It’s his music that has made the character of Tiger (Salman Khan) larger than life. The upbeat mix and staccato beats of drums blended with electronic sounds, this medley of sounds added another layer to Tiger’s persona. Julius Packiam is the man behind this extravagant musical track. With Tiger Zinda Hai that releases next week, Julius brings back Tiger’s signature background score that is larger than life in all aspects. With a relatively higher tempo, and additional sounds, the track certainly matches Salman Khan’s Tiger character. “The sort of theme and approach to Tiger films is similar to a Bond film or a heist thriller. But what we had done five years ago for Ek Tha Tiger, we had to reinvent that theme with a modern vibe. So we have used electronic music devices and the phrasing has changed,” explains Julius.
The Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra was brought on board to provide the organic sounds of an orchestra making this song a sort of a hybrid composition. “The track has three elements to it – the sounds of orchestra, acoustic guitar notes and electronic sounds that are similar to sounds of a superhero film,” says Julius.
Take fiveWhile the last film was directed by Kabir Khan who is known for his subtle approach to filmmaking, Tiger Zinda Hai is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar who has made out-and-out commercial films such as Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Gunday and Sultan. So it was quite clear what sort of treatment the background score required. Julius who has worked with both of them understands the difference in their sensibilities. He says, “Ali’s style is more commercial and caters to typical Bollywood audiences. Kabir is a lot more subtle and restrained, he doesn’t like too many arrangements.”
Even though the director’s brief is what defines the final output, Julius says the image of the character and the actor has a deep impact on the composition. Be it scoring background music for Dhoom 3, Ek Tha Tiger, Tubelight, Sultan, Bajarangi Bhaijaan and now Tiger Zinda Hai, Julius makes every track match the protagonist’s onscreen persona. “Directors want music that exhilarates the audience. These sounds that we create subconsciously make fans to react in a certain way. Our music is a sort of a crescendo for the character. The challenge is to give our protagonist a fitting track that will give the audience goose bumps without them realizing it,” he signs off.
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