Composer Sneha Khanwalkar: ‘In the inclusion of everything, somewhere lies my music’

No, I have not been a big Star Wars buff and I still am not, but I have obviously been following the soundtrack of the movies for so many years because as all of us know, it’s a classic! That was the only association I had but mainly also because Star Wars is a part of our life. I think when I get around to seeing it, I will feel like I missed out on something! (Laughs)

What was the brief given to you and what did you keep in mind when composing the music for the album?

The brief that was given to me was that it had to be Indian and epic. It had to be very rooted but also have the grandeur of Star Wars. The characters that Ishan has built for the short film also demand that.

There is a lot of coming together of the tabla and Western electronic music in the tracks. As an Indian composer, how important was it for you to bring these elements together?

There’s a lot of assumption of how Indian music is and mainly for the West, it is mainly the tabla or the sitar. We wanted to not diss these instruments because they are so known to the West but we wanted to give them a bit of everything. We have tried to stay more on the world music side and mainly brought out Indian instruments wherever necessary because as I said, the characters are Indian and Indianised. We have really gone by the picture and not really manipulated the soundtrack in any way. In fact, we have done it with a lot more freedom than one gets to have when doing commercial music in India where you have to sometimes maybe cater to a certain kind of instrumentation. Here, I believe we could stay as close to the film as possible.

You have been composing music for digital series for a while now. How is it different from when you compose for movies?

Composing for digital series has been pretty fresh; it’s been exciting because one is not used to such a long format. I have to say that the time I had on Tabbar (2021) or in composing the title track for Cinema Marte Dum Tak (2023) have been really enjoyable.

Your music has so many influences and it has been described in so many ways in the past. How do you describe your music?

I would say it’s creative experimental music. The other thing to call it would be to say that it is really fun and jugaadu because we don’t like to exclude any kind of instruments or voices, even sounds for that matter. We don’t exclude anything to come to our studio. I feel that in the inclusion of everything, somewhere lies my music.

Apart from composing for films and series, what has been keeping you busy?

Honestly, I am really loving motherhood at the moment and I have this little baby who is keeping me busy but it’s a very happy busy and also bringing a lot of new perspectives into my work.

What’s next for you?

I am working on a couple of really interesting projects, a few I can talk about and some I cannot. Apart from Ishan’s Schirkoa, which is a French and German production, I am working on the background score for my husband Kanu Behl’s film Despatch with Manoj Bajpayee. I am also working on a film with one of my absolute favourite directors who I worked with, that’s a hint! We are working on something which is, maybe, a little too early to speak about. There’s a lot more! I also like to do other sound art and artistic events around music and sound, so I have also been curating for Serendipity Arts Festival and that is great fun. I am planning a bunch of residencies for pure sound.