Former Bahrain resident and music composer Shivahari Varma is soaring through the world of Bollywood, after completing his first stint as musical director for Bandar, a film by renowned Indian director Anurag Kashyap.
The 26-year-old Indian expatriate, who was born and raised in the kingdom, began working in the industry as a playback singer after arriving in Mumbai, India nearly eight years ago.
“My journey with Bandar began after Mr Kashyap approached me about a bhajan (Hindu devotional song) I had done previously and he wanted another bhajan, which led to a conversation about scoring the movie,” the former Indian School Bahrain student told GDN.
“After he sent me the director’s cut, I worked on a few different themes based on the visuals, and sent them over.
“When he put them in, some of them were in very different spots from where I originally imagined but it worked really well.”
Bandar (English: Monkey), released internationally as Monkey in a Cage, is a crime thriller directed by Mr Kashyap and written by Sudip Sharma and Abhishek Banerjee, based on a real-life event.
It centres on Samar Mehra (Bobby Deol), an aging TV star who faces rape allegations, before being arrested and facing a corrupt legal system.
“The first half of the film is set in the outside world and the second half is set in jail,” Mr Varma explained.
“So Mr Kashyap really wanted me to communicate the horror and claustrophobia of being in jail during the second half.”
Mr Kashyap, 53, is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards and has worked on blockbusters like Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya (1998), Black Friday (2004), No Smoking (2007). Dev.D (2009), Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), The Lunchbox (2013), Shahid (2012), Bombay Talkies (2013), Ugly (2014), Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), and Manmarziyaan (2018).
“Anurag sir (Mr Kashyap) didn’t really give me any references for this movie and it was completely on me to figure out what the sound scape could be,” Mr Varma added.
“He told me ‘This is your movie too, so treat it well’. For about 90 to 95 per cent of it, we shared a vision – the main thing he wanted me to rework was the jail part to really drill in the horror and claustrophobia of being in prison.”
Bandar movie poster
One of Mr Varma’s favourite memories from the film-making process was when the team went to Kochi to record a 10-member string orchestra.
Mr Varma wanted Kochi strings to be playing the specific part and that day, he was able to realise that dream alongside the Bandar family.
After being born in Bahrain, Mr Varma studied here until 2017, during which he also went on to compete at the Asia’s Singing Superstar, an international music challenge in India.
He attributed his professional interest in music to the six months of focused musical immersion he went through as part of this competition.
“At the Asia’s Singing Superstar competition, I was lucky enough to be there till finals and during the competition, we were completely focused on music,” he explained.
“We didn’t think of anything else. It was a mindset improvement, more than skills as we engaged in conversation with judges and fellow contestants, which gave me the confidence that this is the kind of work I should be focused on.”
He began learning music at the age of six at the Indian Institute of Performing Arts, and continues to participate in online lessons from his base in Mumbai.
His first stint as a playback singer was in Meow – a Malayalam movie directed by Lal Jose, shortly after he studied sound engineering at Whistling Woods in Mumbai.
With Bandar under his belt, Mr Varma is already working on another project with Mr Kashyap, as well as a few films in Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi, which will be announced when confirmed.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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