There are many ways to compose a song.
With different methods of composition.
However, I believe the first and the foremost step...
...is to be inspired.
And to be motivated enough to do it.
You have to always thrive on inspiration.
For me, I love traveling.
I always prefer going out...
...instead of staying in one place and composing.
Because that always gives me good ideas.
For example, Manmarziyaan.
In the film Manmarziyaan, a lot of the songs...
...were actually composed on a flight.
Most of my albums, and the work I have done so far...
...have been done in transit.
For this reason, I always...
...carry my laptop...
...and a good MIDI keyboard along with me.
I tell the air hostess to...
...not disturb me at all.
They can give me whatever they need to at the start.
And then I just get immersed in my work.
Even during Mission Mangal,
...there was a song I was doing, called Dil Mein Mars Hai.
I made that entire song in the flight,
...while I was in transit.
So, when you're invested in music,
...you're always thinking about it.
And so it makes sense...
...to have my laptop and MIDI with myself at all times.
Also, your mood plays a very important role...
...in the kind of music you'll come up with.
The lyrics and the tune can come to you...
...in so many different ways.
Sometimes you might get the words.
Other times, you'll get the tune.
It often happens with me...
...that the lyrics and tune come together.
For example, Yeh Naina Da Kya Kasoor.
Zinda Hoon Yaar Kaafi, Namo Namo Shankara.
Duniya Badi Gol Hai.
So while composing, or creating the melody...
...the words come to me as well sometimes.
Just the first line, maybe.
I'm not saying the entire lyrics.
I'm not saying the entire song, but...
...Namo Namo, Na na na, Namo Namo, that kind of a thing.
And, something something something...
...Naina Da Kya Kasoor, Ve Kasoor.
In this process, sometimes the words...
...come to you while composing.
So that's why when I'm working with any lyricist,
...I kind of give them this hook or line that I've come up with.
I give it to them and say,
...this is there. It's up to you if you want to keep it.
Keep it, use it, don't use it.
So, that's completely up to the lyricist.
Most of the times, they keep it.
Coming back to the state of mind that I spoke about,
...when we were working on the film Queen,
...the director of the movie, Vikas Bahl,
...he took me and the lyricist, Ms. Anvita...
...to Amsterdam and Paris.
We didn't work there at all.
That was a fully paid holiday for us.
We just walked.
It was around 8-10 days.
We were in Amsterdam and Paris, and we were having a blast.
We were just roaming around and...
...going places here and there, and...
...we were just having a great, great time.
And when we returned back,
...our mind was really fresh.
And that put us in a very, very happy space.
So we came back...
...to India.
Anvita and I decided to go to Goa.
Once we reached Goa,
...because we were so fresh and happy...
...and Goa makes me even more happier and fresher.
So we kind of finished 8 songs...
...in just 5 days.
Like, completely done and dusted.
It's gone.
Like, 8 songs done in 5 days and...
...those 8 songs are right there in the album.
What you hear.
So, it was was probably the state of mind.
Maybe the energy of the entire group.
The travel bit.
Everything kind of played a huge role for me.
When you are composing your music,
...and you have your lyrics in front of you...
...or a part of it, maybe...
...just maybe two lines.
It can help you compose melodies faster.
You can think of something through that...
...and make a tune in your mind.
And then you build your song according to that.
For example.
In Emotional Atyachaar.
Anurag sir, he just called me in the night one fine day.
And he just said to take a paper and write something.
And I wrote...
...something, I don't know exactly what it was.
But something something yaar...
...emotional atyachaar.
And that's it, and he asked me to make something on it.
So, that time I was blank.
Obviously, I was at some friend's place,
...watching some India-Australia cricket match.
At that time, I just kept it in my pocket and...
...I forgot about it.
That was playing in my head...
...the next day.
The next day, this term 'emotional atyachaar' was kind of...
...playing somewhere in my head.
I think while we sleep,
...because you are in that zone...
...and it's playing in your subconscious mind...
...we kind of start thinking in that direction only.
And things start working accordingly.
In your head also somehow, it's amazing...
...science, or how we can explain this, but.
Things just start working in your head.
And then, I started composing in my head.
So we go with this...
This tune came to me, tera emotional atyachaar.
It kind of fit in really nicely.
It hit me that this has to be the hook of the song.
From there, I made the prelude, verse, cross...
...and then I jumped to the chorus.
And from here, everything fell into place for me. So it was wow!
And the whole structure was kind of ready in a day or two.
So I was very happy.
So there are many ways in which you can compose.
That was just one phrase, Emotional Atyachaar.
But sometimes, you'll have the entire lyrics sheet in front of you.
For example.
Ik Kudi, which is the poetry written by Sir Shiv Kumar Batalvi.
I had the entire poetry with me.
And in fact, it was like a four-pager.
It was like a proper four-pager poetry.
Now, if I had to compose that entire four pages...
...it would have been a 20 minute long song.
Which you cannot have in a film.
At the most, we can have 3 or 3 and a half minutes.
So, with the agreement of the director...
...Abhishek Chaubey,
...I said that we cannot use the entire 4 pages.
We'll have to select the right verses...
...and then accordingly, I'll compose.
So we got the right verses...
...the bridge and chorus, that we wanted.
We got that, and I started composing on that.
Sometimes you'll come with the melody first.
And sometimes, both will happen together.
These things will come naturally to you.
And they key is, that you need to be invested...
...in music, for this to happen.