As a music composer, Mithoon has composed music for a number of hit tracks like 'Woh Lamhe', 'Aadat', 'Yeh Kasoor', 'Tum Hi Ho' and many more. In a candid conversation with IANS, he spoke about composing music for his recent projects and the scope for emerging musicians in the industry.
Mithoon spoke about his recent projects which include, 'Khuda Hafiz 2', 'HIT:The First Case' and 'Shamshera' and says that composing music for each of them needed a different kind of treatment in terms of instruments or melodies and singers.
He said: "The thing is, each of these films have different routes, different storylines, different characters. And since I always work on a brief. My music is very organic, it is an actual reaction to the brief given by the director. Every director is looking for something different. Everybody comes with their own vision, their own style."
"The plot of the film, like 'Shamshera', is based in the late 1800s. While 'HIT' is a contemporary film about the challenges of a modern police officer. Then there is 'Khuda Haafiz 2', which is a revenge drama. So, every film comes with its own fragrance and, being a film composer, my job is to understand what kind of instruments are needed, what kind of melodies are needed, what kind of singers will be needed, and accordingly deliver for every film," he asserts.
He further shared what comes in his mind while choosing his project and he adds: "Most important is that I should feel connected to the project. If I listen to a story, and if I feel connected to it, I start getting ideas. I have a vision for it. If I listen to a story, and if I don't feel connected to it, then I always respectfully tell my director that I'm not the right person to do this."
Mithoon also opened up about working with Faruk Kabir in 'Khuda Haafiz 2' and why he enjoyed it the most: "This is the second film I'm doing with him and he is somebody who really loves music very organically. He really respects Hindustani classical music a lot. And he always wants his music to be Hindustani. So that's something that's very nice for me because then I can do classical music with him. He likes to use thumri, ghazal, and sargam. He likes to use these elements in his music. It's a very rich genre of music, which we generally don't get to do all the time in film music. So, that's why I liked working with him. And that's what I have done in 'Khuda Haafiz'."
He later recalled how the director Faruk came to the studio with ancient poetry.
"He would come over to the studio and he would carry some ancient poetry with him because he's very fond of literature and used to ask me see if if we can incorporate that in the music as well. And in the song, 'Chaiyaan Mein Saiyaan Ki' we have used Awadhi (language) which is a very ancient language And we have mixed it with a little bit of Punjabi folk as well. So, these things would happen very spontaneously and organically while we would sit together.
Furthermore he elaborated that composing music for Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra starrer, 'HIT: The First Case' was altogether different. The romantic track in the movie, titled, 'Kitni Haseen Hogi', composed and arranged by Mithoon and lyrics by Sayeed Quadri. Mithoon has also provided vocals along with Arijit Singh.
"It's based on the challenges of what police officers go through specially mentally apart from the physical challenges. So my song is the love song in the film, which I have done with Sayeed Quadri and Arijit. The song, 'Kitni Haseen Hogi' reflects emotions of a police officers also can have their personal life, they also have a family, they also fall in love. What what is the kind of stability and peace, that love brings in the life of a police officer?," he shared.
"That's the kind of poetry and that's the kind of melody it has. And at the same time, the sound is urban. It's very, it's very rock. It's very electronic, very different from 'Khuda Haafiz', because it is a very urban film. And that's how the director wanted it to be."
Mithoon further elaborated on how music industry has changed. He also emphasised on the use of technology in a right way to compose music.
"Earlier probably there was a lot more acoustic. Today we don't have so much acoustic but then when I've did the music of a film like 'Shamshera', I used only acoustic instruments. I think the important thing for us is to use technology for the benefit of the listener. You know, technology is not here to spoil things, it's to give you more advantages. And I think it's the responsibility of every composer to take the best of technology and merge it with with the foundation and the duties of the yesteryears and added with today's technology and deliver even more superior music. I think that is what our responsibility is."
He also said that industry has a lot of scope for emerging talents. "At last what matters is talent and I have a complete faith in the film industry. I think it's a beautiful place to work. There are challenges. There is good and bad and every fraternity in the world, but I would not see that as a discouragement. I would invite people to please come here. There are many good people in the industry. There is a lot of opportunities. Many people are hungry for good work. I would encourage people to fight it out and make a name for themselves," he concluded.
[With Inputs From IANS]
