Shreyas: There is uniformity of thought in a solo album

He agrees that his composition Satranga from Animal (2023) “truly changed” his life. Composersinger Shreyas Puranik, who recently did a solo-composer album, Dukaan, is glad that his “hard work of 15 years is finally bearing fruit”.

At a time when solocomposer albums are a rarity, Puranik is glad that he was trusted with one. “Animal was a multicomposer album. I am glad that Satranga received so much love that I eventually got a chance to do all the songs of Dukaan. Doing an entire album felt special.”

Having done multicomposer films before such as Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Malaal (2019), Puranik swears by the creative autonomy offered by solocomposer albums.

“While working on a solo album, there’s a uniformity of thought. The composer has the liberty of weaving their thoughts seamlessly. It’s a tailor-made album for the film,” he explains, pointing out, however, that multi-composer albums have exhibited higher success rates: “There, songs are picked on the basis of the strength of each composer — koi romantic genre mein achcha hai toh uska ek gaana le liya, koi remixes karta hai toh uska ek gaana le liya... Multi-composer albums are preferred these days as you get to have the best from everyone, so the album is sure to be a hit.”

Talking about the music of Dukaan, Puranik, who also has the upcoming film Saale Aashiq in his kitty, adds, “I incorporated a lot of folk elements in the music of Dukaan and kept the soundtrack earthy yet modern. I got on board some really talented singers, including Shreya Ghoshal, Arijit Singh, Mohit Chauhan, Osman Mir and Aishwarya Bhandari. The idea was to have sonic uniformity in all the songs.”*

Solo albums are tailor-made for the film vis-à-vis a multicomposer one, where songs are picked on the basis of the strength of each composer.