Musician Bickram Ghosh makes acting debut

Oscar-nominated percussionist and music composer Bickram Ghsoh may not be as prolific in Bollywood as he is in Bengali cinema, but the few films he’s composed music for, have generated a fair amount of interest. “I think I compose less in Bollywood because I don’t wish to live in Mumbai. It’s just too much on edge for my artistic comfort. But I’m still open to more offers and my living in Kolkata is never a deterrent for directors as I comfortably shuttle between the two cities,” says Bickram, who has composed music for films such as Little Zizou, Jal and Sooper se Ooper. Recently, he’s scored music for Band of Maharajas and for Harsh Chayya’s directorial debut, Khajoor Pe Atke.

Tell us about your acting debut opposite Chitrangada Singh.

I’m scoring for Girish Malik’s Band of Maharajas starring Chitrangada Singh and yes, I’m acting in it too! I play an Afghan percussionist in the film. Girishbhai had seen my shows and he’s shot my video Vande Mataram in 2012. He also shot Sonu Nigam and me for the music video of the song Zalima from Jal. He felt that my screen presence was cinematic and finally invited me to act in this wonderful film which has music as its core.

Tell us about the tracks of your last release, Khajoor Pe Atke.

In an age of heavy-duty programming the songs (and background score) have a ‘live’ feel, which I think is a rarity nowadays. Ao Na Dekha and is kind of small-town meets big city in the choice of voices. Then there is the instrumentation — harmonium, tabla, dholak, sarangi, mandolin and my own array of world percussions including udu, darboukka, talking drum and frame drums. Sumdi Me Jhol is an item number which is raunchy, yet in its melodic content and arrangements, is off the beaten track. Duniya jaye is the only number where some electronica has been used.

Harsh Chaya sang one of the songs as well. Was it an impromptu decision?

I got Harsh to sing Dhoka, a tragi-comic number as it needed a fair bit of acting and he really pulled it off! It was an impromptu decision as I had heard his voice. He used to sing the lyrics when he sent them to me. I changed the melodies but retained his voice.