Sandeep Chowta scores thrice!

Whatever happened to Sandeep Chowta?, that's a question a layman would ask. Over the last decade, the man behind the hard-hitting and unforgettable background score for Satya (1998) and several other Ramgopal Varma films and a few Bollywood soundtracks found himself on the fringes of the mainstream music, as it were. In an industry where being seen and promoted matters, where competition and pressure are words du jour, when music directors/composers are celebrated over background musicians, Chowta has persevered. A rare breed, he believes in letting his work - Bollywood and otherwise and promoted or not - speak for itself. He has actively been part of the soundscape of Bollywood and Tollywood as well as international music in close to two decades. His last big score was for Rowdy Rathore and he's back with a bang in the Bollywood background music scene with three big upcoming releases: Gabbar, The Shaukeens and Action Jackson. In conversation with the man, who's living his dreams...

Where were you all these years?
I took time off in a way because I wanted to do my own thing, pursue my dream. And I think I have fulfilled it (making Matters Of The Heart). Looking back, ten years down the line, I have no regrets. I've done the music for Telugu films like Super and Bujjigadu with Puri Jagannadh and Nagarjuna. Short and Sweet from Nagarjuna-starrer Kedi with Brazilian guitar player Ricardo Silveira, Melvin Lee Davis on bass and drummer William Kennedy of the Yellowjackets, was also something I enjoyed, They also feature on Matters Of The Heart. I need to enjoy myself, if I need to get back to writing songs for Bollywood.

Much has changed in Bollywood over the years...
Yes, the whole music model... everything, has changed. Everybody wants to sit down with you and check what the next big sound is. I'm checking out the previews. A lot has happened, I agree. Everything's boiling down to EDM or lets say that in most cases everything needs to be EDMised.

It's everywhere...
I mean, it's nice to plunge into it and have some fun. It's a completely new scene and I would definitely like to give it a shot. Its a great learning to not mock genres you don't like. There is always something to learn from the unexpected.The new mantra for a lot of the new electronic music is to side chain everything. (he Laughs…)

Yo Yo Honey Singh's everywhere, too. Your thoughts on him?
There's something about that guy. I have a lot of respect for him. He knows what he's doing. He started out producing for people and when he realised that the artists would not stick with him, he decided to become the artist himself. There is something about his hooks that he gets them right most of the times.

But it's like any trend. How long can it last?
I guess when someone gets it right all the time, they're gonna be in demand. It's tough. There are times when we end up working on a project with three-four songs, eight months pass by , and just when the music is set to release, they tell you 'hit track' chahiye, just before the release. This happens because some track that just came out is the new smash hit and is majorly trending. What happens to the ones I made? Your music is always under pressure. This has resulted numerous composers finding a way into a film album which was meant to be entirely the job of one composer.

A lot of people resort to banking tunes in anticipation of this.
Banks do help a large group of people. When they come to you, asking you to create some music, they'll say something like, 'Abhi kuch sunao na?' I understand that they've been to 10 other places where people sit, ready to tell them, 'Aap kuch sunenge?' They come saying, "I know you have five-six baap songs. And... if you don't have them ready and people are still expect to hear something. And it's not a great feeling.

It's the world of singles.
I'll say, may the best song win. If it does well, the music company promotes it everywhere.

But never background scores.
Doing scores for films is a thankless job. A lot of people don't even know who the composer is. People who like your score and want to find out who the composer is tend to make the effort. Never the less I have a ball doing film scores.

Tell us about the kind of music you're doing for the background scores of The Shaukeens, Action Jackson and Gabbar.
Can't talk much about except that The Shaukeens is a mad, fun, party film. Like Rowdy Rathore and R...Rajkumar, Action Jackson is a complete entertainer by Prabhu Dheva, so expect to enjoy that too. Gabbar comes at the end of year and I'm sure thats going to be fun too

We didn't hear much about Matters Of The Heart.
Matters of the Heart from the outset is a niche product and was marketed as such. As far as the PR for the product was concerned, every time I tried to do an interview with regards to this product, everyone wanted to bring a Bollywood connect. So i decided not to discuss the product, except to give it out to those who wanted to review the album. It is my labour of love and the best way to appreciate the album is to actually listen to the album. With so many world class musicians onboard, it only grows on you every time you hear it. I did a project with Spyro Gyra a few years ago. Fewer will remember the album called A Foreign Affair had a track produced by me called " Khuda". This track featured the now famous Arijit Singh, making his international debut. It was definitely a radio friendly song and was in HINDI and would have made it to any Bollywood film, but still did not get any airplay as it was categorised as jazz. A lot of times your better songs do not get any airplay because the radio stations are promoting the "popular" promo song.

