“I enjoy the process of writing film and non-film songs equally” – Siddhant Kaushal

A few years ago, Siddhant Kaushal arrived in Mumbai with the dream to make a name for himself as a singer in the Hindi film and music industry. Destiny, however, had other plans for him. Once a composer friend asked him to write some dummy lyrics for a tune. Siddhant wrote some verses and to his surprise, the producer approved them. This led to Siddhant embarking on a new journey as a lyricist.

In the last few years, Siddhant has written songs for films like ‘Tumhari Sulu’, ‘Badla’, ‘Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare’, ‘Drive’, ‘Bob Biswas’ and ‘Thank You For Coming’ and has penned several non-film singles like ‘Ibadatein’, ‘Burai’, ‘Yeh Jo Zindagi’ and ‘Soch Ke’. Recently, Siddhant wrote the songs for the Yami Gautam – Prateik Gandhi starrer ‘Dhoom Dhaam’, a film which started streaming on Netflix a few days ago. The music of the film has been scored by Shor Police, a duo comprising Clinton Cerejo and Bianca Gomes.

In this interview, Siddhant talks about the experience of writing the songs for ‘Dhoom Dhaam’, the stories behind some of his popular songs, working with Shor Police, journey in the film and music industry and more.

These days, some film soundtracks are released on vinyl. However, it is rare to see the album of a Hindi film coming out on vinyl right at the time of its release. That happened with ‘Dhoom Dhaam’.

Yes! The vinyl was released at the music launch of the film. Several decades ago, every film soundtrack would get a vinyl release. This is the first time the music of a film, which I have worked on, has released on vinyl. I feel extremely happy about it.

Barring ‘Madman On The Run’, which is an English track, you have written all the songs for the film. Till a few years back, most Hindi films would have one composer and one lyricist doing all the songs. Now, that does not happen very often.

When a lyricist or composer works on an entire album, they can play an active part in taking the narrative forward. I immensely enjoyed the experience of working on ‘Dhoom Dhaam’. ‘Madman On The Run’, which was the sixth song on the album, was a part of the background score. I used to be a part of the background score sessions as well. Aditya had said that if the entire team is present during the process, we could come up with new ideas for songs or how they can be used in the film. The first song I wrote for the film was “How Are You?”. Since I knew what words and metaphors I had used in the song, I would make a conscious effort not to repeat them in any other song. This, I believe, is one of the greatest advantages of doing the entire album. You will not see any similarity in the songs of ‘Dhoom Dhaam’. In an album, where multiple composers and lyricists have contributed, you could see similar expressions or ideas in different songs. Such things do not happen when a composer and a lyricist is given the responsibility to do the entire album. As individuals, we experience different kinds of emotions. When I do an entire album, I get to express different emotions.

‘Silsila’, sung by Arijit Singh and Jonita Gandhi, was that song from the album which got maximum attention?

‘Silsila’ was the second last song we worked on. ‘How Are You’, ‘Haseeno’, ‘Kanda Chubha’, ‘Silsila’ and ‘’, that is the order of the songs we worked on. We were at Aditya and Yami’s house. Rishabh was on a recce that time. We were all jamming. Clinton sir played the guitar riff which you hear in the beginning of the song. All of us loved it instantly. Slowly, the melody got completed. When I hear a melody, my mind starts working faster. Everybody, especially Aditya, was highly appreciative of the way the lyrics shaped up. The day we finished working on the song, Aditya asked me to write the lyrics on the white board at his place. He loved the lyrics so much that he wanted everybody to read it.

You have been working with Clinton even before he joined hands with Bianca and formed Shor Police. How has been your experience of working with them over the years?

Working with them feels like being at home. It is always a fun and relaxing experience. Clinton sir is a big foodie. Once all of us are at the studio, we order food. Then, we talk about food. If the order gets delayed, we call up the delivery executive and ask how long it will take. So, before we start making music, food occupies centre stage (laughs). After eating the food and chatting for some time, we sit down to work. My journey as a lyricist started with ‘Ananthaal’, a fusion rock project featuring Clinton sir, Bianca ma’am, Vijay Prakash and several other incredible artists. The self-titled album featured legendary lyricists like Amitabh Bhattacharya, Shellee and Manoj Yadav. I got the opportunity to write a couple of songs for the album.  

