Talented composer from Assam, Anurag Saikia had a brilliant run at the movies in 2018 with Karwaan, Mulk and Highjack. He also stole the thunder with an emotional trilogy, originals by Gaana featuring real life couple Aamir Ali and Sanjeeda Sheikh and also with his new release “Bhula Diya” with Darshan Raval which is already climbing the charts.
Anurag has come up with another musical and this time for MTV Unplugged ‘Sonu Nigam’s Episode’. The experimental composer beautifully incorporated Northeastern folk with ghazals. There are Five Ghazals and One Original Song.
Talking about the opportunity, Anurag shares, “When Jaggi called me from MTV, he told me about the concept that Sonu Sir (Nigam) wants to do the ghazals and wants me to produce the whole music. Despite ghazals not being so popular in Assam but still I am blessed that I got to learn various forms of music from my own family . My mom Dipali Dutta Saikia is a singer and dad Dr. Anil Saikia is a composer back there in Assam. So different kind of music and musical genre is practice in my family.
“The first thing that striked me after speaking to Sonu Sir was that how would I present in a way that I wouldn’t disturb the essence of ghazals. The existing ghazals are so beautifully sung by many Legends like Mehendi Hasan saab, Ghulam Ali ji, Jagjit Singh Ji, so I don’t want to harm their compositions in any way. Folk music has always inspired me so I thought to incorporate folk with ghazals with the help of my team,” he adds.
Anurag also reveals his experience of composing for Sonu Nigam.
“I am blessed to have the best team of musicians at MTV Unplugged and we have designed whole heartedly. We didn’t get a chance to rehearse with Sonu Sir till the date of the final shoot but it came out really well and I am getting lot of good response. I feel that our entire generation has grown up listening his songs and I am really blessed to born in his era. To work for him is like a dream come true. The way he inspires and mentions about artists like me in all his interviews is so overwhelming .
“I want to thank MTV Unplugged for giving me this opportunity. I am happy that I could bring Northeastern folk music specially Assamese Folk to this platform and glad that people are appreciating it,” he concludes.
