Sandeep Reddy Vanga has whipped up a worldwide storm with his latest pan-India release Animal starring Ranbir Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Tripti Dimri among others. The film that is packed with some of the most slick action sequences and intense fight scenes have also received love from the audience for it’s chartbuster album comprising of songs like Arjan Vally, Hua Main. But the haunting romantic number Satranga, crooned by Arijit Singh takes you to a surreal realm. Siddharth-Garima who have penned the emotive lyrics exclusively spoke with Showsha to explain how they came up with those words.
In addition to that, they also spoke about their previous collaboration with Sandeep Reddy Vanga and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Here are the excerpts:
Satranga has become the latest love anthem of the year and it’s picturised on an actor like Ranbir Kapoor who equally knows how to emote love and heartbreak aptly. And the words of this song profoundly describes this conundrum. How did you guys come up with the lyrics and how much effort went into adapting those words in the context it was filmed in?
We are overwhelmed with the kind of response that Satranga is getting from all quarters of the audience. Its humbling! The process was a bit intricate to say the least. The mukhda was cracked first… we were extremely sure of the lines ‘Badrang mein satranga hai ye ishq re… jogi main aur ganga hai ye ishq re’ . Once Sandeep reddy vanga fell in love with this, which was quiet instantly, is when we went on to crack the antara. We knew the entire screenplay of Animal. We also jammed with Saurabh Gupta who’s the dialogue writer of Animal & a dear friend, extensively. Hence the intent of Ranbir’s character was quiet clear in our minds. Everything that you hear in the antara of the song was quiet intentional. The apology in “maathe se laga loon haath, chhoo ke main paer tere”, to the melancholy in “main samandar parinda hai ye ishq re, mann maatam aur zinda hai ye ishq re”… apart from justifying the character’s thoughts, it resonates with everyone who has been or is in love. We strongly feel, for a song to connect to a larger audience it has to be situational. If a song takes the story forward or it takes the emotional arc of a character to the next level is when it connects to the audience more. Its picturised beautifully by Sandeep and performed extra ordinarily by Rashmika & Ranbir.
What do you have to say about Arijit Singh’s contribution to the beautiful lyrics of Satranga? Was he always your first choice when you guys were writing the lyrics?
And according to you, which other singer could have pulled off this song with such finesse like Arijit did?
Arijit’s contribution to the lyrics is resonating in the audience feedback! He’s an asset to every song we feel. Indeed he was the first choice when the song was ready. And we feel, no one could have pulled this off like he did!
As I know, you guys met Ranbir Kapoor 10 years ago at Mr Bhansali’s house. What can you recall about that meeting? And did you manifest working with him at some point in their lives?
The one thing that we recall from that meeting is his honesty and the grasping power. We had narrated a story to him back then and he had connected to it immensely. Things didn’t work out for reasons best known to him and SLB sir. We think any writer/director who says he doesn’t manifest working with a powerhouse actor like Ranbir is only lying!
How was it like collaborating with Sandeep Reddy Vanga after Kabir Singh? And as for those who are already criticising Animal on the basis of the teaser, what are your thoughts? Do you think that the people have formed a preconceived notion about Sandeep Reddy Vanga and his films?
Collaborating with Sandeep has always been fun. We share a passion for cinema with him. With the film of this level, criticism is bound to happen. The character played by Ranbir Kapoor will generate curiosity, empathy, love, and a milieu of emotions in the viewers’ minds. As far as the preconceived notion about Sandeep and his films goes, we feel it’s only in the minds of a certain segment of the industry people. Otherwise Kabir Singh wouldn’t have made the numbers it did at the box office.
Since you have both worked closely together for so many years, how did your creative process evolve over the period of time? How do you resolve creative conflict and whether you can recall a project or song that was the most challenging to crack?
Every new project, be it a song or a script, comes with its own challenges. Nothing can be created without conflict. What we have learnt with 15 years of working together is how to deal with conflict. How to resolve a deadlock without the involvement of a 3rd person is the key to a successful partnership. “Pinga” from Bajirao Mastani was a difficult song to crack, as it was already composed. It took us about a week to crack the lyric that describe the state of mind of 2 different characters and at the same time would resonate with the audience with the simplicity of it. In terms of a screenplay, we’d like to believe Toilet Ek Prem katha has been one of our most challenging ones, making the film entertaining and yet keeping the message strong was one of our biggest achievements we feel.
