Adding music to a tale of a ghazal singer with kleptomaniac tendencies in Abhishek Chaubey’s 'Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa' (Ray), composer duo Naren and Benedict wanted to arrive at a score that didn’t overpower the conversations between its prime characters, deftly played by Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao. Employing tunes of the tabla and the harmonium, they agree that the final product was enhanced by the performances, and the manner in which Chaubey weaved the story. “Each of the five stories of the anthology is an interpretation of Satyajit Ray’s work. So, we did not have to follow the works of other composers. Our aim was to serve Abhishek’s vision and story. Both Benedict and I are influenced by the music in his [Ray] films, so we did not have to go out of the way to focus on his music sensibilities while working on the project,” says Naren Chandavarkar.

The Indian-British duo is a long-time collaborator of Chaubey, having previously worked on the director’s acclaimed 2016 offering, 'Udta Punjab', apart from scoring for movies like Anand Gandhi’s 'Ship of Theseus', Amit Masurkar’s 'Newton', and Anurag Kashyap’s 'That Girl in Yellow Boots'. A project like 'Ray', they say, served as an opportunity to tackle a quirky score, a genre they haven’t attempted before. “While we don’t have a defined sound, I’d like to think that we have a defined approach. The way Benedict and I think about the music, and how it will work in the film, our interactions with the directors to create music that is best suited for the movie, all these are parameters that lead to creations stylistically different from one another.”