Best Buddies

“I give all credit for our success to Shekhar. I am brash,outspoken,while he is the decent and sociable one and that is what keeps us in business,” said Vishal,all the while giving proof of what he said by admonishing people around for not keeping themselves or their cellphones quiet.

“There is no division of labour in our team…we both compose and we both arrange music,so there is no question of who is slogging out more or who’s better. Plus,for all our fights and disagreement,all creative differences get ironed out because of the sheer respect we have for each other,not criticising or dismissing the poor work of each other in public. If he has to tell me he doesn’t think much of my tune,he will do so in private,” said Vishal,who has kept his individual commitment to music band Pentagram. “We can be together even while we are doing different things. And to talk about being different,we only take the brief from the filmmakers and everytime come up with something different,yet completely original,” said the composer of super hit scores for films,including Dus,Om Shanti Om,Bluffmaster and Musaafir. Vishal also writes lyrics and every time he does,it is a huge hit,an example being ‘Sheela ki jawani’ in Tees Maar Khan. “It is like what Javed Akhtar said—sometimes,you give the bat to a kid and he hits a boundary,” was his modest take on the success.