Music supervisor Azeem Dayani: One has to be a good listener to create good music – Exclusive | Hindi Movie News
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Azeem Dayani, who started his career in the field of marketing, shifted gears and entered showbiz as a music supervisor. Currently working at Dharma Productions, Dayani has music albums like ‘Kapoor & Sons’, ‘Shershaah’, ‘Laxmi’, ‘Simmba’, ‘Kesari’, ‘Good Newwz’ among others to his credit. In an exclusive conversation with ETimes, Azeem spoke about his journey, his music supervisor profile, which is newly introduced in India, and much more.
Can you shed some light on this profile of a music supervisor?
I started music supervision, which is a very new profession here in India since 2016. The first album that I supervised was an album for a film called ‘Kapoor & Sons’, followed by songs like ‘Kaala Chashmah’, ‘Bol na’ and ‘Saathi Re’. It was after a long time that Dharma had a multi-composer album. Generally, the format was always of a single composer doing the entire album. It was the first time when a multi-composer format was inculcated for ‘Kapoor & Sons’.
Technically it was ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ when the concept of a multi-composer was used, but that was all managed by Karan Johar sir himself. Then this format was again used for ‘Kapoor & Sons’, which was supervised by me. I worked with a lot of artists namely Amaal Mallik, Badshah, Arko, Tanishk Bagchi, Benny Dayal, and Nucleya, who came together and churned out songs that are played even now at events. So all these songs were in a multi-composer format. So that’s the first time music subordination came into the picture, where that person meets different people, vibes with them, understands them and their style of composing, their way to write the lyrics, and then package it for an album. After ‘Kapoor & Sons’, I did Siddharth and Katrina’s ‘Kaala Chashmah’ which was my second album. So then that’s how the journey of music supervising began.
.
Please elaborate.
Basically, the music supervisor meets different composers, and he/she understands their vibe. So, if they have a lyricist with them, then one lets them develop the song and then they check whether the song can be made better. Some advice is exchanged and then the packaging of the song is done. And on the contrary, if there’s no lyricist, then the supervisor introduces a new composer and meets a lyricist who will come up with something new and interesting. It is a teamwork where everybody works together to make a song. And that’s also a new way to introduce new talent. An example is Jasleen Royal, who was a new composer during ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ and did two songs in an album, which is very rare.
How important is it to have technical knowledge about music for this profile?
For this profile, one has to be a good listener to create good music. I don’t have any technical expertise or knowledge about music but I have always listened to music like how a normal person would listen. Questions like, ‘Can we do this?’, ‘Can we do that?’ and ‘I think it would be better!’… These are the most important questions in this profession and that is how a music supervisor vibes with the composer and the team. Because the more one exchanges ideas and the more one vibes with people, the more positive energy flows, more positivity is created and better things are made. I didn’t do any homework when I started with ‘Kapoor & Sons’, but gradually I learned more about the atmosphere. From ‘Ladki beautiful’, ‘Chogada Tara’ in 2018 to ‘Teri Mitti’ in 2019, the formats of the music also changed, which we’ve supervised. We keep learning with changed music, we learn from different kinds of music.
So it has been a learning experience for you as well…
I’m still learning. Everybody’s still learning. So it’s an ongoing learning process only. It’s just like how well you can adapt quickly and work on something new.
So a music supervisor works only with the newcomers or also supervises the veterans?
We work with everyone.
Have you associated with any music maestros so far?
No, but I’m looking forward to that. Maybe in the next few years, that’s the plan. I am collaborating with Mithoon next year.
Who supervised music and exchanged ideas for the songs before this newly introduced profile?
