Few modern composers bridge the distance between roots and innovation as effectively as Anurag Saikia. Hailing from Assam, he has carved a distinct niche in Indian cinema and independent music by blending the soulful textures of Northeastern folk with lush, Western orchestral arrangements. From shaping the emotional palette of critically acclaimed soundtracks like Panchayat, Gullak, and Article 15 to pioneering large-scale folk-symphony projects, his music carries a rare sense of honesty and atmospheric depth.
With his new six-track EP Pardesi, Anurag opens up about his creative process, the art of translating regional folklore into universal soundscapes, and how he continues to redefine contemporary score composition. Excerpts:
The title Pardesi evokes themes of distance, home, longing, and identity. What central narrative or emotional arc did you want to explore across this 6-track EP?
Pardesi is rooted in Rajasthan, but its feeling belongs to everyone. As an Assamese musician, I travelled to Rajasthan and explored its musical landscape through collaborations with Rajasthani artistes. The idea was to bring together two distinct musical cultures, retain their roots, and give them a contemporary touch. We’ve built the EP around rhythm, playfulness, groove and, most importantly, love.
Your newest drop from the EP, Badeela, brings together a unique blend of vocalists—Raja Hasan, Dipakshi Kalita, and JUNO. How did this specific collaboration come together, and how did you balance their distinct vocal styles in the arrangement?
Badeela brings together Rajasthani singer Raja Hasan and Assamese vocalist Dipakshi Kalita in a fusion of Assam and Rajasthan. JUNO wrote Badeela beautifully as we started working on the ep from day 1.
The track also features Naresh Kamath on bass and Ishan Das, whose contributions bring their own magic to the arrangement. Having Naresh play bass was particularly special because the bassline drives the song. While Ishq Hai explored romance through a quieter lens, Badeela is designed as a vibrant, joyous celebration of love.
You’ve scored hit film and series soundtracks like Panchayat, Mismatched , and Bhakshak. How different was the creative freedom while producing Pardesi compared to composing for a scripted visual narrative?
Composing for films and series is very different from making music independently. Films have stories rooted in different places, timelines and cultures, shaped by the filmmaker’s vision of how they want to tell and present those stories.
As composers, we create music that serves that vision. With independent music, you get to tell your own story. While the freedom to experiment might make it seem easier, it can actually be more challenging because there’s no one telling you what works and what doesn’t. You keep questioning and analysing your own work, and sometimes that process is exactly what delays a release. But that’s the beauty of it.
You come from a deeply musical family in Assam—with your father being a folk scholar and your mother a folk/classical singer. How much of the musical landscape of upper Assam organically creeps into your compositions today?
My musical family background gave me an incredible foundation, surrounding me with everything from traditional regional folk to global sounds.
My father is probably one of the largest collectors of gramophone records in the entire region, so growing up, I was exposed to music from every corner of the world. Beyond that, the landscape of the Northeast itself is a constant source of creative inspiration. It isn’t just about grand opera—the rivers, tea gardens, hills, and mountains give every corner a beauty that deeply resonates with any musician. I feel incredibly lucky to belong to this land.
You’ve previously worked on reimagining 500-year-old Borgeets with orchestral arrangements. Are there specific Assamese instruments (like the Pepa, Gogona, or Dhol) or tribal scales from the Northeast that found their way into Pardesi or your recent work?
In all my songs, be it my non-film songs or film songs, I try to use some interesting instruments from the Northeast. But never forcefully. Whenever I feel like it, or whenever it adds an interesting aspect to the song, I use it.
In Pardesi too, there are a lot of tribal instruments, folk instruments from Assam, and hopefully in some of the breakdowns I will tell all my listeners about it.
Mainstream Indian cinema often overlooks or misrepresents NorthEastern culture. Having worked on projects like Anek , how do you navigate incorporating NorthEastern roots into mainstream projects without it feeling tokenistic or typecast, and move beyond Bihu?
Sometimes in films, especially in the story or the filmmaking, I don’t have much say, but whenever it comes to the music part, I make sure that I bring out something which is really authentic and which is unheard, and like rightly mentioned, Northeast is way beyond Bihu and in Anek too I tried to bring some beautiful voices from Nagaland. In one of my recent projects too, Songs of the Hills, I have released one track called Hure Hure, which has music and sounds from all over the hills of Northeast. So yes, I am trying to bring out the best of the Northeast gems I can.
Moving from Cotton College in Guwahati to Chennai for music studies, and finally to Mumbai—how has the feeling of being a Pardesi (outsider/migrant) shaped your musical evolution over the years?
I always feel like a pardesi. We are all like pardesis throughout our lives, not only in Mumbai, but throughout our lives; we are like migrants. We come for a limited time and try to make an impact.
And as you mentioned, from Cotton to Chennai to Mumbai and, of course, now to Los Angeles, I’m just travelling throughout, and it’s not only shaping me as a musician, but also as a person.
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