‘The composer is the profit… sets the destiny of a film’: Mithoon on being the highest paid composer in Bollywood, his global hit from ‘Saiyaara’ and the stories embedded in his music

Mithoon speaks in a low, measured voice; his pauses chosen carefully, just like they are in his warm melodies. After the car ride, Mithoon came home and composed ‘Dhun’. Last month, when the song arrived in Arijit Singh’s voice, it was relatively slow to climb the charts. But earlier this month, the song entered Spotify’s global Top 100, securing the 97th position; second to the film’s title song that became the first Indian song to make it to Spotify’s Global 50, landing at number 7.

In Mithoon’s legacy punctuated by ‘Tum hi ho’ (Aashiqui 2, 2013) — a song so embedded in a generation’s mind as the definition of longing — and others which carried emotional weight like the serene ‘Maula mere’ and ‘Tose naina’ (Anwar, 2007), ‘Tujhe kitna chahne lage’ (Kabir Singh, 2019), ‘Dhun’ doesn’t instantly draw you into its fold. It lingers a bit and gradually unfurls its essence. “Mohit wanted to draw out the troubled Krish Kapoor’s (Panday) silence,” says Mithoon, whose association with Suri goes back to ‘Zeher’ (2005) — Bhatt camp’s thriller and a debut for both 20-somethings. Mithoon re-arranged Pakistani band Jal’s ‘Wo lamhe’ for Atif Aslam then. It hit the ground running.

But what took the pressure off back then as well was that Suri never asked for a hit song. “He is always looking for a feeling. I have a lot of conviction when I work with him because I know he will do justice to my song,” says Mithoon.

Mithoon’s recent success also brought forth conversations about him, reportedly, being the highest paid composer in the Hindi film industry who takes home Rs 25 crore for a soundtrack. AR Rahman reportedly charges Rs 8 crore. In the current industry that measures the success of a composer through airtime and not longevity of a song, Mithoon feels it is all about the value one attaches to a composer, who, he says, has the ability to push a film towards massive success. He does not deny the figure but says, “I am glad that there is value for composers in general. The figures don’t really matter, the satisfaction of seeing people get emotional in cinema halls does. What would Jackie Shroff’s character in ‘Hero’ (1983) be without that flute piece? The same thing goes for my remuneration. I feel the composer is a profit in his or her own sense and he/she sets the destiny (of a film).”

Mithoon was raised in a household steeped in music. While his grandfather Pandit Ramprasad Sharma, a trumpet player and violinist, was a revered guru to many musicians, including Hridaynath Mangeshkar and Uttam Singh among others, he also taught his son Pyarelal, who eventually became one half of the famed duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal. The latter’s younger brother and Mithoon’s father Naresh Sharma arranged and laid out most of composer duo Nadeem-Shravan songs. “Since childhood, I have heard LP songs. These songs are a part of my DNA,” says Mithoon, who began learning keyboards and drums when he was 11.

Some years later, he trained in jazz piano from acclaimed pianist Tony Pinto. Mithoon says he enriched his sense of harmony, one which became one of his USPs. Besides training under his uncle Pyarelal during his college days, he also studied Hindustani classical music under Ustad Nasir Khan.

He was 20 and studying commerce at Mithibai college when Mukesh Bhatt asked his father to arrange for Zeher. But Sharma suggested his son take over since “the vibe was young.” Two years later, he composed the tender ‘Tose naina’ and ‘Maula mere’, which secured his place among the foremost composers of the time. It was followed by ‘Dil sambhal ja’ (Murder 2, 2011) followed by ‘Tum hi ho’, the gravitas of which still follows him around. Back then, it turned singer Arijit Singh’s life upside down. A former reality show contestant, Singh was doing sound production for composer Pritam when Mithoon insisted he sing the song.

In fact, it was recording for ‘Aashiqui 2’ and a search for a new voice that introduced Mithoon to singer and philanthropist Palak Muchhal, who is now his wife. He was impressed by the “dignity and discipline” she brought to their recording sessions. Marriage was suggested by his parents. “There was no texting, no dating, no nothing till it became everything,” says Mithoon with a quiet smile.

A lyricist himself, Mithoon also penned ‘Tum hi ho’ and ‘Dhun’ and believes that his music is imbued in the idea of storytelling. “We are a civilisation of storytellers. Even if there are two notes of piano and there is no story, I feel it is a waste,” says the love ballad expert, who is never uncomfortable with five composers in one film. “I have done full scores. But it is also true that some of my best music has been on shared soundtracks. I don’t see it from an insecure point of view,” he says.

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With AI stepping into the composing arena, Mithoon sees tech as an instrument to make music better and not a replacement for humans. “One’s vision towards music has to be clear and pure,” says Mithoon, who adds that imperfections in the voice are a part of beauty. “Which is why you will hear some of my songs, which aren’t touched up,” says Mithoon, who is currently recording the music of JP Dutta’s newest ‘Border 2’ where he will be working with Sonu Nigam. Will it be difficult to match the old ‘Sandese aate hain’? “I will never take away its sanctity. It’s my job to protect what is already beautiful,” says Mithoon. He is also working on an Anil Sharma project besides an EP titled Masters of Melody — a collaboration with indie artistes.