Tuning in/ On a musical trail

Coming from a family of musicians, Sohail Sen clearly knew where his heart belonged. The composer, who is currently in the news for presenting a unique mix of melodies in Ali Abbas Zafar’s Gunday, is the son of Sameer Sen (of the Dilip Sen – Sameer Sen duo); which makes him the fourth generation musician of his family to enter the industry.
Ask him about his beginnings and Sen quips, “Carrying the legacy forward was obvious, as my father’s work has been a huge influence on my life.” Sen started learning music at the age of six, which included various instruments and he also learned classical music from his grandfather, Shri Shambhu Sen. His first stint as a music director was at the age of thirteen, when he worked on a telefilm called Roshni, where he worked with singer Kavita Krishnamoorthy. He later went on to assist his father and uncle for several years, until he got his first break as a music composer in films with Sirf in 2008, followed by The Murderer; both of which went unnoticed. He finally got a breakthrough with What’s Your Rashee in 2009 and then, there was no looking back.
Sen is proud that his compositions in Gunday have been well appreciated, with Tune Maari Entriyan already becoming a rage. When Sen was roped in, Zafar gave a detailed briefing to him and told him about the exact requirements. The film is a period drama set in Calcutta of the 1970’s. Although the songs required a touch of the retro, it had to be relevant to current times, for which the inclusion of contemporary tunes was a must, and Sen worked on it accordingly. “Working on the album was a great experience. Creating a mélange of songs is always very challenging, but it is satisfying at the same time as I had to compose songs not only in Hindi, but Bengali as well. It was great fun as we are the same team as in Mere Brother Ki Dhulan (Ali Abbas Zafar, Irshad Kamil and Sen), which brought a sense of comfort and flexibility, while working together for the second time.” The composer has worked with lyricist Sanjay Das Gupta on the Bengali version of the album and he is extremely happy with the way people have accepted the songs. Sen mentioned that although a lot of people think it must have been a cakewalk for him as he is a Bengali himself, he does not know the language and so it was a new experience for the composer.
Although the composer has worked on several big projects in the past, we have seen very little of his work. When asked if he is being selective, the composer stated, “Yes, I am a little selective with my choices as nowadays, there are multiple composers in most of the albums and I am completely against that approach. In such cases, the credibility of a composer goes for a toss and he is not able to show his versatility. If you see my previous work, I have experimented with various genres and I am proud of that. I feel a composer should get a chance to compose all sorts of genres.” The singer also mentioned that he does a lot of research to understand the genre and requirements of the project that he is working on.
Currently, the composer is working on a film called Guns of Benaras and is also in the process of signing a few more projects for the second half of 2014. Although he is in no rush to cut an album, Sen is planning to release a single very soon. Ask him if he would like to croon a song again in the future (like he did in What’s Your Rashee?), Sen smiles and concludes, “Music will always be my first love. I have tried or trained to become a singer. It just happened by chance.”

priya.adivarekar@expressindia.com