Stringing for Bollywood

There’s no doubt that Argentinian musician Gustavo Santaolalla has given music to at least one of your favourite movies — take your pick from Amores Perros, The Motorcycle Diaries, North Country, Brokeback Mountain, Fast Food Nation, Babel… the list goes on.

In terms of accolades he has won two Academy, Bafta and Grammy awards each and 12 Latin Grammy awards. Now, he is set to compose music for a Bollywood film. Interestingly, Santaolalla hasn’t seen a single Bollywood film till date.

“Though I have seen some films in bits and pieces, I haven’t been able to see a complete Bollywood movie till date,” says Santaolalla, whose only memory of an Indian film is Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali. “You can say that it was my only tryst with Indian cinema,” he adds.

Santaolalla, who is composing the music for actor Aamir Khan’s wife Kiran Rao’s directorial debut, says she was so adamant in roping him for the film that she took a flight to LA just to meet him once.

“Kiran narrated the entire story (of the film) to me. So, it was not hard for me to compose for the film,” says Santaolalla.

Santaolalla says he’s “had wild days in the past” but now he’s through with those. “Now I am very content with my family (daughters Ana, Luna, son Don Juan and wife Alejandra). I have left my past behind and I am looking forward to my future and Indian cinema features prominently in it,” Santaolalla ends.