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Journalism of Courage
More than the action on stage, it is the music in the background that grabs your attention. None of the musical pieces are from a single track. Put together beautifully, one wonders about this seamless effort. On asking who the person in-charge of the background music is, pat comes the reply, 8220;Nandu kaka, of course!8221;
Nandu Pol, 49, dwarfed by the cruel hands of nature, never let his handicap deter him as he entered his world of passion 8211; music and theatre. His love for music began when he was a child, thanks to his father, a noted musician. It was only during his sojourn with the theatre academy where he acted in memorable plays like Ghashiram Kotwal that he started taking interest in the musical aspects of theatre presentations. With stalwarts like Ravindra Sathe, Deepak Oak, Mohan Gokhale as his colleagues and his penchant to learn, he was soon giving musical scores to many academic theatre presentations.
It was on a trip abroad that he was introduced to equipment that enabled music directors to create special effects. Slowly, as time and money would permit, he procured the equipment needed to create good musical pieces.
Today, he is the proud owner of a well-equipped studio, Neha Audio Effects named after his daughter, which has been used by many who need a good track for sequences in their productions. He has an exhaustive collection of pieces, classified as Special Effects, Individual Instrumental, Individual Western, Theme Music. Ranging from soft classical to pop, mystic and meditative to the gruesome sounds of executions and tortures, he has them all. And when someone challenges him with pieces outside his collection, he creates the required effects personally.
8220;Exposure to foreign music channels and TV has introduced the younger generation to multi-track sequences and effects. Hence the concept of using special effects was worked on.8221; During most of the competitions, the students rush to Pol kaka to record their tracks. Having a theatre background and an ear for music, he knows the nuances of theatre and can quickly decide on the appropriate piece.
His clients include not just college students, but schools, industries, organisers of Ganpati festivities. When he realised that often voices of people were required along with the jingles, he slowly gathered a team of writers, actors and recording artists, who have been working for the last 10 years, making his studio a composite set-up. For the past 20 years, he has been juggling his passion for music with his job at the B.J. Medical College.
Today, he has many new projects on hand. His most challenging assignment was in a play performed at an inter-collegiate competition, which had no dialogues. His music spoke the language, telling the story and emoting to create the required effect. So the next time you want to stage a presentation and need a banshee wailing in the background or similar, you know where to go.
