Mohan Kannan: It’s tough to deliberately sound bad

In what may best be termed as a glimpse into the collaborative conversations that take place within the studio as they join hands for The Playback Singer Chandan Roy Sanyal Mohan Kannan and Abbas Tyrewala pique curiosity with the promise of transporting us back to the rsquo90s as they narrate a tale of music and ambitionIn this interview they discuss the making of the project that promises to present a musical that film aficionados will rememberEdited excerpts from the interviewChandan yoursquove stated in past interviews that you believe the genre of romantic musicals has gone amiss What do you think has gone wrongChandan I wouldnrsquot say anything has particularly gone wrong When I was growing up in the rsquo90s and wasnrsquot exposed to world cinema my father would listen to music by Mohammed Rafi Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey It was always about music and storytelling through music If the music isnrsquot good audience members would sneak out for a smoke return and say that they couldnrsquot comprehend the film That magic is now missing Now itrsquos all about collaborations You never have two hands come together to take a story forward in the way that Mohan and Abbas have come together Itrsquos all about understanding what the character feels and how they take the story forwardMohan as a musician you would probably have an opinion on the best way to approach a musicalMohan Chandan had involved me in the production work right from the beginning it has been six years now Abbas and I have worked together in different capacities as comusicians and a director and composer tooIn this film the storytelling goes ahead with music We are back to lipsyncing Casting a singer has become important like it was in the past For instance if Kishore Kumar sang a song for an actor it appeared that that voice belonged to that actorChandan When Mohan would explain a song to the singer I could see him help them understand its emotion A singer may be skilled but to help them find the voice of the character is a different process Thatrsquos what you will get to see in this film The characters blend with the music which blends with the story and the filmWhat was the difference in your approach to creating music for the rsquo90sMohan In rsquo92 cassettes were on the way out and CDs were in In the rsquo80s people started to record singers and musicians separately That was a change that began to happen Also AR Rahman entered the industry then and changed its soundscape With Roja not only did he introduce a distinct south Indian flavour to music but there was a difference in the production too For me this was exciting Irsquod keep telling Chandan that we could divide the music of the film into pre and post Rahman That was an idea I held in my mind I was excited to show such a varied soundscapeTo highlight my point further Irsquod discuss casting the voice for the lead female character Suman We are showing her journey from being a less confident singer with a raw voice to one who goes to auditions and finds her place on the stage of the finale round of a competition I had to find a singer who could do justice to this journey with her voice mdash showcase rawness in the early part of the film and then mould it into a mature voice as she became better This was tough because itrsquos tough to fake that and make a singer sound bad deliberately So I had to make a composition that was not in the singerrsquos comfort zone so that she could sound raw but goodAbbas In commercial cinema it is not like we donrsquot have musicals But makers focus on songs that play a role in marketing instead of those that take a story forward Now we consider a film a musical if it has popular songs But this may not be accurate Our film of course is one that uses music to take the story forward Working on it has hence been enjoyableTo give you an example of how we are approaching it we have been discussing our take on one of the songs which will be in either Malayalam or Tamil We are considering how we should approach the songwriting for the translated Hindi version The lyricists then were not very accomplished so the writing wouldnrsquot sound as polished as a piece written by Gulzar would We are wondering if our translation should hence be one that doesnrsquot seem polished or wellrounded as it was then We aim to capture the same feel That is an enriching processMohan Also we are trying to create a back story for each song In one of the early scenes she sings for a few people on her terrace Wersquove given thought to why she would sing that song which is one that her grandmother would sing to her And the reason is that because itrsquos a song she has known since her childhood shersquos comfortable singing it As the film progresses and her personality changes you can see her become confident and ambitious At that point of time too we have thought about why she would select the songs that she doesSince this film tells the tale of a female protagonist was there ever the need to get a female musicianrsquos input for the music or the narrativeAbbas I came on board late but I think Chandan and Mohan would not have thought about it in terms of selecting a male or female writer Itrsquos an interesting question mdash to consider if a female lyricist would capture something about the protagonistrsquos frame of mind but as a storyteller Irsquod like to think I am accomplished in telling the stories of women tooMohan When we jammed with the singer we could see her character shine When she rendered it the song was built differently too it took shape The singers I know are extremely talented When they come on board they add character to a song in every wayIs there something else with regard to the musicmaking process that yoursquod like the readers to know aboutMohan We want to release the songs in the same order that they appear in the film so that the viewers can understand how the film proceeds We also donrsquot want the process to become too intellectual where the emotions get camouflaged This is also my tribute to a lot of the artistes I have grown up doting on like Rahman Jagjit Singh and Ilaiyaraaja among others For me to create something that pays tribute to them without aping them is gratifyingAlso ReadThe Kerala Story crosses Rs 100 croremark at domestic box officeusechatgpt init successusechatgpt init success