Bollywood singer and music composer Amaal Mallik is known for belting out melodious hits. He recently composed the song 'Jaan Hai Meri' for the upcoming Prabhas, Pooja Hegde-starrer 'Radhe Shyam' and a romantic number for 'Bachchhan Paandey'.
In an exclusive conversation with The Free Press Journal, Amaal spoke about working on the music of the two highly-anticipated films, the 'remix culture', his future projects and more.
Opening up about 'Jaan Hai Meri', Amaal said, "Composing 'Jaan Hai Meri' for 'Radhe Shyam' was a dream come true. It was one of my most difficult projects till date. The director Radha Krishna Kumar is very sure about what music he wants. Ever since we created Jaan Hai Meri, he was attached to it."
Delving into the details of what went on behind the making of the song, Amaal explained, "Jaan Hai Meri was recorded on a very large scale. It has desi melody at its core, and yet it has a European feel to it. Around 30-40 musicians played live with me. A lot of live instruments were used, which is maybe the old-school method of creating music, but sonically, it has got the sound of 2022 as well. All in all, it took a lot of patience and time to keep working and reworking on the song, to finally present the version of Jaan Hai Meri that the audiences are loving today."
Amaal has also composed a song for the Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Bachchhan Paandey'. The film is set to hit the theatres on March 18.
While the song is not out yet, Amaal has dropped a hint on what the masses can expect from it. "This song is an eternal love song. It is something that you would want to hear from the person you love," he said.
The song has been crooned by Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh, and Amaal is all praise for both of them. "I was working on the album of 'Bell Bottom' when this 'Bachchhan Paandey' song had to be shot. I reached out to Arijit in a hurry and asked him to sing it for me. Shreya came on board as well. Both of them recorded the song, but after that, they reworked it several times to achieve perfection. This speaks a lot about them as artists. When the song will be out, people will know why they are called the best singers in the country right now," he gushed.
Of late, a lot of debate has been going on around the recreation of old songs. When asked what his take on the matter is, Amaal said that he was fine with revisiting an old piece until it was done respectfully.
"In every era, songs have been recreated. But today, I feel it is overdone. Out of 100 songs, almost 70 are recreations, which is wrong. A balance has to be maintained. The composers who are busy recreating songs are capable of creating their original work as well; then why not?" he questioned.
He went on to say, "Previously, audiences loved the concept of remix as it was new to them. But now, they are learning to pick out the good ones and reject the others. Like 'Aankh Maare' was a really good remix, but there was no need to recreate 'Masakkali'."
Amaal added that the original artists must be duly credited while recreating their songs and that the essence of the original must be maintained. "The younger generation might not have heard the original version, but they need to know where did the song they are listening to today came from," he emphasized.
Giving a sneak-peek into his future projects, Amaal revealed that he is remixing two classics. "I am recreating a song which was originally Bappi Lahiri's. I have played my version to him, and only after he approved I took it further. I am also recreating Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar's 'Kya Yahi Pyar Hai', but I'll do it with due credits to the legendary artists," he shared.
Amaal also has music for a couple of films and web shows in the pipeline for him. Besides, he said that wants to focus more on independent music this year. "At least two songs will be featuring me as the singer and the composer. Overall, I have some 8-10 songs for my audience in the days to come," he signed off.
