I am not a completely digital man, I believe in human interaction: Mithoon
“Thanks for your email. I am currently out of the office but will still be very hard at work selling Aviation Gin. For quite a long time, it seems,” his auto-response read.
Music composer Mithoon, who is known for his melodious and soulful songs, such as Maula Mere (Anwar; 2007) and Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga (Half Gairlfriend; 2017), has been working in Bollywood films for over a decade, and has composed music for almost 35 films over a span of 15 years. But this lockdown period came as quite a challenge for the composer.
“The way I work, I make a lot of basic sounds and then the entire work of the final album happens during the postproduction of a film. So, when the director and producer of Khuda Hafiz approached me in May end asking to release a complete album on OTT, I was hesitant,” he says.
Mithoon adds, “I had taken up this project last year, but the second half of last year and the first half of this year went in shooting of the film, so the music had really not been worked upon. I had these basic songs, but they still had to be recorded properly and no studio was available and it wasn’t practically possible for me to bring an entire soundtrack out. So, I was almost ready to tell them that I won’t be able to deliver. But then, I thought about it and I spoke to my team, and we thought that this is probably the best message we can give out as human beings that things will get better. So, we connected with people and found softwares that helped us work from our respective homes. This madness happened, and God is great that we were able to produce an album that was made entirely during the lockdown.”
The composer agrees that while digital may not be the ideal way to work, for now, it is the only way to do things. “We do not have any clarity on what the social norms are going to be in the coming days. But I am not a completely digital man, I believe in human interaction and that’s one of the reasons why I don’t have a bank of songs. But under the present circumstances, until people have a cure in place for the virus, and permissions from authorities are given, we will definitely be working like this,” explains the Chal Ghar Chalen (Malang) composer.
Adding that digital concerts don’t do justice to the experience of listeners, Mithoon says that nothing can match the feeling of standing in front of a stage and watching your favourite artiste perform live. “It definitely takes away from the experience, but mankind has always fought and survived the greatest calamities and adversities and that is because of our ability to find solutions. So, we should not be narrow-minded. As a musician, I am also encouraging a lot of my colleagues to do digital concerts, and I think it’s pretty cool if people can sit back and listen to an artiste at home, let’s just see the positive side of things for now,” he concludes.