‘We are like tailors stitching suits’

Composers of Bollywood blockbuster party anthems like Baby Doll and Chittiyan Kalaiyan, music director duo Meet Bros. were in the capital recently to launch their new single, Party Anthem. Having begun their career as pop singers, the two have today composed music for more than 25 films over the past three years.

“People like our music because we are both very energetic and positive — something that translates into our music. We are not learned musicians and so we do not complicate the tunes we create. We are common people, and hence our music is for the common people too,” the duo tells us. They add, “We brothers have a connection and follow a pattern while creating music. Over the 15 years that we’ve been in the industry, we have gained a lot of versatility and this can be seen in our work. Our music, in a sense, reflects our personality.”

Talking about their experience of creating and launching Party Animal, their first single, they share, “When Indipop died around 2004, we realised that the only way to survive in the music industry would be to make music and offer it to films. The songs we were making soon became super hits. But we began missing our on-screen presence. It was only during our performance at a wedding that music producer Bhushan Kumar recognised us and decided to produce the most expensive single he has ever shot.”

Asked about the formula that is required to create hit music in Bollywood in recent times, the duo states, “There are no mantras. Most of the time, nobody knows what will work. We have learnt the pulse and that people like it simple. It is important to understand the lingo of the people and put it into our melodies. We must realise that time changes, and maybe people’s current taste in music matches what we make. It may not be the same tomorrow.”

They go on, “Today, Bollywood has to pull up its socks too, because international music is just a click away. We have to come up with tracks that, if not better, are at least at par with global music. Hence, Baby Doll has an element of desi as well as western music.”

Responding to critics of genres such as rap and party music, the pair explains, “See, music can’t be different from who we are today. Life has become fast and people are frivolous these days. This has also influenced the creation of music. A lot of songs are being released today that are melodious, but they do not get approved easily — for instance our song Mere Nishaan from the movie Oh My God! wasn’t as popular as Baby Doll. So how can we create something that people don’t want to hear It is always the listeners who decide what they want to hear. We are like tailors stitching suits.”

The two sign off by teasing several more singles to come, along with interesting collaborations with other musicians.