Composer duo SalimSulaiman never turn back from a commitment

Singer-composer duo Salim-Sulaiman had to let go of a chance to compose music for the muchanticipated film,The Accidental Prime Minister, based on the life of former PM Manmohan Singh (played by Anupam Kher). The composer duo was already committed to Salman Khanstarrer Race 3 and couldn’t make time for this project.

“We had committed to Race 3 long back. We were involved in the first two instalments, so we were on board for the third instalment as well. Yes, we had to do The Accidental Prime Minister as well, but there was no clarity on when we were supposed to start work on it. When Race 3 was announced, it was inevitable that we got on board, which is when the makers of The Accidental Prime Minister asked us to work on their project. We just didn’t have the time, to be honest,” says Salim Merchant.

“It’s hard to let go of a project, but one has to do it. We had given our word to Race 3, and were not going to say no for any reason. We never turn back from a commitment,” he adds.

The two brothers have composed music for films such as Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) and the recently released 102 Not Out.

Sulaiman Merchant adds that though Race 3 was the bigger film of the two, that is definitely not why they relinquished The Accidental Prime Minister. “Yes, Race 3 is bigger in the star cast, and a bigger film, but you have to see the fact that we are making only the background score. Why will we prefer to do a background score of a movie, and let go of the opportunity to compose songs? In India, no one cares about background score, yet we stuck with that. I can see people thinking that we stuck with Race 3 because of commercial reasons, but that’s not true,” he says.