Gully Boy is lighting up every cinema with not just memorable tracks and riveting plotline but also an evocative score. Such a layered film, despite being focussed on one man’s musical journey, required a number of diverse energies involved. So when multi-instrumentalist Karsh Kale was pulled into the project, it just seemed right.
The experience of working on Gully Boy has been immersively collaborative, having also done two songs for the film, including the very catchy Train Song , observing collaborations with Ranveer Singh, MIDIval Punditz and Raghu Dixit and more.
Karsh Kale
‘A pretty tall order’
Karsh shares that director Zoya Akhtar was very much involved with the shaping of the score as well, right from the beginning, “She had a very clear vision of the types of things she wanted to do. It was a pretty tall order and pretty diverse in where we were going. Before the film was edited, I spent a few sessions with Zoya who showed me bits of the film just so we could get a sonic aesthetic in mind. So by the time we started scoring, it was really between myself, Zoya and Ankur Tewari, the music supervisor. We also worked with a great team of musicians and artistes, a collective called the Salvage Audio Collective.” Karsh adds that he’s worked with Ankur, a good friend of his, on many projects for many years now. “For him, this is a huge home run.”
So we obviously have to ask; given Karsh is a music veteran at this point, what was it like working with Ranveer who’s not so musically versed, as per our knowledge? “He was in the studio a good year before the film was edited, working on some songs. He was quietly learning, listening, studying and rehearsing. This was someone who was truly getting to know their character before even shooting the film.”
Melding Mumbai
Mumbai as a character is woven into the story adding that unique stamp of geography. Karsh says working the essences of the city into the score happened in many different ways. “There’s the nostalgia of the city and then there’s also the sound of their modern world as well which are both a stark contrast. So playing with both ideas to create something that was more classically nostalgic while being very modern and telling of the times of the story. The nostalgia of hip-hop music itself; it wasn’t just an Indian story, we also approached it from a perspective where some of what you’d call the ‘old school stuff’ we see in the film actually lay the backdrop of inspiration for these characters.”
Given his love for technology — and of course, the aforementioned ‘old school stuff’ — Karsh enjoys infusing modernity into traditional music. Many will know of his commitment to the electronic tabla. When speaking about imposing his trademark creativity on the film, he says, “Some of it just happened in one go while while some took a lot of different trials and errors. I think it was more about dealing with the story and dealing with each character and making sure, without it being too specific, that each one had its own theme. We did have to address how this story was unfolding. It helps that each character is pretty dynamic, too. So it wasn’t so much about experimenting but more finding the sonic pulse for each character or each landscape in which these guys existed.”
Karsh shares the team actually ended up using a lot of old school stuff as opposed to equipment decked out with automated technology. “Everything wound up in the computer but we added a lot of organic instruments and 70s-sounding synths to bring a bit of a funk element. Yes, we do use a lot of up-to-date technology as we much as we can, but that’s not what was called for here.”
In the case of sound design, Karsh explains because it’s a musical, the layering is quite different given there are rap battles throughout the film so it’s very different from a science-fiction or action film where the more intense moments are more musical. “In this film, sound design and film score didn’t have to speak to each other,” but they did have to co-exist harmoniously.
With only a slowly strengthening conversation around film score in India, we haven’t seen much of Karsh in the Bollywood film score space; and he’s pretty straightforward about this. “I knew of Zoya’s reach and because the film would appeal to an international audience, that’s why I hopped on board. I love scoring, but it is kind of a thankless job. I wanted to be a part of something where there would be a conversation about it after. Scores in film are totally overlooked by the item number. It’s great that that’s changing now.”
So upon your fourth of fifth watch of Gully Boy, or any other film, will you be paying heavier attention to the score?
