Richard Watson of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a bass player, who was on a three-week holiday to India, decided to meet music director Pyarelal of Laxmikant-Pyarelal and came away with plans for a collaboration.

“I had come for a personal holiday, but decided to meet Mr Pyarelal before I left for London as I heard about him through a friend. I heard some of his compositions when I met him and they are lovely. I am going to go back and plan a collaboration,” says Watson who travelled across Jaipur, Delhi, Agra, Ranthambore, Srinagar and other cities before coming to Mumbai to meet the veteran of Indian film industry.

Watson had earlier collaborated with singer Kavita Krishnamurthy to successfully merge Bollywood tunes, Indian classical and Western classical music during London’s Royal Festival. “I am interested in collaborations in India. Mr Pyarelal has a huge amount of experience,” he says.

Pyarelal (who has not been composing music for films) has been looking for interesting avenues to expand himself and his music. “Watson is British and is a bass player. His wife is Hungarian and she plays the cello. They heard some of my work and liked it. We are planning a concert together,” he says, “Initially they thought I could compose in the World Music genre, but I would like to create a Pan Asian sound and a meeting of Indian classical and Western music.”

Pyarelal has been disillusioned by the sounds in Bollywood today and finds himself a misfit, though his hunger for film music is still alive. “With due respect to all my music director friends, I think they are recycling what we and others of my generation had done. Plus, I don’t think it is real music. Do you remember any of the songs once the film is released and gone? Very few.”

“Inme shayari bhi nahi hai. I told Javedsaab. Those were the days when you wrote Dard De Dil and now it’s the time for Dard De Disco,” he says jokingly.