She has composed songs independently but creating music for feature films is a different ball game, says playback singer Shruti Pathak. Her maiden effort was featured in the just-released "Dhak Dhak", a film about the life-altering journey of four women.
Directed by Tarun Dudeja, "Dhak Dhak" features Fatima Sana Shaikh, Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza and Sanjhana Sanghi in lead roles.
“There's the vision of a director, a producer. And then there's the film. There's a storyline. There are situations, there are characters that you have to keep in mind and compose. So, it was a different challenge for me, but I absolutely loved doing it,” said Pathak.
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The song, "Udd Udd", a frothy folksy tune sung by Pathak herself, is used to narrate the backstory of Manjiri, the character played by Sanghi in the film, she added.
According to musician, when it came to her singing career, there was no looking back after "Mar Jawaan" in Madhur Bhandarkar's "Fashion" almost 15 years ago.
“It was a completely tailor-made song for me. I couldn't have asked for a better debut. It opened the floodgates for me and whatever I am today is because of ‘Mar Jawaan’. And every other song that followed was because of it,” said Pathak.
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Born and brought up in Ahmedabad, Pathak said although she wanted to be a singer ever since she could remember, her family was particular that she first completes her education.
“And hence I finished my masters in psychology and then started singing,” she added.
But while growing up, she said she pursued learning Hindustani vocal, at the insistence of her father, who was keen on her becoming a singer. “In fact, my career now was more his dream,” she said.
Even though film music continues to be the popular space, Pathak believes these days an independent musician has a lot more choices.
“We did not have a separate music industry for many, many decades,” she said.
She recalled how the indie-pop music scene flourished in the 1990s, but post that there was a huge lag in non-film music.
“Now, finally, independent music is coming back to the forefront and it is really amazing because it gives every artist an opportunity to do something which they do not get in films,” she said.
Contrary to what is being feared – that AI assisted music would take away the job from musicians – Pathak said technology has in fact given a great edge to musicians, because they don’t have to wait for that big break in Bollywood.
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"You can create your own music or sing your own songs and put it out there for the audience to hear, say in YouTube or Spotify. Thanks to these platforms, sitting in the comfort of your home, you have the opportunity to reach out to the audience. I think it's really, really something,” added Pathak.
