Moitra's raag

He believes in doing one film a year. And the rest of the time he keeps busy creating ad jingles, travelling, cooking and clicking pictures. With yet another hit (3 Idiots) in his kitty, music director Shantanu Moitra is all set to direct his energies to other projects. The promotion of his recently released travelogue and his upcoming trip to the Kumbh mela score high on his to-do list. He makes time for a chat with CS before flying out of the city:


WHO: Shantanu Moitra
WHAT: Talking about his music
WHERE: At a music studio in Bandra

Sunshine on my shoulder
Music isn't just about a tune, it is also about the nuances. 3 Idiots was a tough film to score since it has various shades to it -- it makes you laugh and cry. When I composed Give Me Some Sunshine, I didn't know whether the song would even be used in the film. But because I was well-versed with the script that briefly touched upon the issue of student suicides, I was able to compose this track. I wanted to give it a feel of despondency while retaining a sense of hope. The English lines were originally meant to be dummy lines. But when Rajkumar heard the number, he was quite kicked so we retained the lyrics.
I spent a year-and-a-half on this project so I could get thoroughly involved in its making. I started working on it from the time the script was being churned out. That's why I could be more than just a music director for the film. I enjoyed working as the locations manager too. Shooting the last scene in Tsomoriri, a salt water lake, was my idea.

Jingle all the way
All said and done, cinema isn't my bread and butter. I do ad jingles to keep the kitchen fire burning. I feel that I've been able to render versatile compositions because of my advertising background. One day I might be making a jingle for a hair oil brand, while on another it might be a shoe polish. Sometime back my Happydent jingle won a bronze at the Cannes for music and it did feel very good.u00a0u00a0

Luck by chance
For me Bollywood happened by accident. I had a very cushy client servicing job in Contract, Delhi. That's when I released my first album Ab ke Sawan. It became a rage and many people including Javed Akhtar insisted that I moved to Mumbai. My friend Pradeep Sarkar soon moved to Mumbai and since I didn't have much company, I followed suit. That's when Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisiu00a0 happened. Baanwara Mann was a big hit, it caught Vidhu Vinod Chopra's fancy and then Parineeta happened.
The ironic bit is that we were a bunch of guys from Delhi -- Jaideep Sahni, Pradeep Sarkar and I who used to dream of seeing ourselves in larger-than-life Juhu hoardings in Mumbai. We all took different routes, but we managed to realise that dream. We couldn't have asked for more.u00a0