Courtesy: IndiaFM
Thursday, October 6, 2005
 
'You can't keep a good man down for too long'. If it's Pritam you are talking about, let's assure you that this saying hasn't rusted yet.

He is not flamboyant, not a Page-3 pup, not even a quote-king. So his claim to fame? A good musician and after Dhoom, a 'successful musician'! We recently met up with the Bengali music director to chat about his current topper, Dhoom 2, allegations of being a copycat and what gives him the jitters these days...

Rocking the charts with Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena ...

"It is a rocking album. I had a lot of fun making it. If you go to hear it, it's hardly like a film album. If this album works then there will be a lot of new things coming into the Indian music industry. There is no proper structure in the album and most of the songs have no antara. It has a total western structure and lots of rap. A complete new wave album!"

Piping hot: Garam Masala!

"It was a fun film and has lots of comedy. The music is massy and totally contrary to Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena. I have a lot of expectations from this album" Any difference between working with a debutant v/s a seasoned director? "I didn't feel any. With Priyanji, my respect level was so high. I used to listen to him with so much awe. As for Sanjay Gandhvi, I am here because of him. When I was down and out he had the confidence that I could do it and I am happy that I came up with Dhoom."

Fight Club - making music for a non-musical...

"The scope is definitely less. If this film was made in Hollywood then there would be no songs at all. But Dhoom being an action film turned out to have super successful music so I'm not complaining."

Dhoom v/s Dhoom 2

"It is still at a very initial stage. I have rendered only one song for it so far. Dhoom and Dhoom 2 are like brother and sister with the same brief - Zip Zap Zoom but Dhoom 2 is different in terms of story, ideas, action sequences yet it has the same flavor" Rumour has it that a song has been rendered for Hrithik's bad boy character in the film. "I have not heard of Hrithik in any song in Dhoom 2. I doubt it. When composing for Dhoom I never thought that it would be such a big hit. It will give me nightmares regarding Dhoom 2. But all I can say is that the song in Dhoom 2 will be as honest as Dhoom."

Zahreeli baatein...

You have been recently accused of lifting 'Zahreeli Raatein' from Pakistani boyband Jal's Aadat. "I really want to talk about this. 'Zahreeli Raatein' and 'Panhaon Me' are not a part of Chocolate. I want to make it clear that I was never involved with the song. When I heard the song in Chocolate I never realized that it was rip off mainly because I had never heard that song. It's not running on Indian television. In all of the 'Zahreeli Raatein' promos my name is not mentioned. This incident has really shattered me"

"I got a lot of flak in spite of not being in the song. But this has made me more responsible. There are people listening to our music so we are actually representing our country. So no fingers should be pointed at us because this is a question of National pride. I will be extra careful and put my foot down in the future. I am doing a song in Kalyug which has a song which is taken from an Album but its copyrights have been bought. It's a brilliant song" But is it all right to be inspired from other songs if you purchase the rights? "As long as you buy the rights and give credits, it's all right. Madonna came up with a version of American Pie. She bought the rights and redid it in her own way which is perfectly all right"

Paying the price for piracy...

"It is really harmful to the industry as the audio sales in India are coming down by 30% every year. 5 years ago, a hit album used to sell about 1 crore units. Two years ago, a hit album sold 15-20 lakh units. Today if an album sells 6 lakh units then it is declared a hit. The music market has crashed completely and so have our fees. So we have to take on more work. The more you work the more quality you lose. It's like a machine gun. Shoot a hoard of bullets and hope one of them hits the bull's eye."

Going Solo

You started out as a duo with Jeet. How is it now working solo? "It has its pros and cons. If your album is great then you have to share the credit but on the other hand if the album flops you share the blame. But as a solo composer it is quite lonely out here." So why did you guys split? "He initiated it. Our level of creativity was different so we finally decided to part ways"

Future plans

"First let me give some more hits and cement my place in the industry. Once that is done I might start thinking of it, but that is very far away" Pritam's upcoming projects include Aakhir, Naksha and Gangster.

The worst comment that you received about your music?
That the music of Dhoom is crap.

Sunidhi Chauhan or Tata Young
Sunidhi Chauhan

Dhoom or Chocolate
Dhoom

Ringtones or True tones
True tones

Commercial films or offbeat films
Commercial films

Composing for Ads, films or serials
Films

Commercial success or critical acclaim
Commercial success 

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