When dreams come true
For any musician, to get a call from world-renowned Hollywood composer Thomas Montgomery Newman would be a surreal experience. For some, it would even mean the world. But fact is always stranger than fiction and who other than Bengal-girl Suchismita Das knows it better? She is among those lucky few who lived that dream not only once but twice.
Suchismita’s name figures in the credit list of the recently unveiled soundtrack of the sequel — The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a British comedy-drama. Incidentally, she was roped in to deliver her goods in the critically acclaimed The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel too.
Talking about her big break in world music arena, the 31-year-old says humbly: “It so happened that during one of my concert tours in the US, I had accidentally met A.R. Rahmansaab inside a hotel elevator where he heard me out for 30 seconds and asked if I would travel to LA. At first, I couldn’t believe my ears and then recovering from a momentary freeze, I promptly replied, that I could go anywhere on this planet, merely at his word. Then he got his team to connect with me in seven months and the next thing I knew, was to head for Hollywood and record a string of seven tracks for the 2012 sleeperhit, The Best Exotic...”
Dwelling on her stint with noted American tunesmith, Suchi fondly recollects her proud association: “A sense of déja vu descended upon me when I touched base with Thomas Newman yet again. He is a profoundly gifted musician and his many-feathered cap only goes onto prove the depth of his creative calibre. Needless to say that all in all, it was a dream come true venture for me. The best part of our harmonious synergy was that he never hesitated to give me adequate space and liber- ty to churn out my own stuff at free will. And the result is manifest in itself.”
Predictably, the second time when she went back to work with the maestro, she knew exactly what he wanted from her and the rest was a “smooth sail affair” with “a bunch of fivesong composition and her lyrics-writing duty”.
Decoding the songs in detail, the lady informs: “The piece with a romantic mood, as per the brief given to me, got picturised on the main starcast from the ensemble comprising Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Richard Gere and Lilette Dubey. I had composed a Bengali mukhda and penned the wordings for one of the Hindi tracks. Also the other melody towards the end of the movie was fully my idea. Both film director John Madden and Thomas liked it so much that they wanted to retain it intact in the sequel.”