Mohit Chauhan Quotes

I never dreamed of writing for concert or opera. I always dreamed, if I was a composer, to write music for films.

I like to write film music that stands on its own.

I'm not a script composer. I'm a film composer and my brain is excited by images and moving elements.

Movie music allows me to work with players as creatively as I can.

The bass line is the anchor for me. I started with the bass, and either doubled that and then added the harmonies, or sometimes added my own harmonies that I've always wanted to sing on the song. And then it just went on from there - singing violin parts and trumpet parts and just trying to emulate the sounds of the instruments.

Normally, when people compose for film, you give them the film, and they look at it, and they compose it.

To make a film, the final big collaborator that you have is the composer.

When I think of Morricone, more than his using a specific instrument or a specific sound, it's his way of approaching music that sticks out.

Every time I see a film or TV show, I think about how that composer made those choices and how that director envisioned music and how that could work onstage or in a film and how you could support that even further by putting lyrics to it.

I have to see a definitive cut of the film before I even start thinking about the music, I tell the director what my feelings are and what I would like to do. He accepts what I say or discusses it or destroys it. Eventually, we have to find a compromise.

De Palma is delicious! He respects music; he respects composers. For 'The Untouchables,' everything I proposed to him was fine, but then he wanted a piece that I didn't like at all, and of course we didn't have an agreement on that. It was something I didn't want to write - a triumphal piece for the police.

'Raaga' is one of those movies which is very special for any music director to compose music for.

I have composed music for many city-based movies.

I don't claim to be a composer, and I realize my approach is pretty dopey in comparison to the true masters of score work. That said, if someone thinks what I do specifically would work for their film, then, of course, let's see what we can do.

I've never been very good at creating absolute music, which has no non-musical dimension to it. I think that is why filmmakers gravitated toward my work.

Writing for TV or films isn't great art. You have to have a common denominator. It's up to the composer to make that common denominator memorable.

Sometimes you write music to a script or while a film is being edited. Sometimes I write without seeing any images, but that's rare. The approach is often based on practical decisions, but I'm interested in the narrative and physical space that music can occupy in a film or play.

You want to say as little as you can and get the most punch out of it, always with the knowledge that people are not in the theater to listen to your music so much as to respond to the movie. You're a part of that experience.

So I prefer to do the entire music for a film. And when I'm doing the background score, I can weave the whole film together in terms of themes and songs for a good cinematic feel.

I would love to compose for an entire film because it will be a different experience.

When I compose for any film, I always work with the story in mind.

I don't like to surprise anyone with the music I compose for a film. That way, there is less trouble later on.

Some producers hang-on to that old cliche that if the audience hears the music, it is no good. I say this is so much talk. Music gives the film another dimension, if it's done with the story in mind.

Composing music for 'Mungaru Male 2' is a big responsibility and challenge.

When I make film music, I'm a filmmaker first and foremost. It's about serving the needs of the film. You're telling a story; in a way, you stop becoming a composer and become a storyteller instead. You tell the story with the most appropriate themes. How you approach these things is a very personal matter, but your goal is to tell the story first.