The background and music composers of Ghoul and Stree discuss the challenge of composing for creepy scripts
A still from Stree
It's almost discomforting to visualise the picture that Ghoul background score composers Naren Chandavarkar and Benedict Taylor paint, when describing the lassitude of the environment that inspired their work. Having worked on Netflix's latest Indian offering - the horror that stars Radhika Apte at its front - Chandavarkar says the brief given to them from the onset was to focus on building an environment, instead of resorting to jump scares to keep the tension up.
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"A large part of the series is set in an underground bunker with no daylight and no sense of time. The film is also set in a dystopian world. Many of its set pieces work with creating a sense of impending doom and alarm. So we created a few motivic elements that worked within that [like] scratchy synthetic sirens and martial drums."
Benedict Taylor. Pic/ Shreya Dev Dube
As Taylor asserts that the "zone, pace, rhythm and mood" are kept at the fore when composing for a horror, it is evident by the duo's choice of words that a marked element of tenebrosity is up on offer. "A siren like motif that's used often in the film came from running a synthesiser into a bizarrely fast tremolo. It turned it into almost mosquito like, scratchy distorted buzz. We played with the pitch of that to give it a rising, ominous and queasy sound," reveals Chandavarkar, adding that even Taylor's vocals were modulated for use in the score.
Interestingly, while a dystopian set-up is made evident owing to the methodology that the duo employed, another set of music composers, Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya reveal that composing songs for a horror venture is starkly different from creating its score. The minds behind the soundtrack of Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor-starrer Stree, the composers point to the commercial angle of filmmaking that comes into play, which can even overpower the demands of the genre they are tackling.
Naren Chandavarkar. Pic/ Shreya Dev Dube
"Music is the first part of the film that viewers are exposed to, and hence must be the defining factor that draws them to theatres," says Sanghvi. He adds that since they knew they needed to create tracks that could be played at discotheques and parties, they decided to tackle the theme of horror via the lyrics, not the music. "Having said that, we had to be certain that the songs could carry distinct contexts when seen in the film, and as solo numbers.
For instance, the lyrics of the song Milegi Milegi, which read: "Tujhe bhi milegi, mujhe bhi milegi", refer to the [paranormal] character in the film, but can easily allude to a lover a man seeks, when heard outside the theatre," Sanghvi adds. Having jetted off to Dubai to give their undivided attention to the creation of this soundtrack, the duo asserts that the commercial approach was essential since they had to draw viewers to watch the film featuring "young stars". "This is not a Shah Rukh Khan film where the music can be the secondary aspect. The songs had to serve as promotional material," Saraiya admits.
Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya
Also Read: Stree writers Raj-DK on how the Rajkummar Rao-Shraddha Kapoor starrer tackles gender bias
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