Not much else apart from Bollywood ends up getting airplay anyway. Not even much non-Bollywood music is being made these days.
You start merging down the two and you realise that Bollywood has taken over. You don't get a chance, slot or spot. I see this trend emerging very slowly in the indie music festivals also.

There are other mediums to seek promotions, like YouTube.
A YouTube channel is great for someone who wants to be noticed... performer types. I agree people have got massive contracts through YT and from a performer's point-of-view, you have to be seen there. These days, everybody comes from there... people use it for showreels even. I just don't like this new trend of putting your entire album on YouTube.

How interfering are film producers and directors in your line of work?
They are not interfering at all. Producers have spent loads of money on making a film and its only fair that they are allowed to be part of the creative process as they are bearing the entire risk too. They always like to contribute and most times they let me be in my creative process, or else they wouldn't have hired me.

The question is, do you get to experiment much?
I experiment all the time. But you have to understand, if it's an all out entertainer type film then the experiment will tend to stick out like a sore thumb. I was always known to be doing gangster film scores. Then I did Om Shanti Om. I began getting lot more offers for mainstream Bollywood movies. You can't be running the risk of holding back your music in a typical mainstream entertainer, the slapstick needs to punctuated. There are times when someone will tell you " have you left out something..?" and you know that not punctuating the score is what is being referred to. . An experiment is one thing, but I would want it to work with the film, to thoroughly enjoy it and have it thrust into a new place.

Anything you're excited about, of late?
There's this Tamil heist film called Rajathanthiram, which is being made by Gautham Menon's associates. They've completely left the background score to me. It's a dangerous situation because no one is there to tell me where to draw the line and I need to know that I am doing the right thing.

How is Sandeep Chowta Projects coming along?
So, we've been doing these shows every year since 2006 and mostly at St Andrew's in Bandra. Every year I get my arse kicked as its a bad situation with the sponsorship. You can't just ask international bands to fly down with one months notice. You go to the sponsor 3 months before, and they say you are too early. You book the band three months in advance and put your money where your mouth is and go back to the same sponsor a month before the date of the show as they had said, only to be told that we do not want to do anything this year. You need to realise that it is not just paying the band, but air travel, hotel bills, auditorium costs and entertainment tax that needs to be paid in advance. It involves a lot of paper work like getting the artists to come down with the appropriate visa. There is this inside joke that I do Bollywood films to support this. I would think that there are a lot of like minded people and musicians who would be looking forward to the show, but you would be surprised as to how many of them would ask for free passes. I am hoping to find 10 - 15 people like me and then maybe we can fly down the band we want and not worry about the sponsorship. Bringing down these artists was never on the basis of a return on investment plan.

Anything you rue about the state of affairs?
As a musician, I think we compartmentalise ourselves to being very attached to genres we like. We tend to be very biased and shun everything that's commercial. When millions of people like a certain genre of music you cannot discard that fact. I am always very curious to learn what is working for them. Not necessarily because I want to make the same music.

Back to the one biting question: Why haven't we heard of or from you in all this time?
Even the people closest to me tend to ask: 'Tu ab tak jazz mein hi hai?' Also, I've not been discussing the films I've been doing. Nothing has really made me go wow. I didn't want to do interviews because all they'd want me to do is discuss Bollywood films.

Sandeep's other B-Town scores
Kaun, Satya, Boom, Mast, Shool, Company, Vaastav, Om Shanti Om, Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya, Company, Asoka, Housefull, Breakaway, Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns, Paan Singh Tomar, Son Of Sardaar, R…Rajkumar, Rowdy Rathore

His Pop Music Scores
FOR OTHERS
Alisha: Alisha Chinai
VIVA!
Saath Mere Saara Jahaan: Sandeep Aacharya
Don't Touch Me: Sonu Kakkar
Sajni

FOR HIMSELF
Matters of the Heart
Mitti
Mallika I Hate You
Now That's Sandeep Chowta