Beethoven doesn’t usually walk into a black comedy set inside a haveli. But in 2025, he does. Also, he doesn’t sound like you remember him. In actor-turned-director Anshuman Jha’s debut feature Lord Curzon Ki Haveli, the German composer’s timeless motifs are torn apart, stretched, distorted, and reborn. It’s a bold decision Jha has taken to take the most sacred pages of Western classical music and set them against a biting satire with irony, menace, and absurdity. To make this happen, Jha tapped Belgian composer Simon Fransquet, whose approach to sound design matched the director’s instinct for contrasts. Together, they set out not just to “use” Beethoven but to ask — what would he sound like in 2025?

For Jha, the idea goes back to his own encounters with Beethoven. When we sit across from him for a conversation, Jha tells me, “I was exposed to Beethoven records in my childhood and also when I learnt to play the keyboard. His pieces are timeless and haunting in a way which aligns with the genre of our film. I was reintroduced to them inside lifts in Mumbai. As a debutant film maker, I wanted to play with contrasts. And sound design is a critical element to the cinema viewing experience; less is more when it comes to music. Beethoven is precise, almost sacred — and setting that against the chaos of a black comedy like Lord Curzon Ki Haveli, set in the West, creates a tension that feels both absurd and profound. In 2025, these classical pieces aren’t just background music, they’re ironic narrators, amplifying the madness inside the haveli while reminding us that human folly, like great art, is eternal.”