The last month has been rather exhilarating for the Hindi film industry. With films like Gadar 2, Oh My God 2 and Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani dominating the box office charts, the audience has been spoilt for choice. Not just in terms of content, but there bunch of new songs to balm your blues and once amongst them was Ho Tayyar by Kailash Kher and Pranaay.
From the album of OMG 2 starring Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi, this motivating track explores folk tunes with lyrics that can lead to literal goosebumps. Joining the league of mood-buster tracks like Kar Har Maidan Fateh from Sanju, Shaabaash from Jaadugar and Zinda from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Ho Tayyar certainly holds the potential to get your heart pumping.
We speak to Pranaay, who previously composed music for films like Munna Michael, the Baaghi franchise and also OTT release Call My Agent - Bollywood, about his experience working with Kailash Kher.
Pranaay begins, “It was euphoric! That man is a force of nature. The way he sings, the way he performs, it's just amazing. He's extremely humble as an artist. When you're recording with him, it's never work. He is always joking around. You're always laughing, you're always trying things, not afraid to try new things.”
After heaping praises on Kher, Pranaay moves to Amitabh Bhattacharya, an artiste he wishes to collaborate with in the near future. “His lyrics are very simple on the surface, but there is so much more depth if you just read it and live with it,” he says.
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We shift gears with Pranaay and ask him about his early musical inspirations and he quickly credits Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sahab whose cassettes he used to buy growing up. Pranaay also shares that he was exposed to rock acts like Mr. Big, Led Zeppelin and Guns N’ Roses somewhere in his teens. “It was a mix of Indian and Western influences that I had growing up,” he ascertains.
He further talks to us exclusively about his journey in the industry and recalls his struggling days when he had no work. “It's been a very exciting journey but also very tough to make it. There were times when there was no work and then there were times when I didn't have time to take a holiday for almost two to three years. I think I've been lucky and blessed that I have got an opportunity from such an early age to create music,” he shares.
Pranaay, who believes his signature sound is rooted in Indian folk, also talks to us about his plans for the rest of the year and reveals, "With Thriver Entertainment, my own music label, we are going to release a lot of original songs. There are a couple of films that are in the works and my advertising and web series work will continue."
Before signing off, he also shares his plans to step out of his comfort zone and work in the Tamil and Telugu music industries. "Creating songs in a different language like Tamil is so exhilarating because the phonetics are different. The way the music is presented is very different. And there are certain things that I can do with that music in that language that I cannot do in Hindi. I am very excited to explore that,” he concludes.