‘Want to enjoy my age and my music’

Amaal Mallik, who has been on a break from composing music, says that he is travelling and exploring in order to better his craft

Music composer Amaal Mallik feels it is important for musicians to keep taking time off from work to refresh themselves. The 27-year-old’s last single, Subah Subah (Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety) came at the beginning of this year.

“It’s a voluntary break, and it was much-needed. I’ve never been that composer who had a song release every 10 days, and it had its charm, too, as I was creating my space and my audience. But now, I want to enjoy my age, my music, and sleep better. I’ve taken a few trips around the country and indulged in a bit of travelling and exploring. It’s amazing how it helps you and your work for the time to come,” says Amaal, who, started out as a composer at the age of 15, assisting on soundtracks of films such as Sarkar (2005) and Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007).

Time alone also helps an artist’s craft, believes Amaal. “Art in itself comes from being, so if you indulge yourself in enhancing that part of you, during your break, it’ll begin to show in your music [as well]. In my case, I’ve indulged in things that I find therapeutic to me. [I] Climbed a few mountain valleys, sat with locals understood their life, their simple thoughts, how they see love and how they feel about the world. So, the process has been organic and very fulfilling,” adds Amaal, who has composed music for films such as MS Dhoni: The Untold Story and Noor (2017).

Taking off has also helped Amaal go back to music production, which he had stopped working on when he started composing for Bollywood projects, starting with 2014’s Jai Ho.

“Composing new stuff is predominantly the thing I’ve done, [but] I’ve also spent some time honing my music production skills.

It’s a skill I regularly carried out as an assistant to many composers, but [I] hardly got the time to dedicate once I turned into a composer, myself,” says Amaal.

The musician will be back to composing for Bollywood, too, soon. His upcoming projects include Luv Ranjan’s comedy De De Pyar De and shuttler Saina Nehwal’s biopic. “Both are very different projects, and I am hoping that people show the same love for the music of these two films as they have shown for my music previously,” he signs off.

Amaal Mallik’s last single, Subah Subah, came out at the beginning of this year