A new music album created for a musical in Japan explores being a dreamer in Mumbai

A still from the ongoing musical. Pic courtesy/@min-on

It is said that nearly 200 people migrate to Mumbai from all parts of India every day. This commonly shared aspiration to make it big in the city of dreams comes to life as the fictional character of a small-town boy reaches here in music composer Dhruv Ghanekar's recently released album, Mumbai Star.

It consists of 19 original tracks composed for the eponymous ongoing musical in Japan. Produced by Devika Shahani Punjabi and directed by Nadir Khan for a Japanese non-profit Min-on Concert Association, the line-up features big names like Sunidhi Chauhan, Ravi Chary, Nakash Aziz and Kunal Ganjawala, alongside emerging artistes. "I started working on the tracks much earlier, in February. Unlike a movie, a musical requires you to work on the songs from premature stages. It needs to follow a chronology," Ghanekar shares.

Stony Psyko and Sunidhi Chauhan record their tracks for the album. Pics courtesy/Wah Wah Records

His second original release from his label, Wah Wah Records, will massage your Mumbaikar pride, shatter it, and then build it back up from the scratch. The story follows the life of a boy who arrives in Mumbai with a dream to pursue his career as a dancer. Its first song followed by an instrumental overture is the title track, Mumbai star, featuring Aziz and Ganjawala. The ideal welcome song, it begins with the high brassy tones of a tutari, followed by dhol and a burst of other Indian instruments. It is the kind of song that takes over the streets of the city during Ganeshotsav.

We are then introduced to the characters through a nine-minute track, Dhol baja re by Yatharth and Rajiv Sundaresan. Mumbai nagariya, featuring Zeenia Roy is the next; here the sounds from a market, traffic and a railway station take over, highlighting how an outsider warms up to the cacophony. This translates into Kai re kai by Stony Psyko, that places the city on a pedestal, reflects on its proliferating hip-hop culture and romanticises the diverse languages; ‘Hava aane de, time khoti kar nai bhai,' raps Psyko in the typical Mumbaiyya slang.

What's a Bollywood extravaganza without romance? In Chauhan's Hey u, the protagonist falls in love with a rich girl that makes way for the introduction of his mentor; this is followed by a few instrumental songs that introduce us to a kathak competition; a victory leads us to Yatharth Ratnum's track, Rise in fame.

Dhruv Ghanekar

This is followed by another instrumental piece, The downfall by Ghanekar, which captures the protagonist's confused emotions as he loses his morals through quick-paced music, before it all falls back in line. "And everybody lives happily ever after," Ghanekar shares, to our relief, adding that they had to dumb down a few tracks to make it palatable for the audience. "We knew that the musical will cater to international audiences, hence, both the story and songs were simple. It's like watching opera, where you may not understand much but the music expresses enough to resonate. While our kathak pieces were created with absolute purity to honour the tradition, other songs were Bollywood-ised to maintain the charm of the Indian film music," he adds.

The musical will tour 20 cities in Japan, and has had 15 sold-out shows till date. While the shows commenced in early November, Ghanekar released the album across music platforms last week. "The musical shows the city in its most theatrical and over-dramatised essence. I am overwhelmed by the response [the musical and the album] have received. The upcoming shows are all sold-out as well. We hope that the music reaches enough audiences so that we can stage it in Mumbai soon," he signs off.

Log on to: Mumbai Star on Spotify; @wahwahrecordsofficial