind of music we compose.
We are not just two people who work together, we are like brothers.
Did you ever feel that you would work on an award-winning song? What according to you made the song from ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’ win?
Vaibhav: We never thought that a song we made would take us to a stage and would win accolades. We had extreme faith in the film’s director. We hadn’t even seen the song with its video. In fact, we saw the song only at films premiere.
It’s not just the song which got us the award, the marketing, the actors and all the people involved in the film, got it recognised. Luckily, we were a part of a song which everyone loved.
What according to you defines a great track or song? What are the essential elements required to make a song a hit?
Saurabh: Any song that enhances one’s feelings and emotions is a great song. We feel the real mixture of a hit song is its composition and lyrics. These two things are the roots; if these are not good the song will not work.
Another part which defines music is music production. But the inner beauty of a song is always its roots.
You made music for a Kannada film ‘Birbal’. How different was it to make music for Bollywood and Sandalwood?
Vaibhav: For us music is music. In no way is it defined by industries. Music in Sandalwood and Bollywood are different. We are trying to blend in our kind of music into the projects we get involved with.
MG Srinivas’ ‘Birbal’ was a wonderful experience. The vision and the ideas that the director had were important. ‘Birbal’ was one film which helped us become confident about ourselves as music makers. When we worked on the title tracks and the background music, it helped us understand that we can work across languages as well.
Saurabh was able to sing for one of the tracks of the film, which happened only because Srinivas was very supportive.
Your favourites from the songs you have created together and why?
Vaibhav: Of the ones already released, it has to ‘Rab Di Sau Jind’ where we worked with Mohit Chauhan and a single called ‘Taleem’, which we did with T-Series. They are special to us.
Who are your favourite music composers and why?
Saurabh: There are three composers we love listening to. The great ghazal king Ghulam Ali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and AR Rahman. We always listen to them and are deeply affected by them. They have composed wonderful music, which is forever inspiring.
Amit Trivedi is a new sensation who we love listening to, from recent times.
The last song you listened to...
Vaibhav: Both of us love the songs from ‘Kabir Singh’. We have been humming ‘Bekhayali’ and ‘Tujhe Kitna Chahne Lage’ continually.