Anurag Kashyap admits that an elaborate album is essential to his storytelling. The filmmaker then sees no reason for surprise that his next, Nishaanchi, has 15 songs. In fact, Kashyap, inventive as always, has even turned the opening disclaimer into a song titled Filam Dekho. “For the first time in our film, our disclaimer is a song. I love how Filam Dekho has shaped up,” he laughs.

What goes into making a 15-song album that doesn’t interfere with the story, instead enhances it? Kashyap says the idea is to work with different people and give them a free hand. The music of Nishaanchi — which marks the Bollywood debut of Aaishvary Thackeray — has five composers, including Anurag Saikia and Dhruv Ghanekar. The director says, “I shared my script with the music directors. Dhruv Ghanekar set the mood by recording three songs with Vijay Lal Yadav, and everyone took off from there. [Each composer] brought his own world. Also, in my life, I have never told a music director how to compose a song. I tell them, ‘Read the script, go by your feelings, and do your best’.”

Bhojpuri beats

Arijit Singh