Dhoom machale

Manpriya Singh 

With his upcoming film Namaste England, music composer Mannan Shaah promises a complete album— foot-tapping, melodious and anything else that might be expected of love songs set against today’s backdrop.

“The fact that none other than Javed Akhtar has penned the lyrics, further makes the songs meaningful, and I am little nervous about doing justice to them,” shares the Mumbai-based music composer, who first set out to be a singer. “I have sung two songs but that was before I assisted music composer Pritam Singh for two years and in more than 30 films, including Ready, Golmaal 3, Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai and many others,” he adds, though having been brought up in Mumbai but with no ‘filmi connections’. Bollywood films Commando 1 and 2 as a full-fledged music director followed. 

Music in his 

Despite being the only person ever in his family tree to pursue music, Mannan Shaah’s mother spotted his talent at the tender age of five. “I’d randomly sing National Anthem because that is what you are taught in school at that age. Then one fine day, my mother is singing a bhajan and I not just tell her how to sing it correctly but also play it for her on my small keyboard.” That was more than enough stimulation for the mother to formally enroll him under the tutelage of Pandit Vinayak Vora. “After several years of training under him, I further trained under Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan for 9 years,” which was followed up by a course in audio engineering. 

Now having fairly made his inroads in B-town, there is something he’d like to change about the music industry. “I wish the music was more melody oriented rather than commerce oriented. The songs of 60s and 70s still have a longer shelf life than today’s music.” 

True-blue Punjabi rock stars 

His current favourite Punjabi singer also happens to be the toast of Punjabi music. “I quite like Guru Randhawa,  and then I really like Harrdy Sandhu’s voice, I also like Gippy Grewal.” Does any Punjabi wedding number feature in Namaste England? “Of course, it’s a film set against the backdrop of Punjab,” shares the artiste who attended almost every narration of the film before each song. “Dhoom Dhadaka should be sending everyone to the dance floor soon.” We hope so. 

manpriya@tribunemail.com