Old world charm

Music composer Shantanu Moitra speaks to Ritujaay Ghosh about his forthcoming film Khoya Khoya Chand.

Three years in the industry and only eight films old. This is quite surprising keeping in mind the record of his contemporaries. However, that doesn’t perturb music director Shantanu Moitra, who feels it’s his sheer laziness towards work that makes him one of the least heard composers and who has stayed afloat in this competitive industry because of his confidence.

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“I have so many other hobbies other than music and I am happy to be exploring all of them in my own way,” says Moitra who was in town on Sunday to promote the music of his forthcoming film

Khoya Khoya Chand

(Big Music).

“Music as a hobby was explored a lot and that is why it has given me a lot more than I expected. The last three years in Bollywood has been a fabulous journey,” he remarks.

Khoya Khoya Chand

sees Moitra and director Sudhir Mishra coming together for the first time after the composer made his debut with Mishra’s 2006 movie

Hazaron Khwaisein Aisi

. The two have formed a trio with lyricist Swanand Kirkire who also worked in

….

Shantanu holds Mishra, whom he finds to be more of a storyteller than a filmmaker, in high esteem.

“What I do for him is because of my faith in him. I don’t even need to listen to the script as I can trust him,” he says.

For Moitra,

Khoya

Khoya

… is a dream project as the music is a tribute to the scores used in Hindi films of the ’50s and the ’60s, which he has grown up with.

“That era was dominated by jazz, blues and rock ’n’ roll, as well as classical tunes, and that is what one finds in the music of this film. It’s a tribute to people such as SD Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Naushad and all those legends who had ruled the industry then,” says Moitra, whose stint as a composer for ad jingles has made him think differently and helped bring variety to his music.

This year, both his films,

Eklavya

—

The Royal Guard

and

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

have bombed at the box office, despite Moitra’s compositions but this has not demoralised him.

“Sudhir Mishra once said that he looks for good songs and not hit songs. That is what I am also looking for in

Khoya Khoya Chand

. A hit always matters but it’s not the last thing,” he says.

The composer feels

Khoya Khoya Chand

is his gift to his fans.

“Quincy Jones had once said, ‘Every Grammy song is not a great song and every great song is not a Grammy winner’. I believe in that,” says Moitra, whose current projects include Rajkumar Hirani’s

Idiots

, Shyam Benegal’s

Mahadev

and an animation film

Little Krishna

.