'Uri' composer Shashwat Sachdev on working on next film 'Attack': 'It looks so amazing'

After receiving massive love for his work in the film Uri: The Surgical Strike, singer-composer Shashwat Sachdev has a long journey ahead of him. He bagged the National Award for Uri and also worked on films like Phillauri and Veere Di Wedding. He released his first single Dobara from the album Sha and now has a couple of projects lined up. 

In an exclusive interaction with Republic World, Shashwat Sachdev shared that he was a little 'underwhelmed' initially, for the first couple of days when Dobara came out because it wasn't as gratifying and that their were no trailers. He hoped his work reaches out to more people and that he will kind of get closer to his final destination of 'expressing feelings'. 

Shashwat talks about his upcoming film Attack 

Sharing an update on his latest project, he added,

"So I’m working on John Abraham’s film- Attack. They finished filming 15 days back, I saw it too, the scoring for the film, and it looks so amazing. And this is a very Bombay thing of appreciating something that you're working on. And I called my director and I told him I’m so proud of you. You made such a fantastic film."

Written and directed by debutante Lakshya Raj Anand, Attack also stars Jacqueline Fernandez and Rakul Preet Singh. 

Shashwat talks about Machlo and how people reacted to it

He said, "The reason we did Machlo was only like a market survey like a test. That was my first thing, so for me, it was getting to know the label; for the label was getting to know the market, for the market, it was getting to know me. So I was busy, finalising the album, finishing the track, locking the lyrics. This is when we had released it but then we thought that maybe we should release this one thing and see where it goes and how people appreciate it so that we are a little more prepared."

He continued, "As a musician, I've never thought about it. When you do your music, mostly the closer circuit is the circuit that will react to it and tell you that you know we really love it and mostly it’s all my musician friends who work with me. But Machlo was the first time people that reached out to me were non-musicians, people who were not appreciating the music but just appreciating the beat, people who reached out to me after Machlo were a completely different set of people that never communicate with me. But post its release, these people reached out to me."

Shashwat on his Punjabi influence

"Punjab as a region is very rich in culture. And it’s very optimistic and I feel that it has always been a huge part. Few of my favourite writers have all been Punjabis. A few of my favourite composers have been big Punjabi influences, actually Punjab and Bengal. Shailendra is my favourite lyricist," he said.

He added,

“These influences have been forever in Bollywood. Yash Chopra has used so much Punjabi music across the decades in all his films. Then Bengali, Salil Chowdhury, SD Burman, RD Burman, and many more. So, this has always been the case, but I think that consumption changes with time and also expression. And as artists, people are just expressing and consuming, the audience is consuming and the artist is expressing; it is not about language or a particular way. So when you see these songs, you think of them as singles and not an expression, but that it's an artist expressing something and it becomes subjective and we call it art, but it is a certain kind of expression and now he is expressing in his language… so, yeah, and then there are these people that are actually consuming that expression. They like listening to it in Punjabi, they cannot consume Rajasthani or a Marwadi track, they want it in Punjabi because that’s what they understand."

If an opportunity presents, in which other languages would he like to compose music-

"Lyrics are very important to me. I feel that I would probably want to compose in a language that I can understand, or at least I can feel what the lyricist is writing. Because that's very important to me. Hindi comes very naturally to me; I grew up in Jaipur. But it's not that, my parents have major Punjabi influences and even though I've been brought up in a very cosmopolitan atmosphere, and my parents both talk in Hindi with each other, Punjabi as a language has been a very important part of my culture. Even that comes very naturally to me when I'm doing something. And if I have to think about something, I feel that there is a certain unexpected or effortless Punjabi heritage that is not even by not trying, but it just comes through. I don't realise it, but there is a certain Punjabi influence when I’m doing my work," he asserted. 

A message to budding artists-

"I feel that one thing that's been a very important part of my journey has been the support and that plays a major role in what you are. How Shivam Malhotra supports me, it's a very important part of what I'm doing, how my wife supports me, she's also producing most of the albums for me, that cannot be taken for granted. So people have to surround themselves with supportive people, and then just play the natural game."

He continued,

"I just play my natural game, I do what I do, and then not worry about it, because they are telling me what to do. They're supporting me by being the backbone. They're telling me what to do in times when I'm concerned or anxious that I knew what to do in the time then they’re telling me that I need to make the right decisions. My parents, Guru, wife, directors, played really important roles. So it's not actually about working on the right, correct, but it’s also about working with the right people."