The brilliant young award-winning music director Shantanu Moitra was busy catching up with the birds in the sky (more crows than any other birds) thanks, he says, to this punctuality ki bimari… he suffers from in these not-so-punctual times!… But it’s his fault, really, because he was before time for our pickup to Musical-e-Azam.
Speaking to him is like speaking to a Nat Geo expert! Moitra speaks of how the Tiger is the only species in which the mother protects the baby from its father! So why did he concentrate upon music and not become a naturalist or astronomer (yup, he loves astronomy too; has viewed the milky way in smog-free Ladakh!). The reason, he says, is simple: Music comes to him naturally, since his advertising days. Bole mere lips, I Love uncle chips!… was his composition!
Shantanu likes observing people a lot. And spoke to us about Sukhwinder’s genius in his ad days! Apparently Sukhi ji drew graphs of how he would sing, on the wall! And that Sukhi ji brews alcohol at home!
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His warm up with all singers is that he asks them to sing their latest hit songs, and that gets the singer and him to bond full on. That, in fact, is how most of his songs are composed over a jam session. Like it was not known to lyricist Swanand Kirkire that Baanwra Mann was being recorded while he was casually singing the song for the musicians!
My co-host Salil loves Yahaan, Shantanu’s first film in Bollywood, and a first in many other respects! The first time he worked with Gulzaar sahab, Shaan, Shreya! In Kashmir, Urzu Urzu Dur Kut is the common greeting. It means, â€?May your knees remain healthy’, since the Kashmiris keep climbing up and down mountains, an obviously, their knees to be strong! Gulzaar sahab travels extensively like Shantanu and picks up phrases like these!
We also put Shantanu in a spot when we told him we believed Pal Pal is a TOTAL copy of Cliff Richards’ U Are My Theme For A Dream. But Shantanu didn’t deny it. He said they should have asked for the copyrights which they didn’t! Salil and I were blown away by the honesty!
Shantanu was sporting enough to sing a song on the Paadam dialogue of Chatur from 3 Idiots, which describes various kinds of … er… expulsions of wind! Lol!
He also loves photography and every year comes out with a calendar with pictures from all of his travels. He often travels to Pune for his stargazing sessions! In fact that was the reason he bonded with Gulzar sahab – you see, both are astronomers! In fact, it was also how he got to work with the great writer. He told us how Gulzar sahab once just casually said to him, We keep meeting for and discussing astronomy and what not; why don’t we work together?… And that’s when Shantanu asked his friend Shoojit Sirkar, the director of Yahaan. Shoojit just fell down with disbelief when I told him he could work with Gulzar sahab!…
Shantanu’s zest for life is also because he has seen death up close while still very young! Some gunmen had attacked the Bengali area he lived in Delhi, but the man who fired at Shantanu could not hurt him because, thanks to the hand of God, his gun jammed,… says Shantanu. Then the gunman tried to hit him, but because Shantanu had played so many sports, his quick reflexes saved him and he rushed the other way. While the gunmen proceeded after being upset over not succeeding, they tried their jammed gun on an old man who had come out to walk his dog! That’s when Shantanu knew that death can strike anytime. Since then he enjoys every moment, loves meeting people, traveling to newer locations, and not stressing out over anything in life.
Films Shantanu has given music for have won National Awards — Antaheen, Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots. And Kunal Ganjawala especially congratulated Shantanu on MeA, saying the music had a huge role to play for the success of the films!
Shantanu is one of those melody makers whose 3 Idiots track All Iz Well is the reason kids have started eating without protesting! And Shantanu too is happy about the love and blessings mothers and kids alike are giving him.
To catch the fantastic journey from Musical-e-Azam with Shantanu Moitra, log on to www.planetradiocity.com and listen in to Fun ka Antenna this evening 5 pm onwards!
And MeA greets Shail Hada (Saawariya title track, Guzaarish title track) on Monday, 6th December 2010. Catch you then.
