A musical connoisseur all together that he has been, Pritam Chakraborty, aka Pritam Da, has won his first-ever national award. In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, he takes us through his humble beginnings, creating the music for the cult-film Life in a…Metro and more.
Tejal Sinha
Our guest today is a renowned musician who has journeyed from Kolkata to Mumbai, overcoming challenges to establish a legacy at the National Awards. So without any further ado, we bring to you our exclusive interaction with the none-other-than Pritam Chakraborty, who has created music for over 125 Hindi films during his two-decade-long career, earning many awards. But the composer is celebrating a significant day today, as he has just received his first National Film Award.
His music for Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (2022) captivated music lovers. Tracks such as Kesariya and Deva Deva are still being celebrated to such an extent that they continue to endure. Isn’t now the perfect time for us to share with you our exclusive interview with him, where he discusses his humble beginnings and much more?
“The journey has been amazing, but of course with a lot of ups and downs,” begins the music composer over a chat with us. But you know what, more than anything else, what’s something that he really enjoys and feels blessed about is working in a profession that he has always loved—music after all. “My work never felt like work. Even if I had to work for hours back-to-back, without even sleeping, I never felt even slightly exhausted because I just loved the work. Back then, we lived in a small house in Kolkata. Coming from a lower-middle-class family, back then, we just had a few professions like doctor, engineer, CA or professor. Initially, I was also supposed to be going in the same direction, though my love for music and playing in the band was on. I was hand-helped by destiny to accidentally reach the film institute.”
Studying at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTI) had changed his life. Unlike others, he never had a dream to travel down to Mumbai and work. But again, getting a chance to be selected in FTI, he by chance had applied in, he got selected and his life changed in such a way that his inclination towards music just kept growing and growing. Pritam, who got his big break for Tere Liye further recalls, “The ambiance of FTI was highly around the classics of Indian cinema. The faculty were so good. But though we had no special music course in FTI back then, there was a brilliant lecturer who was also into music. He kept orienting me in film score. FTI was a very important part of my journey.”
There was a time in his life, when he had to stay with over 10 people in a small apartment, 8 of whom were his seniors. As things went on, so did he start getting opportunities of Jingles, then came Tere Liye. In 2002, the duo we forever enjoy listening to; Jeet Ganguly and Pritam Chakraborty aka Jeet-Pritam were all in the news for their chartbuster songs in Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai. Later came in Dhoom, which was again a blockbuster that had also opened the doors for him in the industry.
Followed by many more of his compositions, the music of Life in a Metro had garnered critical acclaim, to date in fact. This film to him is all about memories. “Anurag is a friend and we happen to stay together in a building complex,” shares the tunesmith with great regards as he continues, “Anurag had narrated to me the story of Gangster and Life in a Metro in this garden, where both of us were sitting on this ‘jhula’ as he was narrating. Gangster was a different story altogether and a great one. But Life in a Metro, got me very excited. It was such a fresh film and the whole idea of the band being there was something new. Anurag is brilliant in cheating locations. He was good at shooting something somewhere and make it look like it was shot somewhere else. It has become such a cult movie that the sound we decided to take in was more like soft rock. It kind of worked out really well back then. Being on-screen wasn’t that much of a thing but being a part of such a project.”
How could we miss out on the opportunity of discussing with him about the much-awaited Metro….In Dino? Is there any sort of pressure to keep up with the nostalgic elements around Life in a…metro? “The pressure, don’t ask ( he laughs) Pressure lena hi mushkil hai,” humorously reveals the recipient of multiple Filmfare awards with The Pioneer. “If you take pressure, you certainly will not be able to match the essence or recreate something. 17 years later, that music has grown somewhere. It’s impossible to match that. I don’t think you should even try to match it because the music has lived for 17 years. It has seeped through and all this time, the sound has changed. The Metro 2, the sequel has no connection. I am not going to put a comparison in my head. We are not trying to take forward any of the songs. It’s just like a fresh soundtrack for me.”
Known for Jab We Met, Race, Kismat Konnection, Kidnap, Love Aaj Kal, Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahaani, Crook, Dum Maaro Dum and a lot more to the end-less list, Dangal marked his first film that was based on sports and had no romantic music. Guess What? The songs like Dangal title track, Haanikak Baapu and Dhakkad were all cracked one-after-one in just three days. “We were all travelling and had gone to Aamir Khan’s Panchgani house and there was some magic there. We finished these three songs in three days. But unfortunately, after that both Amitabh and I fell sick. Later, on the next trip, we cracked Naina and the other songs from the film. Dangal I was not expecting so much of love song-wise because this doesn’t have anything romantic but as I read the bound script, I was so happy.”
He also revealed that songs for Laal Singh Chaddha was also composed in the same way. Then came 83, which he was emotionally attached and still have the memories around it. But coming to Dangal, he said, “I was extremely moved. I had to leave a few films, just so I could do Dangal. Movies which had these item songs and love songs, the scope of music was not very high as it was in Dangal. AK wanted a very undivided attention. Dilwale and Bajrangi at the same time was going on. There was something about the script that I was like I have to do it. I was like mujhe yeh film karni hai. In Dangal, I had done the background music as well.”
Going ahead, one of the actors that he’s simultaneously worked with has been none other than Ranbir Kapoor. His association with the charming star dates back to Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahaani.
“Ranbir Kapoor is love. He is a director’s dream. I got to work with him closely in Barfi and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. When I saw him in Barfi, I told Anurag that there could hardly be anybody to have pulled out this role. He kinds of always moulds himself to the role and he is like Rishi ji, he is also a musical star. The Rockstar songs if you see, the way he has emoted himself, then in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, he emoted all of it through his eyes, which was stupefying for me and Arijit, as we were working after the songs were shot,” signs off Pritam, who has got some really big projects in his kitty including Metro 2, War 2 and Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, among the other ones.
