Coming from a family of musicians who have been part of the film industry for the past four generations, Sohail Sen, 28, and his family had received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award this year. As for Sen, he started his journey in the film industry with 'Sirf' in 2008, but it was only when he composed for Ashutosh Gowariker’s 'What’s Your Raashee?', that he was noticed. Then came the 2011 hit, 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'. Next up is Salman Khan’s 'Ek Tha Tiger'. More from the music director:
The soundtrack of 'Ek Tha Tiger', launched on July 12, has been hailed as highly influenced by world music.
The movie is about an ISI agent and his journey. There are songs that were shot in Cuba and Dublin and both, director Kabir Khan and Salman Khan, wanted me to use musical instruments from those specific regions. So the song 'Banjara', sung by Sukhwinder Singh, is from a different genre and is called Celtic music. It is foot tapping, with a lot of violin. Another song, 'Lapata', has Spanish influences, with guitar work. Saiyara, sung by Mohit Chauhan, is closest to my heart and his voice suits Salman Khan.
Do directors interfere with your work?
I would not call it interference. It is a team effort. If a song is not good, then the team sits together and decides what has to be done. For 'Ek Tha Tiger', I had to please Kabir, Salman and producer Aditya Chopra. It took me some time, but I did it.
How do you experiment in movies?
A lot of directors do not try interludes (a piece of music played between other pieces). It is like an unplugged version of the song, as heard in What’s Your Raashee?. I have tried it again in From Sydney with Love, with a song called Hojayega. It has only the guitar and vocals.
Up next?
I have a film under the Yash Raj banner and am also working on Ali Abbas’s next. Then there’s a movie with Neil Nitin Mukesh.