Madhav Vijay is a well known name in background music, especially in Marathi film industry. So far, he has provided background score for almost 25 Marathi films, some of them have won State and National awards. Now, he has been approached to offer background music for a Punjabi film- ‘Saka’- The Martyrs of Nakana Sahib”. The film deals with the lesser known massacre that happened in Nankana Sahib, where the Mahant of the Gurudwara killed hundreds of peaceful Sikh devotees.
The film has been written and directed by Jagmeet Singh Samundri, who won the best direction award at New York Independent International film festival for his documentary “The Rise of the Khalsa”. Film ‘Saka’ has been produced by Sukhbir Sandhar and it will release on 1st April 2016.
Magzmumbai met Madhav Vijay, when he recently finished mixing the final background music of this film. And, he was more than happy to share his experience with this project.
“Actually, I was approached to score the background music of this project, almost a year ago. The director of the film , Jagmeet, who is also a good friend, has always been very passionate in making all his films. Earlier, I had also done the background score, for two of his much acclaimed documentaries ‘The Rise of the Khalsa’ and ‘Martyrs’. But ‘Saka – The Martyrs of Nankana Sahib’ will be my first commercial release in Punjabi. And, I am happy about it,” he said.
Madhav further added, “As I said, Jagmeet has a different approach to his film. He is the only director, who discussed with me, after the screenplay was ready and before he went for the shoot. In fact, three of us , Jagmeet, myself, and the great cinematographer Anil Dhanda ji, had an in depth discussion, on how the scenes should be shot, with the background score in mind. Some scenes were actually trimmed or increased as per the requirement of the background score or the soundscape of the film. Which means, the film was shot, keeping in mind the end result, including sound, which is so essential in today’s films; but, unfortunately is not given its true importance. I do not think, any other director does this so perfectly. ‘Saka’ was planned very well, right from its conception, to its execution. That is why, the film looks so neat and intense in the final form”.
To score this background score, Madhav had to study the rich culture of Punjab. The use of their traditional instruments like the tumbi, the dholak and the dhol were vital, to establish the connect with the audience. Moreover, the sound of recording had to match with the 17th century and also 20th century, as per the requirement of the script. Speaking about the creativity required, Madhav said, “Apart from use of the traditional instruments, the film’s music also has some world music sounds. Therefore, ‘Saka’ has been a very beautiful journey, where I was in sync with the director’s vision, which is so important, for a background score, to bring out the right emotions. I must also mention about the perfectly free hand given to me, by the producer Sandhar sahab. He gave some really valuable suggestions, to the score, without actually interfering with the creative execution. This helped me to have a 360 degree freedom to plan the sound of ‘Saka’, he concluded.