Chhaayaageet #149 - "Don't start with G. Go into A-minor."
The family is sitting around at home, the father, mother and daughter. Music runs in the family. Father is a Hindustani classical music teacher. Mother is a tabla player and kathak dancer. Daughter has grown up in a musical environment and is taking vocal lessons from the father. She listens to Hindi film songs, but only classical and semi-classical.
The phone rings. It's a family friend calling.
"Aap ki beti ki age kya hai?", the caller asks. How old is your daughter?
"15 running hai", the mother responds. She is going on 15.
"Achha. Ek audition chal raha hai. Ek lady ka phone aayega aapko. Beti se baat karwa dena", the caller instructs further. Ok. There is some audition. A lady will call. Have your daughter talk to her.
The lady calls soon enough. The mother puts the daughter on the phone. The lady asks the daughter to sing something on the phone. The daughter wonders if this is the audition, it's strange.
"Tumhari awaz mein do gaane abhi record kar ke bhej do WhatsApp pe, raw format mein", the lady has additional instructions. Record two songs in your voice in raw format and send it over.
The daughter records something on her phone and sends it over along with a link to a Western song that she has recently uploaded to YouTube.
In a short while, the lady texts her an address and asks her to come there right away. The daughter and her father set out from home to the address given. They reach and find it to be a recording studio. They are ushered into the waiting room.
After some time they are called inside. Someone gives the girl a writing pad with a couple of pages to fill out. She does as told, not really paying attention to the pages.
"Sir ko bulao", the man orders someone inside. Call Sir.
A young musician type makes an entrance. He is Sir. The girl feels she has seen him somewhere, but she can't place him. The young man is the music composer and it is his studio. He tells them, "We have chosen you as a singer for an Aamir Khan Productions film".
The girl is confused. She doesn't know what it all means. She takes the paper that she just filled out and realizes that she had just signed a contract for the film. She is in disbelief. The music composer assures her that she has a great voice and that's the exact quality of voice they need for the film.
After a few days, the girl and her family are told to accompany the unit to Panchgani for ten days, where they will be working on the music and songs for the film. They will be staying at the producer's bungalow and all arrangements will be made. The producer himself will be there and taking a keen interest in the development of the music. Away from the city, in pristine surroundings, the environment is conducive for creativity to flow.
In the Panchgani bungalow, the director, producer, music composer and lyricist start regular discussions about one particular song.
"This song needs to have something in it which connects with the gut of people", the director puts his thoughts forward.
"Yeah...it should be a melody which 'chadhaos' on you", the producer shares his thoughts. 'Chadhaos' a Hindi word anglicized, means 'comes all over you', 'grabs you'. Everyone agrees the melody needs to 'chadhao' on you.
"And the tune should be such that if a singer sings it you must feel - Wow, what a singer. So, it should be a tough song to sing", the producer continues with his thoughts.
The music composer gets the gist of the assignment. He starts to get into the head of a 14 year old girl, who is the protagonist of the film. What does she think? How does she think? He starts playing the keyboard, humming along, riffing some dummy words, looking to the producer to see if he approves.
"This is the correct route. Now let's leave you alone", the producer says as he leaves the room. He knows when to insert himself into the creative process and when to step away.
The producer now turns his attention to the lyricist who has to fit words to the tune. Words that fit with the world view of a 14 year old girl. She doesn't have a large vocabulary but her thoughts are deep. The producer listens to the first four lines of the lyrics and utters, "Very good. Fantastic".
Over the rest of the day, while strolling in the garden, or on their way to the large lunch table, the music composer and the lyricist jam tune and lyrics. The composer then teaches the girl the tune and how to sing. They need to present to the producer in the evening with a scratch version of the song.
In the evening, they gather around in one of the bedrooms that has been turned into a makeshift studio with instruments and mics. The girl sits on one corner of the large canopy bed. The producer on the other end, ready to listen intensely, his head bent down almost touching the bed, his eyes closed, hands on his head holding his hair back. The girl starts singing. The tune ebbs and flows into different scales. At one point, the girl goes into falsetto as the scale goes higher.
