Clinton Cerejo and Bianca Gomes on composing music for Baramulla

What started with a song turned into a fullfledged score for the movie While Clinton Cerejo and Bianca Gomes who form the band Shor Police werenrsquot sure they had the time to go beyond composing the songs for Baramulla the outpouring of love over the last 15 days has validated their decision In a chat with midday the duo talks about creating the soundscape of the Netflix horror filmExcerpts from the interviewTake me back to when Baramulla came your wayGomes Initially we were called on board to only compose one song After we saw the film we were asked to do the score Since it was a tight timeline we were apprehensive But the film was so beautifully shot that we were happy to adjust our schedules and meet the deadlineA still from lsquoBaramullarsquoWhat was director Aditya Suhas Jambhalersquos briefCerejo Aditya was one of the most open directors we came across He had a temp temporary score but he was eager to hear what we have Thatrsquos rare because often directors get so used to the temp score that they find it difficult to disconnect from it For them nothing you do will match up to that score because theyrsquove lived with it for so longGomes He wanted the music to sound new In horror films you have the same kind of music and the audience is led in a certain way So itrsquos easy to go down that same path But Aditya wanted the music to be a reflection of the landscape Wersquove used instruments like the rababBackground score has been overlooked so much that if a musicianrsquos name is attached to a project itrsquos believed they only composed the songs Whatrsquos your takeCerejo When you think of movies you think of the songs associated with them Nobody used to talk about a filmrsquos background score As a result even if composers got to do the background score theyrsquod feel itrsquos not worth spending their time Composers like ShankarEhsaanLoy and AR Rahman do both In Bollywood when you say that someone is a film composer yoursquore most likely referring to the one who has composed the songs In Hollywood film composers are those who do the background score Here the score has been largely ignored not just by the public but also by the industry People donrsquot want to be score composers because they donrsquot get the respect they deserveThe issue is also the concept of multiple composers in a film You wouldnrsquot get 12 cinematographers to shoot your film So why do you get 12 composersWhenever I see two musicians together I think lsquoHow do they manage to be in tune with each otherrsquo Do you two fightGomes Oh a lotCerejo One of us will walk out of the studio mostly me laughsGomes Musicians in a band are always having creative differences So you can imagine how many differences there will be when two people are in charge of writing a song But when you team up with someone you have to make room for their opinions I give Clinton credit for that because it takes a lot of openness from someone who is more experienced to say lsquoWe are a teamrsquo If you canrsquot leave your ego at the door yoursquoll have a problem