Clinton sir and Bianca ma’am let me be myself. Their command over Hindi is not that great and they trust me completely. All they ask me to do is stay true to the phonetics. We keep cracking jokes and pulling each other’s legs. However, when we are working, our entire focus is on work.

You came to Mumbai to become a singer. Is the dream to sing still alive?

Absolutely! That will never go away. Singing is my childhood love. Even now, I train under a classical teacher. I don’t get to train every day as writing consumes a lot of time. Whenever I get some time, I call up sir and ask him to come and teach me. He is very kind. A while back, I put up some reels where I was singing. I hope to sing for a film someday.

Where are you from?

I was born in Jalandhar. Though my musical education started at an early age, I could not study music extensively as I went to a boarding school. When I was 6 or 7 years old, I was enrolled in a boarding school. I was there till the tenth grade. My mother, who is a retired gynaecologist, tells me that I was three years of age when I was found singing while watching a song on television. On that particular day, as my mother remembers, a couple had come home with sweets to celebrate the birth of their child. They also wanted to get a check-up done on the baby. The father of the child heard me singing from the other room and told my mother that I sing well and I should train formally. That gentleman happened to be one of the most renowned classical teachers in Jalandhar. I guess that’s how destiny plays its part. I learnt Hindustani classical vocals from him for a few years before heading to boarding school. While studying at Dalhousie Public School, I used to take part in all the singing competitions. Once I joined Christ College in Bengaluru, I started singing as a part of a band.

One of your recent releases has been the single ‘Buraai’. It is composed by Haroon-Gavin and sung by Shashwat Singh. Which space do you enjoy working in more, film or non-film?

I enjoy the process of writing film and non-film songs equally. Both come with their own set of challenges. While working on a film, you have to be mindful of the story and characters while writing the songs. The director’s vision plays an important role there. In independent singles, the artist’s sensibilities come to the forefront. Working on ‘Buraai’ was a very interesting experience. It all started with a thought. I had this line for a very long time, “tu bata de mujhmein kya thi buraai, jo mujhe aadhe raste chhod aayi”. I shared this line with Haroon. He liked it and created a tune around it. We pitched it to Azeem Dayani, who is the music supervisor at Dharma Productions. Azeem loved the song and felt that Shashwat, who is a DCA talent, would be the right fit for the song.

The process of creating one song could be completely different from making another. I had written and composed this song called ‘Soch’. Paresh Pahuja is a dear friend of mine. Apart from being an incredible actor, he is also a wonderful singer and musician. I call him ‘bhaijaan’ and he calls me ‘bhai ki jaan’. One day, I called him up and sang out the song to him. He loved it. I told him it has been made for him. He did complete justice to the song as a vocalist. We did not pitch the song to any label and released it independently. In this song, you can see a reflection of our personalities.

‘Nikat’ from ‘Kill’ has been one of your most popular songs as a lyricist.

It is one of the dearest songs I have worked on. It was my first song with Rekha (Bhardwaj) ji. She is a sweetheart. All of us were mesmerized when she entered the studio. She heard the track and said she will prepare the song for a week. A week later, she came to the studio again for the recording. We had printed the lyrics for her but she didn’t need it. She was well-rehearsed and fully prepared to sing the song.

‘Nikat’ was made on a rainy evening. Haroon and I were sitting and jamming. He made me listen to a melody which I loved. This went on to become ‘Nikat’. We had been briefed about the story of the film. Once I got to know the boy is from Punjab and the girl is from the central belt, I thought of writing something that would have a mix of both their languages. First I wrote the lines for the pre-chorus section, “na jaane kab tera hua asar beliya, dagar teri aave yeh jiya, nidar beliya”. Then, I took a break. It was raining and I was sitting beside the window. After half an hour, I came back and told Haroon that I was not able to crack the song. He asked me to relax for a bit and went to make some coffee. The tune was moving around in my head. Suddenly, the lines “nikat tere aaiyaan, laaiyaan laaiyaan” popped up in my mind. Haroon loved the sound of it. He wanted me to sing it properly, so that he would get an idea about whether it is working or not. While singing the song, I felt something was missing. I went for another take. While singing the song this time around, I added ‘sajan’ in between. Now, the lines were “nikat tere aaiyaan, sajan laaiyaan laaiyaan”. Rekha ji was gracious enough to sing it.

What are you doing next?

Right now, I am working on four films. A few independent singles with some wonderful artists are also lined up.