His song Preme Pora Baron from the film Sweater that released last year can easily be called one of the most loved romantic songs in Bengali in recent years. Sung by Lagnajita, this beautiful number topped all the local music charts for many months, and ended up being the caller tunes of many fans. But 33-year-old Ranajoy Bhattacharjee never realised his composition would have such an effect upon the incurably romantic Bengalis.
“I had written it long back, and had tucked it away somewhere in my laptop. When Shieladitya Maulik (who made the film Sweater) heard it, he simply put his foot down till I let him take it for Sweater,” recalls Ranajoy. A music aficionado, who took lessons in classical and Nazrul Geeti since the age of five, Ranajoy, an IT professional armed with degrees in statistics and computer science, left his job and went to Mumbai to pursue music. After a couple of years of struggle, he made the background score and sang for Stories by Rabindranath Tagore, a project helmed by Anurag Basu for Epic channel, now on Netflix. “That was my first big break, where I got to play around with classical music,” recalls Ranajoy, who also composed the theme music for Kolkata International Book Fair in 2018.
The three songs for Shieladitya’s second Bengali film, Hridpindo (yet to be released), are also garnering praise for the composer, especially, Mon Kyamoner Jonmodin. We had a chat with Ranajoy about his music and more. Excerpts from the interaction:
The songs from Hridpindo are already trending. What was the inspiration behind Mon Kyamoner Jonmodin?
Mon Kyamoner Jonmodin wasn’t meant for Hridpindo. I wrote it long ago, and singer Mekhla Das Gupta had recorded for it, and was about to make a video too. But Shieladitya raided my house and usurped it for Hridpindo (laughs). The other two songs, Hridpinder Taan and Chithi Chithi Din were composed keeping the film’s script in mind.
Your lyrics are extremely romantic.
I am definitely a romantic at heart. But melody comes easier and more naturally to me, in comparison to lyrics. I put more effort to write than to compose. I wrote the first stanza of Mon Kyamoner Jonmodin in 2018 and wrote the last two stanzas in 2019. But I wrote Preme Pora Baron at a go while returning from somewhere in my car. I write down or record whenever any idea strikes me.
Both the films you have composed for are Shieladitya’s. How is it to work with him?
He is the coolest, with a great ear for music. We share a common bond in terms of genre. He and I, both love AR Rahman, Ilaiyaraaja, and Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, among others. We have a similar musical wavelength.
What are your upcoming projects?
I am working on two-three movies, apart from Srimanta Sengupta’s Abar Bochor Kuri Pore. There’s also an upcoming Hindi Indie rom-com, Man to Man, for which I have composed.
sharmishtha.g@new indianexpress.com
@sharmidas