Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy: It’s on us to make a song that sounds good as it is

Having created six of the 17 songs that form the backbone of The Archies musical ShankarEhsaanLoy say they felt they could ldquosmell sponge cake in the roomrdquo when they watched the final edit ldquoItrsquos such a sweet filmrdquo they promise as they discuss recording with Suhana Khan and working with Javed AkhtarEdited excerpts of the interviewTherersquos always something special about the music yoursquoll make for a Zoya Akhtarfilm Why is that soEhsaan We are given the freedom to create She never blocks an idea and says lsquoNo letrsquos try something elsersquo Her attitude is respectful to the creative personShankar There are certain directors whose presence in the studio enables the music to flow easily There may be parts of the music that we use or donrsquot use or mould at a later stage For example the song Va va vroom came out to be as it is because he Ehsaan randomly played one line and we decided to record it Only later did we recall we had this recording It was a founderrsquos ball and we realised this would fit the scene because it has an element of rock So when music flows easily it feels fresh to the listenerMany cast members like Dot are also singers Suhana has also lent her voice to a song Did yoursquoll sit with them to discuss the musicShankar For Suhanarsquos part we wanted someone who had the required voice age and innocence The singers we recorded sounded too professional When she sang it we said this is it She was nervous but practiced a lotEhsaan The song that she sang has a conversational quality Another song has been sung by Kelly Dlima These young singers are all unheard of Theyrsquove been singing in the studio but now theyrsquoll get this excellent breakShankar There is one song that is completely picturised on skates The kids had to learn skating for itEhsaan Therersquos another that has been rendered by Arijit Singh People will be surprised when they hear it Itrsquos unlike anything yoursquove heard from Arijit He was also thrilled with itWhen creating music for the web where itrsquos easier for someone to hit fastforward when a song plays do you believe the emphasis on the visuals of the song has increased in a bid to lure the viewer to watch itShankar I would agree that that it is valid But 80 per cent of the music that is consumed in the country is nonvisual It is consumed on streaming platforms where you arenrsquot seeing it So the perception that Bollywood is the only thing that matters in the music industry is not true Bollywood is a small part of the whole game Monetarily itrsquos a big part But therersquos a lot happening otherwise We did a web series called Bandish Bandits Wersquove been told that people skipped the talkie portions to hear the musicLoy Our job is to write a great song What is done with the visuals is on the director But we have to create a song that sounds amazing even without the visualsShankar You know Senorita Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was not supposed to be a song It was a situation in which they were meant to jam with some Spanish musicians and leave When we created that motif we realised it was an amazing song So visuals were created for it thereafter That was also the case with Havan kund in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag It was supposed to be a scene in the hostel But Prasoon Joshi ji wrote a big paragraph and that led to the making of a full songSince the songs are conversational did yoursquoll spend more time with Javed AkhtarShankar We always do I remember when we were sitting with Javed saab for this film he would tell us lsquoI have to not consider 80 per cent of the words in my vocabulary because these kids are AngloIndiansrsquo Sometimes Farhan Akhtar and I would playfully argue about some lyrics and hersquod say lsquoWith your vocabulary all I can do is send a telegramrsquo The kids in the film have limited vocabulary So he couldnrsquot write intricate poetry He had to write simple words that still conveyed the messagemdashwhether that message was about politics or love It had to be musical and the rhymes needed to fit the tune Only he could have done thisToday in musicDecember 4 2015 Justin Bieber scored his third UK No 1 hit with Love yourself which knocked his previous charttopper Sorry to number two The last living act to achieve that particular feat was The Beatles