My grandfather is responsible for 99% of the music in Bollywood" - Monty Sharma

By: Faridoon Shahryar, IndiaFM

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

"The music of Saawariya is going to be a rocking madness; it won't disappoint people who are expecting the world from the next Sanjay Leela Bhansali film after a songless Black," says Monty Sharma, the music composer who is making his debut with Bhansali's much anticipated Saawariya that is also serving as the launch-pad of star-kids Ranbeer and Sonam Kapoor.

As a keyboardist, Monty played for many music directors like Sajid-Wajid, Nikhil-Vinay, Milind Sagar, Sanjeev-Darshan etc. but he gained recognition when he was asked by Ismail Darbar to do the music arrangements for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (title track) and Nimbuda. Bhansali saw the spark in him and asked him to do the background score for his Shahrukh-Aishwarya starrer Devdas and also the Devdas theme that was featured on the audio cd of the music soundtrack. After parting ways with Ismail, SLB assigned Monty the Herculean task of designing the background score for Black.

"When Sanjay ji narrated Black, he wanted music for a deaf, dumb and blind character. He said that it should touch a person in the simplest way. I composed a small theme and he simply loved it. The visuals of the film were very powerful. And when there is Sanjay ji as the director, Amit ji and Rani as artistes, I had to push the limits to get the best out of myself," says Monty. How did it feel when Mr Bachchan praised your effort during his speech at the Filmfare Awards? "That was the greatest honour. To be praised by Amit ji was a great morale booster."

Monty won the best background score award at Screen, Filmfare and Zee. From here on he wishes to do some really good stuff as music is passion for him. But as he is climbing the stairs of success, he also wants to acknowledge the role played by his grandfather Pandit Ram Prasad Sharma, who according to him is responsible for 99% of the music in Bollywood. "He started playing Trumpet in the 1930s and 1940s. It was an era when even Naushad sahib was not on the scene yet. He taught many of the music directors like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Uttam Singh, Anu Malik etc. Due to his experience, his observation was invaluable. I learnt piano from him. I never use any samplers or artificial forms of music making that most of the people are doing these days. He taught me the importance of originality. And that's my biggest plus point."

So, apart from Saawariya, any other film offers? "Yes, there are quite a few. But I would like to do full justice to Saawariya first of all and then think about something else." Being the blue eyed man of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, you must be inviting envy quite-a- plenty. "I don't think about all that. But I guess, when you are moving up in life, there are bound to be some tongues wagging and if there are no attempts to pull you down, then you are going nowhere." Finally, could you tell us something about the sound of Saawariya. "My lips are sealed. Can't talk anything about it right now. But as I had said earlier, it will be rocking."