Dhurandhar composer Shashwat Sachdev: ‘I think of sampling old music as an instrument’

Shashwat Sachdev. Pic/By Special Arrangement, Youtube, Instagram

Sure, the Dhurandhar franchise is star-studded. The bigger stars, however, are its screenplay, Aditya Dhar's stylised direction, and certainly, its music. From placing beloved retro songs in action sequences to crafting original numbers that up the narrative's tempo, composer Shashwat Sachdev showed how music can be a powerful storytelling tool. As audiences continue to dissect the soundtrack and score, scene by scene, the composer, in a chat with
mid-day, breaks down how he created the spy action thriller's album using nostalgia and contrast.

Excerpts from the interview.

Did the response to Dhurandhar's (2025) music influence the risks you took in the sequel?
Most of the music for the second film wasn't driven by expectations or outside noise; it was driven by the material. The screenplay was inspiring, and there was only one objective: create great music.

What made you remix retro songs and place them in a gritty espionage universe?
The idea is never to use a song simply because it's old or familiar. It has to serve the scene's emotion. Sometimes a melody carrying memory, innocence, or longing can reveal something about a character that a conventional approach cannot. When an unexpected choice creates a stronger emotional response, it becomes interesting. For us, the question was always: does it help tell the story better? If the answer was yes, it belonged there.

Many feel your biggest achievement was making retro songs feel relevant again. How do you revive a track without reducing it to a remix?
I don't see it as remixing. Around the world, artistes sample older music and create new ideas from it. For me, it was about using fragments of an existing idea to tell a new story. I think of sampling as an instrument, no different from a piano, guitar, or an orchestra. If sampling is an instrument, then the whole world becomes your palette. The challenge is learning how to play it well.

The composer reunited with filmmaker Aditya Dhar after ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike'

How were the songs chosen?
It started with Aditya's vision because he wrote the script and designed the world. But filmmaking is always collaborative. It was his vision, mine, and Shiv Kumar Panicker's [editor] interpretation of the score. Then there was my interpretation of what both of them were asking for. Often, what we ended up with was very different from what any of us initially imagined, yet it worked.

The use of cheerful songs in brutal action scenes felt almost Tarantino-esque. What can a song achieve in those moments that a traditional score cannot?
Music can create contrast. A traditional score often guides the audience towards a specific emotion. A song can create irony, memory, tenderness, discomfort, or tragedy while something completely different is happening on screen. That tension between what you hear and what you see can make a scene stay with you much longer.

Retro songs used in ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge'

‘Hum Pyaar Karne Wale' from ‘Dil'

‘Oye Oye' from ‘Tridev'

‘Kabhi Bekasi Ne Maara' from Rajesh Khanna's ‘Alag Alag'