I was told I am too young to be a Bollywood composer, says Arjunna Harjaie

Born into a musical family, Arjunna Harjaie was exposed to all kinds of music from Punjabi and Bengali songs to Western classical and jazz music. His journey began composing ad jingles and today the Delhi boy is garnering accolades for his three songs and background score in the recently-released Lucknow Central. He says, “The feedback has been pretty amazing. People are loving the songs and the background score. In fact, I have received more messages from people appreciating the background score. Usually people don’t value the background score more than the song compositions. But in my case, the opposite has happened. Personally, I enjoyed the entire process. At a time when multiple composers are used for different songs in one film, I was fortunate enough to get to do three songs and also the background score in Lucknow Central. It put me in a position of power to take the narration forward.”

Coming from a family of musicians, the love for music was inherent in him. “I didn’t have to explore music before falling in love with it... it was all around me as my parents used to do radio and stage shows. When I told my parents about my decision of pursuing a career in Bollywood, they were both happy and nervous. We knew no one in the industry and we all had heard tales about how difficult it is to get your first break,” he says.

Their fears were not illogical, as Arjunna soon found out in the Maximum City. He reminisces, “I went around knocking the doors of every production house. People would send me back saying that I was too young to be making music and I should rather assist someone. I would tell them I have learnt music all my life assisting lot many people and yet I was still met with rejections. There were so many nights when I felt that I should return to Delhi and as always, my parents asked me to stay put and battle harder.”

Arjunna feels everything he experiences as a person makes him compose better as a musician. He gives an example. “As a kid in Delhi, I used to go cycling and bring home trash cans, cartons or anything I could use as a drum kit. Now you see in the song Teen Kabootar, the characters use utensils, cans and buckets as musical instruments and I could immediately relate to that scene and create a better sound,” says the Delhi boy.

During the course of the film, he had many discussions with lead actor Farhan Akhtar, who moonlights as a musician in real life and Arjunna says Farhan gave him many useful tips. When asked if he is enjoying the limelight he has got in such a short time, he corrects us. “This might be my first big banner movie with an A-lister in the lead and people might have started to pay me more attention now but I have been working in the industry for almost a decade. I have done three-four films before this,” says the 28-year-old with pride.

Thanks to lyricist Kumaar, he met filmmaker Nikhil Advani, which turned out to be the turning point in his career. Nikhil took up the role of his mentor and gave him many chances in his projects. “During the making of Lucknow Central, he (Advani) jokingly said that I wasn’t his first choice for the composer. I took it positively as I was happy to be in the list of his probables, even if it was his last choice. I have come a long way in life and I am very happy to be living my dream today. I attribute the little success I have achieved to my ability of not getting demoralised,” he says before signing off.