As she goes into a falsetto and sings the lines, the producer straightens his back with a wince on his face. He interrupts, "Itna falsetto mein jayenge to maza aayega?" If we go so much into falsetto, will it be good?
The composer removes his fingers from the keyboard and pushes them through his hair.
"Mere ko wohi fikar hai. Kuch bahot important lines falsetto mein jaa rahi hain", the producer continues. I am worried about that. Some important lines are going into falsetto.
The producer isn't waiting for anyone's response. He continues, "Can she start in a lower key, then she doesn't have to go into falsetto?"
The composer tries to sing the lines in a lower key to see how it sounds. The producer likes that.
"Haan, neeche laake dekho", he tells the girl to sing in a lower key. Yes! Try singing lower.
The producer turns to the composer and tells him, "Don't start with G. Go into A-minor."
Let's pause here for a minute. This is the producer of the film, someone who is concerned with the financial aspect of production. But he is no mere producer. He is also a top rated actor and director himself, and known to be a perfectionist. The production company bears his name. He is meticulous, and someone who is involved in every aspect of filmmaking.
"Go to A-minor and come down for that line", he tells the girl as she gets ready to sing again.
"Try...try...try...try", says the producer as he regains his listening pose. Head bent down almost touching the bed, eyes closed, his hands on his head holding his hair back.
The girl starts singing again, and as she sings the same two lines in a lower scale, the producer looks up, "Hmm. Better hai na?" Isn't it better?
The song is finalized. In ten days they work through a handful of other songs. Now they need to record the final cut in the studio.
The girl comes to the studio at the appointed time. The composer senses her discomfort and awkward nervousness. In the recording booth, he puts her at ease by telling her that her voice is perfect. They do a few attempts, but the girl is not able to sing it with the right feel. The composer wonders if she is overwhelmed by the number of people around in the studio. After all, she's only a 15 year old girl.
It is a tough song. One needs to be in the right frame of mind and mood to sing it. The composer goes back into the recording booth. Behind the glass he can be seen gesturing with his hands, giving her encouragement and motivation. As he comes out of the recording booth, he flips the switch and turns the lights off. The girl nails the recording.
Meghna Mishra was chosen from over 28 girls as the voice for Zaira Wasim in Aamir Khan Productions' film Secret Superstar (2017), music by Amit Trivedi, lyrics by Kausar Munir. The film is written and directed by Advait Chandan, who was Aamir Khan's manager. Chandan wrote the script while on the sets of Dangal and Aamir's TV show Satyamev Jayate.
He mentioned to Aamir Khan that he was looking for a 14 year old girl to be the lead for his script. Aamir suggested his costar from Dangal, Zaira Wasim. Dangal had not yet released then.
Aamir took keen interest in the development of the songs of Secret Superstar. He also asked Meghna to come for the filming of the song so that she could guide Zaira with expressions, hand movements and standing postures. Meghna and Zaira rehearsed together. Zaira observed some of the most minute things and implemented them in her scenes. She would ask Meghna to sing and then would observe how she stood; second time she would notice where Meghna was shutting her eyes; then she would also notice where and when Meghna took breaths and implemented all of that in her acting.
Secret Superstar became the most profitable Hindi film of all time, grossing $150 million worldwide, on a limited budget of $2.3 million. It was also the highest grossing Hindi film of 2017. In China, it is the second highest grossing non-English foreign film ever (after Dangal).
The film also received ten nominations at the Filmfare Awards - Best Film, Best Director (Advait Chandan), Best Screenplay (Advait Chandan), Best Actress (Zaira Wasim), Best Actress (Critics) for Zaira Wasim which she won, Best Supporting Actor (Aamir Khan), Best Supporting Actress (Meher Vij, won), Best Playback Singer Female (Meghna Mishra, won for the song 'Nachdi Phira'), Best Music Album (Amit Trivedi), Best Lyrics (Kausar Munir).
Watch Meghna Mishra singing this song live!
Singer: Meghna Mishra
Music: Amit Trivedi
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
*ing: Zaira Wasim
Director: Advait Chandan
Producer: Aamir Khan
Film: Secret Superstar (2017)