Arko Pravo Mukherjee is the sort of unassuming guy, who does his work for the day and moves on to his next project with a single-minded perseverance. The composer began his Bollywood career with 2012’s Jism 2 and hasn’t looked back since. The man has been part of multi-composer albums and in our conversations, he has never come across as the sort to gossip about the people he has worked with.
Arko Pravo Mukherjee is the sort of unassuming guy, who does his work for the day and moves on to his next project with a single-minded perseverance. The composer began his Bollywood career with 2012’s Jism 2 and hasn’t looked back since. The man has been part of multi-composer albums and in our conversations, he has never come across as the sort to gossip about the people he has worked with.
That’s what I like about Arko. He’s opinionated for sure and it’s the sort of trait that works in this industry. His last Bollywood outing was with Kapoor & Sons and saw him debut as a singer with Saathi Rey, a track with lyrics written by Manoj Muntashir along with him.
You’ve been around for quite a while. Why debut as a singer so late into your career?
We do send a lot of demos with our voices around. And at several times in the past, there have been discussions about me singing a track. It has not always been my call, though. A number of people are involved in the decision-making process. This time, it was Karan Johar and Shakun Batra who decided they wanted my voice for the song. 'Saathi Rey' had my voice in the demo and we didn’t dub with anybody else.
That being said, you have worked with rank newcomers (Vipin Aneja and Nilofer Wani come instantly to mind) as well as bigger names like KK, Ali Azmat and Shafqat Amanat Ali as well. How different is it working with fresh singers than it is with the more established ones. Do some people come with their own baggage?
Not really. None of the senior singers come with baggage. They are all very nice people. Probably, the newcomers or debutantes are more raw, and they can spend more time in a week to come for recordings. I think there can be a little difference in the amount of time spent by the senior singers than the young upcoming ones. After all, making somebody sing your song is a different art altogether. The music director needs to know that. I try to find the right voice to suit my song perfectly.
A glance through your Twitter feed shows a lot of bonhomie between you and other composers, especially with those on Kapoor & Sons.
They are all my buddies. It never seems like a problem to me. I have worked with Tanishq Bagchi earlier. The others I have known for a while. They are all good at what they do. I don’t think there’s any discomfort between us. At least, that’s my way of seeing things.
Your music has a distinct style. You’ve revisited old tracks twice and I’m guessing it was a trend then. Tomorrow, if it’s a Punjabi pop wave, would you ride it and give it the Arko touch?
If I like what I hear, then I can make peace with it. But till I don’t understand it, I wouldn’t like to jump on it.
What will we hear you in, next?
Rustom, starring Akshay Kumar and Baar Baar Dekho with Dharma, again.
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 "Arko Pravo Mukherjee")
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