The director generally used to work with one composer and used to vibe and do the music work earlier. That’s still happening. It’s not like some job has been replaced by this job. Directors working with solo composers still exist but apart from that, where there are multi-composers, there are music supervisors involved in that. So it depends upon the director. If the director needs a music supervisor and needs that extra value addition, we come into the picture. Like recently I worked with Raj for the first time for ‘Good News’. Raj was very clear that when he directs the film, he needs help with music. So that’s how we collaborated. Music supervision is not like something that is forced upon someone. It’s something that we are chosen for. The same thing happened with Vishnu sir and we collaborated for ‘Shershaah’. Vishnu sir loves music but he was not very familiar with Punjabi songs. ‘Ranjha’, for example, is a Punjabi song. So Vishnu sir asked us about it and we are the guys who selected the songs. Vishnu sir trusted us and gave us the chance to make an album for ‘Shershaah’.
Why Dharma Productions and not any other production company?
Because they gave me a chance. I was in marketing and I had done my degree in mass media. And they gave me a chance to supervise an album for the first time, which is ‘Kapoor & Sons’. So they had that faith in me. I have no musical background. I have no filmy background. Just because they had faith in me.
Go on.
I used to listen to a lot of music after my office hours. I used to sit in the office and make my playlist and all. And, Karan Johar sir, and the people at Dharma heard it and they knew that I am passionate about music. So when ‘Kapoor & Sons’ was happening, they were looking for some good songs. So I recommended a song named, ‘Kar gayi chul’ because ‘Saturday Saturday’ from ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’ was another song that had done pretty well before that. When I recommended the song ‘Chul’, they asked me to find 3-4 more songs as they need to make an album. And that’s what I found out. I met Tanej, we made ‘Bol na’ together. Then I met Amaal and we did this song called ‘Buddhu Sa Mann’. So they liked the work that I was doing as I was making songs in their favour. Therefore, they asked me to do the entire album. And that’s how the chance was given to us.
What do you want to achieve with this profile?
Just the way ‘Teri Mitti’ made everybody proud, I wish to make more songs that make people feel proud of me. People feel that I’ve given something memorable and cherished it. After a certain point in life, I realised one thing: people will go but the music will stay. So if I can make five songs that are remembered for a long time and people respect me and remember me, or maybe celebrate me also in a certain way. I think that is something I want to work on and that’s what my father wished for when he was alive. So I will work towards that. I still remember the kind of messages I received when ‘Teri Mitti’ was released. My father sent the first message. I want to relive that moment again. I want to make more songs that will make people feel proud of me. My father is still watching over me, I believe. So I want to do stuff that people celebrate and feel that he lived a good life because he left these five songs behind. I think that’s the only aim I have in life.
Can you shed some light on this profile of a music supervisor?
I started music supervision, which is a very new profession here in India since 2016. The first album that I supervised was an album for a film called ‘Kapoor & Sons’, followed by songs like ‘Kaala Chashmah’, ‘Bol na’ and ‘Saathi Re’. It was after a long time that Dharma had a multi-composer album. Generally, the format was always of a single composer doing the entire album. It was the first time when a multi-composer format was inculcated for ‘Kapoor & Sons’.
Technically it was ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ when the concept of a multi-composer was used, but that was all managed by Karan Johar sir himself. Then this format was again used for ‘Kapoor & Sons’, which was supervised by me. I worked with a lot of artists namely Amaal Mallik, Badshah, Arko, Tanishk Bagchi, Benny Dayal, and Nucleya, who came together and churned out songs that are played even now at events. So all these songs were in a multi-composer format. So that’s the first time music subordination came into the picture, where that person meets different people, vibes with them, understands them and their style of composing, their way to write the lyrics, and then package it for an album. After ‘Kapoor & Sons’, I did Siddharth and Katrina’s ‘Kaala Chashmah’ which was my second album. So then that’s how the journey of music supervising began.
.
Please elaborate.
Basically, the music supervisor meets different composers, and he/she understands their vibe. So, if they have a lyricist with them, then one lets them develop the song and then they check whether the song can be made better. Some advice is exchanged and then the packaging of the song is done. And on the contrary, if there’s no lyricist, then the supervisor introduces a new composer and meets a lyricist who will come up with something new and interesting. It is a teamwork where everybody works together to make a song. And that’s also a new way to introduce new talent. An example is Jasleen Royal, who was a new composer during ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ and did two songs in an album, which is very rare.
