Jeet Gannguli has carved his own niche when it comes to creating some of the most lauded musical albums in the Indian music industry. In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, the maestro takes us through how music happened to him, the influences that he had in his journey with legendary musicians, the treatment of music in films these days, and more.
“Music and nature are the best medicines to nourish one’s soul,” they said. And being a strong believer in the same is Indian music composer Jeet Gannguli, who is the 18th generation musician in his family. Isn’t that something ‘awe-inspiring’ to hear? Beyond any doubt, his works, including Blood Money, Aashiqui 2, Suno na Sangemarmar, and Muskurane ki Wajah, among many others, have been the result of the influence that he’s gotten from his family.
At the tender age of 5, not only did he begin playing tabla but also started singing Rabindra sangeet (also known as Tagore Songs), which are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore. Not only just Indian music, but Jeet had also learned jazz and rock from jazz guitarist Carlton Kitto. Not only has he had the influence of music under the guidance of his father, Kali Ganguly, but also some legendary veteran musicians, including Hari Haran ji, Ghulam Ali Khan sahab, Tanab Mukherjee in Kolkata, Aarti Mukherjee, Manna Dey Pancham da, Sunny Chaudhary, and Kishore da. Surprisingly, at such a young age, he didn’t even know that he was composing a song, which was noticed by his dad. Would you believe it if we said that song had been used in films back then too? Yes, it is! “My dad gifted me a tape recorder on my birthday, and I recorded my first song on that,” said the musician while in conversation with us.
An unknown fact: the Baatein yeh Kabhi Naa composer has worked in theatre too. In fact, he had also composed music for theatre. “Back then, in the 80s and 90s, I had worked in theatre too, and had done acting and music as well.” But his heart was always towards music. “My dad always used to say, “You should know any one of the instruments to become a composer,” and that was when he gifted me my first guitar. After I learned to play guitar from Carlton sir, I came to Mumbai (then called Bombay) in 1996 and worked on the title song of a few serials.” And thus began his journey into the musical world, now with over 100 Bengali films and Bollywood films to his credit, including Black Money, Aashiqui 2, and Hamari Adhuri Kahani.
Did you also wonder what his music-making process is like, just as we did? He keenly responded, “How music is made, no composer can actually tell you actually. I believe that music and nature are very close to each other. I travel a lot, and I enjoy nature and greenery a lot. For instance, in Khamoshiyan, I had no instrument and made this in nature without any instrument, and the same was true with the other album, Baatein yeh kabhi na. I compose most of my songs without any instrument.”
The melodies had credited several veteran musicians that we’d mentioned above, but there’s also another legendary Bengali composer, Sudhin das Gupta, that he credits and says, “He was like my godfather, though I had never met him. My dad had met him, and the compositions he made and the techniques he used were fantastic. I do listen to other music too, but the music that’s composed in India by veteran musicians who have composed some amazing songs is way enough for us.”
Music speaks only one language, ‘Love’. Having worked in the Bengali as well as Hindi music industries, he recalled, “My father used to say one thing: ‘Music never has a language. You work in any of the languages, you gotta do it properly. Put your 100% into it. It can be in any language. Aapko jaan aur dil lagake kaam karro.” The only difference is the budget in regional cinema, which is less, and the language of the script is different; everything else is the same. But what my dad has always told me and even I believe is that jiss mitti mai aap bade hue ho, wahan aapko humaesha kaam karna chahiye and that is what I’ve done. It was in fact for my dad because he was like, You are working in Bombay, but apna mitti joh hai usko bhulna matt.”
“From 2004, I’ve been doing Bengali films, and my first film in Bollywood was when Mukesh ji heard one of my Bengali songs, Hojibo Raatbe raatbe, and later this song became Joh Teri sang Kaati Raatein in Hindi, so here it becomes the same thing when music has no language. Music should just reach hearts, and that’s enough,” shared the singer; for him, Aashiqui 2 was his biggest turning point.
Going ahead, he also highlights that now there are fewer musical films being made, where music has been given equal treatment as the film. Being a composer, “I think and understand that if there’s less music in films, then you should make independent music.”
It’s no surprise that we’ve seen a boom in independent music, which has led to new budding artists rising. It’s not a piece of cake to make your own mark in any industry, and with not enough opportunity, many talents are being hidden somewhere down the line. And so, to bring up more and more talents, the connoisseur has recently unveiled Jeet Gaanguli originals. Let’s hear what he has to tell us about it. “For this, I’m not only going to work with the singers I’d earlier worked with, but I’m also going to bring new singers with some amazing talents onboard. With this, I can choose anyone whom I want to sing with because we’ve got to do for the society as well, right? Now that the remix trend is going strong, we don’t get to see much of the originals. I don’t do remixes. It’s not that if I don’t remix, no one else should either, but what I believe is that in Hindi cinema or elsewhere, remix should be just like 10 percent and 90 percent should be original. We hear a lot of these young talents, and I just love their songs. They are very talented. There are these 14- and 15-year-olds who sing brilliantly, and I want to work with them, and I feel even they should be given the opportunity to sing in films. If we make 90 percent of remixes, then you won’t get to hear anything new. Jeet Ganguly originals are very close to my heart, and I’m making tunes for them and trying to bring in new singers and artists. Anyone who sings or writes lyrics can send them to us, and if things go well, we can work together.”
Something that we’d also learned from the maestro about music in films is that “the 3-minute song that comes should not go off the track and away from the dialogues. For instance, in Aashiqui 2, the song is Chahun main ya na. Here you get to see the girl who is very interested in learning music but she’s not able to, so this was a learning process for her, and the song was also based on that, and even Irshad bhai followed it and wrote it. The lyrics and the dialogues of the film should be similar.”
His songs are a synonym for melodies, be it Hamari Adhuri Kahani, Khamooshiyan, et al. And that’s what comes to mind when he thinks of music. As the interview came to an end, he revealed that the title track of Hamari Adhuri Kahani, which is still adored by many of us, was written on the spot while Bhatt sahab was telling us the story. I have a habit: I always have my guitar while listening to the story. I was scared because the last part of the song was ready, but what about the beginning.”
