Music Composer Dhruv Ghanekar Talks About Composing Music For Netflix's Show ‘Choona’ Ft. Jimmy Shergill

Music composer, song writer, producer and guitar player Dhruv Ghanekar is best known for composing songs for Kangana Ranaut's ‘Dhaakad’ and has performed with contemporary musicians such as Richard Bona, Raul Midon, Trilok Gurtu, Ustad Zakir Hussain, A.R Rahman to name a few.

Now his upcoming work as a composer is Netflix's series ‘Choona’, a heist comedy drama, written and directed by Pushpendra Nath Misra, starring Jimmy Shergill, Aashim Gulati, Vikram Kochhar, Chandan Roy, Namit Das among others.

Giving insights about the soundtracks in ‘Choona’, Dhruv shared, "Choona is crime ‘dramedy based in a small town in north India. Pushpendra Mishra - the director of the show has a terrific aesthetic and writing style that is deeply rooted in north Indian culture. .We were actually working on another project when he told me about the subject of the show and I was immediately hooked. The sound is not rustic or typical at all. Pushpendra ( Pushpi - as he is fondly known) pushed me to experiment and explore a more cinematic sound that juxtaposes itself against the gritty images. Since this was my 1st web series that I had worked on I had to re-calibrate a lot of my processes in order to take advantage of the long form style of storytelling. The show is highly entertaining and a lot of fun to watch and my job was to keep the momentum and pace always moving forward!"

Sharing about the challenges of working on a long form content for the first time, Dhruv mentioned, "I began working on the show in 2021, during the pandemic. The whole process of making music had changed during that time. The 1st part of the process was composed in complete isolation as I began work at the peak of the pandemic. The show initially had a much more serious tonality, hence it was my job as the composer to gently shift the mood of the series into more of a dramedy. Things were coming along , until Covid struck some of the cast members and the entire schedule came to a grinding halt."

He further said, "Finally, after several months the shoot commenced and the almost 6 months after which the show was being readied for post production. The cost and implication of Covid related delays meant that the original music teams had moved on to other projects and I had to assemble a new team in a short period of time. Also the tonality had changed and hence, I had to shift the tone from dark to a lighter more action based sound in order to add some brevity to the show. The overarching brief was to make it entertaining and fun to watch without diluting the dramatic moments. The challenge was to keep the show entertaining without using cliches and also keeping it dramatic without it becoming too serious! But as the old adage goes - “All's well that ends well…” We managed to finish the music in time for the release."

Talking about what audiences should expect, he signed off by saying, "It’s a very Indian show with elements like astrology and jugaad but also has a slickness and finish of an international thriller while keeping the story at the centre. The music is phenomenal and adds the layer of intensity that makes it a cool dark comedy. The show has a haunting title music that is dark & evocative that is in contrast to the fun lightness that the show actually has. We hope that the audiences enjoy the show and the story telling. We had a lot of fun making it, despite the challenging conditions during the lockdown.The sound is wide and a mix of old and new, cinematic and local elements. It's highly entertaining.”

‘Choona’ is all set to premiere on August 3, 2023.