How important is it to have technical knowledge about music for this profile?
For this profile, one has to be a good listener to create good music. I don’t have any technical expertise or knowledge about music but I have always listened to music like how a normal person would listen. Questions like, ‘Can we do this?’, ‘Can we do that?’ and ‘I think it would be better!’… These are the most important questions in this profession and that is how a music supervisor vibes with the composer and the team. Because the more one exchanges ideas and the more one vibes with people, the more positive energy flows, more positivity is created and better things are made. I didn’t do any homework when I started with ‘Kapoor & Sons’, but gradually I learned more about the atmosphere. From ‘Ladki beautiful’, ‘Chogada Tara’ in 2018 to ‘Teri Mitti’ in 2019, the formats of the music also changed, which we’ve supervised. We keep learning with changed music, we learn from different kinds of music.
So it has been a learning experience for you as well…
I’m still learning. Everybody’s still learning. So it’s an ongoing learning process only. It’s just like how well you can adapt quickly and work on something new.
So a music supervisor works only with the newcomers or also supervises the veterans?
We work with everyone.
Have you associated with any music maestros so far?
No, but I’m looking forward to that. Maybe in the next few years, that’s the plan. I am collaborating with Mithoon next year.
Who supervised music and exchanged ideas for the songs before this newly introduced profile?
The director generally used to work with one composer and used to vibe and do the music work earlier. That’s still happening. It’s not like some job has been replaced by this job. Directors working with solo composers still exist but apart from that, where there are multi-composers, there are music supervisors involved in that. So it depends upon the director. If the director needs a music supervisor and needs that extra value addition, we come into the picture. Like recently I worked with Raj for the first time for ‘Good News’. Raj was very clear that when he directs the film, he needs help with music. So that’s how we collaborated. Music supervision is not like something that is forced upon someone. It’s something that we are chosen for. The same thing happened with Vishnu sir and we collaborated for ‘Shershaah’. Vishnu sir loves music but he was not very familiar with Punjabi songs. ‘Ranjha’, for example, is a Punjabi song. So Vishnu sir asked us about it and we are the guys who selected the songs. Vishnu sir trusted us and gave us the chance to make an album for ‘Shershaah’.
Why Dharma Productions and not any other production company?
Because they gave me a chance. I was in marketing and I had done my degree in mass media. And they gave me a chance to supervise an album for the first time, which is ‘Kapoor & Sons’. So they had that faith in me. I have no musical background. I have no filmy background. Just because they had faith in me.
Go on.
I used to listen to a lot of music after my office hours. I used to sit in the office and make my playlist and all. And, Karan Johar sir, and the people at Dharma heard it and they knew that I am passionate about music. So when ‘Kapoor & Sons’ was happening, they were looking for some good songs. So I recommended a song named, ‘Kar gayi chul’ because ‘Saturday Saturday’ from ‘Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania’ was another song that had done pretty well before that. When I recommended the song ‘Chul’, they asked me to find 3-4 more songs as they need to make an album. And that’s what I found out. I met Tanej, we made ‘Bol na’ together. Then I met Amaal and we did this song called ‘Buddhu Sa Mann’. So they liked the work that I was doing as I was making songs in their favour. Therefore, they asked me to do the entire album. And that’s how the chance was given to us.
What do you want to achieve with this profile?
Just the way ‘Teri Mitti’ made everybody proud, I wish to make more songs that make people feel proud of me. People feel that I’ve given something memorable and cherished it. After a certain point in life, I realised one thing: people will go but the music will stay. So if I can make five songs that are remembered for a long time and people respect me and remember me, or maybe celebrate me also in a certain way. I think that is something I want to work on and that’s what my father wished for when he was alive. So I will work towards that. I still remember the kind of messages I received when ‘Teri Mitti’ was released. My father sent the first message. I want to relive that moment again. I want to make more songs that will make people feel proud of me. My father is still watching over me, I believe. So I want to do stuff that people celebrate and feel that he lived a good life because he left these five songs behind. I think that’s the only aim I have in life.
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