You two have been an integral part of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s films, whether it’s Ram Leela, Bajirao Mastani or Padmavaat. And through all these films, he curated an immersive experience for the viewers through lavish sets, through vivid imagery and most importantly the screenplay, that attained a cult status. How did this rapport between you guys start? And what sets him apart from all the other directors and creative people you have worked with?
The most distinguishing thing about Sanjay sir is his eye for talent. He has the vision to choose the best for his projects. Be it actors, the technical crew or the team. This vision, the gut feeling, is what sets him apart from other directors. Like he says now, it took him 2 minutes to decide that we’d be writing his next, when we first walked into his house! Sure enough, we get each other. The reason for this long lasting creative relationship with him is that we match his crazy. We laugh on the same jokes, we like the same songs, we connect and agree on the same things. We also fight like Ram and Leela did, in the film! And we feel that can only happen when there’s a connect deep down somewhere. He sometimes jokingly puts, “tum logon ko toh maine writer banaya hai”. We feel it’s true, but having said that we also feel no one can make anyone a writer. You have to be a born writer and then you have to be a writer every single day of your lives to be a writer.
While the world is aware about the film-making brilliance Sanjay Leela Bhansali possesses, they are still unbeknownst to how he weaves music around words. What can you share or reveal about that aspect of him and how is he able to dish out such indelible songs?
Like we mentioned, Sanjay sir surrounds himself with talent. He can compose tunes effortlessly and then there’s a battery of talented people around him that makes it sound the way they sound. He constantly craves inspiration. Once you give him a line that moves him, he’s unstoppable. He would understand the subliminal thought behind every word and weave a magical song around it. Also most songs are created in music sittings (which don’t exist anywhere else anymore). Various musicians meet multiple times, play in sync and that’s where the magic lies.
Ram Leela completed 10 years. And it just feels like yesterday when I first watched the film. On the occasion, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh shared some never seen before BTS pictures from the sets and their chemistry off-camera was also crackling. And they even talked about their love story on Koffee With Karan and how that film sort of brought them together. At that juncture, did you guys witness the romance blossoming between them?
It’s safe to say a yes to this. Given the fact that they have been happily married now. We have seen it from the scratch. The way they looked at each other in the first meeting (at Sanjay Sir’s house) to the silent wrap party of the film was nothing short of magical. The script, we would like to believe, was a catalyst too. The chemistry that Ram & Leela shared was too contagious to not flow to Ranvir & Deepika.
Of all the music composers you have worked with, which one has truly done justice to what you had written? And what was the best compliment you received in recent times and from whom?
Sanjay Sir would definitely be on top of the list here. He understands the thought behind every line. Our recently released song ‘Fursat’ is our first collab with the immensely talented Amit Trivedi. Then our friend Shreyas Puranik (composer of Satranga) with whom we have worked on our directorial ventures Dukaan & Saale Aashiq is a rare talent. The best compliment we received recently was by a fan on social media who went on to say that he loved our lyric as much as he loved Gulzar saab’s lyric.
Also the best compliment we received for our film “Toilet Ek prem katha” was by the legendary Sooraj Barjatya sir who said ‘he wanted to be a better husband after watching toilet ek prem katha’
Do you feel writers don’t get as much credit or recognition as the director or the music composer or the singer or the actors? Especially when the writers do the major leg work of conceptualizing a story?
Yes definitely. Music directors, singers are all performing artists. Its not just the industry people who only credit the music directors for a song but also the audience. They say – arey ‘Pritam’ ne kya gaana banaya while a song is nothing but na.. na.. na… without lyric. Both the lyricist and the music director deserve equal credit and definitely equal remuneration. Sadly we, as an industry, are a little far from that. And as far as film scripts go, a writer creates from a blank page. He is the root of any project but sadly when the crop (we mean a film) is ready, they sell the crop and forget the root. This has to change. The first person hired on a film, should not be the first person forgotten during release! They’re the reason the film gets mounted in the first place.
