But are such kind of films being made today? So, even listeners are not happy. People even now ask me about Dor and its music. Salim: I think even films are not being made where we can experiment and bring in some traditional music. In today’s time, everybody is happy apart from the musicians and composers. As of now, the joy of creating or listening to music has simply vanished. So, it has become a rat race than a creative process. Today, everybody is running towards fetching views and likes on social media. The monopoly of music labels has led to this saddening situation. As a composer, that is my dream but I am not ready to recreate someone else’s music. It is our responsibility to educate people about different music. We as composers are a few in a billion and what we create is heard by millions. They are cheating the listeners and holding them back from having a better experience in terms of music. It is the responsibility of record labels to feed music to the listeners. Sulaiman: Honestly, the fault lies with the record labels and not composers. Is that the reason why experimentation is not happening? Sonu Nigam had said long ago that the industry is living and breathing in the monopoly of music producers. We have not tried to make anything different to what the original songs sound like. Please understand Umrao Jaan is incomplete without “Dil Cheez Kya Hai” or “In Aankho Ki Masti Ke”, so we have taken absolute care of every tune, instrument and singer. Salim: It is absolutely an alarming situation.
You have often expressed your opinion on remakes. It gives us complete chills but that is why we rehearse so much. You cannot stick to a plan with the music.
You don’t know if the actor will take an extra breath or change expression or anything. For a film, the scene is set and the edit is locked. Sulaiman: The process is pretty much the same but the difference comes when you are composing the background score for a play. How different is it composing for plays when compared to films? We have taken the orchestra to another level. In fact, every musical instrument is being played live. But when you will watch the play, you will know that we have kept every nuance of Asha Bhosle’s voice and tune of Khayyam sahab intact. Salim: While making the play, we were sure people will ask us that how come we are remaking or recreating the songs from the classic film.
The only change is the screenplay because we have gone by the book. Sulaiman: There is no sort of contamination of music in the play. In the age of remixes and recreations, are you also bringing a new twist to the music of the play? Apart from the existing music, we composed three original songs for the play. When we thought of creating a musical equivalent to what happens abroad, we wanted to do it with Umrao Jaan majorly because of its iconic music. In fact, it was an introduction to classical music for me. Umrao Jaan’s music became a textbook for me. Salim: It is incredible for me to create Khayyam sahab’s music. It creates drama that makes the play pretty interesting. Some characters have come alive in the play, which were almost non-existent in the story. We have tried to follow the book and to keep its authenticity and stay true to its writing. There are a lot of nuances which were not in the film but were there in the book – Umrao Jaan Ada. We have not followed the films (Umrao Jaan starring Rekha in 1981 and Umrao Jaan starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in 2006). Sulaiman: Umrao Jaan Ada is a completely different story in a lot of ways.
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