By Roy
Veteran music director Daboo Malik has released his recent independent track with Sunidhi Chauhan ‘Kuch Khwaab’. Launched on his label MWM’s YouTube channel, the song is making rounds in the playlists. He puts it as the outcome independent music’s freedom and spirit. “That gave birth to a song. I had released this song in Bengali as ‘Na Bola Kotha’. Its third release would be in Marathi. The same melody has been composed in three versions. When I sent this to Sunidhi, I did not know what reaction to expect because it was not at all her type of song. But Sunidhi called me and told that she wants to do this song. It might be an impact of pandemic that has taken a toll on us and we all want get back to our normal, working lives. We didn’t know how the song would come out until we entered the studio abiding by the Covid precautions. The magic happened when Sunidhi started with the song; she was a free spirit. That made me do improvisations and innovations in the original melody of ‘Na Bola Kotha’.”
Daboo shares that the outdoor shooting of the video was the most challenging part. He says, “I was supposed to rope in a young boy and girl for the video of ‘Kuch Khwaab’ with a proper script and audio mixing. While I was on it, I suddenly got this thought of featuring Sunidhi in the video. We planned a schedule. But day before, Sunidhi panicked because of the virus as she has a small kid and elders at home and we were shooting somewhere far away. I understood the problem. I went to the location, my whole team was there. When they asked me about Sunidhi, I said it’s just me and actually shot a song which was not yet composed. I shot a video of mine without the song telling them to shoot my emotions. While doing that, it struck to me that it can be a part of Sunidhi’s video, because two months ago I had directed ‘Zara Thehro’ for Armaan. I conveyed this to Sunidhi and told her to emote to the references in a very subtle way. We suddenly got something great from her and that’s the video.”
He believes and tells that Sunidhi has some tremendous love and respect for him. It is quite evident as they both have worked together earlier in ‘Ye Haseen Pal Ye Lamhe’. The song never got released officially, but the videos shot in the recording studio are there in the YouTube on Daboo Malik’s own channel.
Daboo shares a heartwarming story of friendship between lyricist Panchhi Jalonvi and him. “I kept Panchhi busy in the lockdown by giving one song a month. As we all have seen a real tough time in the lockdown, he also was undergoing tremendous pressure. But he had no clue what I was doing with those songs, until I sent him those and he burst out crying.”
Daboo’s commencement in independent music through MWM is proving a landmark for new talents.
He explains, “MWM interprets for Music With Malik, which stands for that independent space of music. We are collaborating with top companies like T- Series, Universal, Sony etc and we aren’t limiting ourselves. So I think we are on the right edge, space and time to do it. Because it has nothing to do with films as of now.
Technology, social media etc., have made promotion easier through which content reaches to the people. As an elder, I have seen the whole journey of my family. So I know the ups and downs, the intricacies well. Music is never easy even if you belong to such a family. Armaan and Amaal have become stars due to their talent and social media’s role in it. They have fulfilled my dreams. But somewhere down and deep inside, a creative person remains that till the end. So instead of going to films or any commercial releases, I wanted create my own space. From that independent thought my own label MWM was born.
Even I have the freedom now to register my own label, create the music that I have in heart and present it to the audience. If is unbelievable and liberating as an artist. Now when I listen to artists like Prateek Kuhad, Bhuvan Bam and stars who have made it big through social media, they all are doing great stuff. I am very much open to collaborate with new comers.”
The journey of Daboo Malik for his sons Armaan-Amaal is exemplary. Travelling down the memory lanes, he says, “We Maliks as a family belong to the school where we want all round success of everybody. I have a singer in the house (talks about Armaan) who is working with everyone and a music director (talks about Amaal) who is making all other singers sing. Amaal is a person who ballistically promotes whosoever’s song he likes. He doesn’t want to make a factory; he says he wants to make 4-5 songs having that intensity. While he was working for ‘Saina’ (the biopic of the badminton player Saina Nehwal) with Amol Gupte, he ensured of the magic in the ultimate result. My focus shifted from myself to Amaal and Armaan at when they became teenagers.”
Talking about the forthcoming projects, Daboo informs about the release of ‘Rangmanch’ on MWM in a series format.
“We are working on a new single which will come around at December 15th,” he concludes.
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