It’s been a four-year long wait to release the rap number ‘Forever’ for composer Syed Kamran and music-producer, rapper Meghraj Ravindra a.k.a Megh-uh-Watt. Without the enthusiasm of cinematographer Abiraj Nair to revive it, the number, like the title, may have taken ‘forever’ to be unveiled. Shot multiple times, a technical snag forced them to rework on the number and the result is instantly sweeter when their inbox is filled with congratulatory messages now. Shot in Vikarabad and several locations around other Hyderabad outskirts, the track is a tribute to women and the different roles they take up.
“This was a small theme I’d ideated back then. Megh came to the studio, liked it and finished writing the lyrics in two and a half hours straight. In a few days, we recorded a basic version of the song. We took time to re-design the lyrics later and think it in terms of a video,” says Kamran, fresh after the warm responses he’d received for composing Roll Rida’s ‘Dilkush’.
“Being on the same page helped things progress,” adds rapper Meghraj. “What we thought was a distant dream has happened today. It was more of a test of patience.”
Meanwhile Kamran used the gap to musically revisit the number from time to time and add newer elements and derivations. “I wanted it to be contemporary, more ‘now’ and yet not lose the soul of the number,” he mentions.
Cinematographically for the video, they chose simple locations and came up with spontaneous decisions. “We felt something burning near the shoot location, saw the garbage smoke and decided to go with the fire shot in it,” Kamran gives an example. While the numbers he has worked on in the past were regional in flavour, he feels the track in English will reach a larger audience.
“This is a different genre altogether and it’s exciting to receive a newer bunch of listeners.”
Kamran and Meghraj have been together in a band before but still felt they were more friends than professionals. “After the band fell apart, we had a better reason to keep track of our journeys,” reveals Meghraj. “We initially wanted to work on another video idea but ‘Forever’ deserved a shot,” adds the duo that previously worked for a track ‘Who Am I’.
The only woman in the video is actor Nandini Rai, whom they say was ‘very sweet’ and accommodative in the making process.
