Saiyaara composer Tanishk Bagchi opens up about being more than a remix machine: 'Now believing in my original music’

Having long been criticised for building a career on remixes, you must be feeling vindicated with the success of Saiyaara’s title track, which is an original song.
It’s not the first time that I’ve composed something original and got rewarded for it. But now I feel that I am a versatile music composer. You can tell by listening to a song that it must be composed by so-and-so composer. But with my songs, you won’t be able to tell if it’s Tanishk’s music or someone else’s because I’m so versatile. 

A still from Saiyaara

Do you like creating remixes or do so because of market demands? 
It’s 100 per cent because of the market demand, survival, and what the director wants. My first preference will be original songs. But there are instances where if I don’t [create a remix], somebody else will. When a work opportunity comes to me, I can’t reject it immediately. 

Take us back to the time when director Mohit Suri came to you with Saiyaara. 
The past two years [were trying] for me because there were lots of issues in my work and family. At that time, I met Mohit sir and he supported me. I didn’t have anybody to show me the way. So, I started following his vision. He told me that he needed a song for his film. I was working on a single for the last two years with Faheem [Abdullah] and Arslan [Nizami]. When Mohit sir said he needed a song, we had one called Saiyaan Mera, and Arslan had written this line, ‘Saiyaan mera tu rootha nahin hai, mausam zara sa rootha hua hai.’ We completed it and pitched it to Mohit sir. Then Irshad bhai [Kamil] wrote the entire track.

How was it to reunite with Mohit?
With him, there’s always an emotion behind a song. He will never say, ‘We want a promotional track.’ He’s a music-oriented director. 

You mentioned that you were going through a lot when Saiyaara happened to you. Are you comfortable talking about it?
After you give a super hit song, there is a lot of competition in the market, and when you say no to certain things, people think, ‘He doesn’t know how to create original music, or he only does recreations.’ This stress would seep into my personal life. Sometimes I used to earn money, at other times I didn’t. There were times when my song would be placed fourth or fifth in an album and it wouldn’t be promoted. I had composed Raataan Lambiyaan [Shershaah] and Bolna [Kapoor & Sons], but people still doubted me. 

Producers often seek a hook line, hoping their song will become popular on Instagram Reels. But Saiyaara has busted the myth of hook lines being necessary. 
Absolutely! I have never followed a trend. If someone asks me to make a song catering to a 15-second reel, I won’t do it. I will make a four-minute song. After Saiyaara, people are saying, ‘We believe in your original music’.

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