“Javed Akhtar saab wrote Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi in twenty minutes” – Mannan Shaah

‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’ is a special song for composer Mannan Shaah for multiple reasons. It reunites him with lyricist Javed Akhtar, marks his first collaboration with vocalist Anuradha Juju Palakurthi and also announces his arrival in the non-film music space.

Unlike most non-film songs, which seemed to be driven by a westernized sound, ‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’ is a raag-based melody featuring Indian orchestral arrangements. The song has been arranged by Prasad S and features some of the most renowned instrumentalists in the country.

In this interview, Mannan talks about the single, bond with Javed Akhtar, collaborating with Anuradha Juju, getting into non-film music and more.

‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’ is your first song with Anuradha Juju Palakurthi. She is an Indian-American singer and her husband, Prashanth Palakurthi, has backed the project as a producer. How did this project happen?

Both Anuradha ji and Prashanth ji have been alumni of BITS, Pilani. While Prashanth ji heads Juju Productions, Anuradha ji is a classically trained singer. She has been learning from Arati Ankalikar Tikekar ji who is a renowned Hindustani classical vocalist. Both Prashanth ji and Anuradha ji have been friends with Javed saab for years. Javed saab has always been very kind towards me and appreciated my work as a composer. He was the one who introduced me to them.

Anuradha ji wanted to collaborate with Javed saab on a song. Around that time, Javed saab and I had just created this song. I had composed this song in 4-5 minutes. Javed saab heard the composition and wrote the lyrics in twenty minutes. He wrote some beautiful verses. In today’s times, it is rare to see such expressions in a song. Javed saab’s poetry has elevated this song to a different level. Anuradha ji has a unique voice. Her vocal presence, along with her throw, is very nice. I made Anuradha ji listen to the song and she really liked it. She even sang a few lines to me on Zoom when we were jamming online. All of us felt that this is the song we should go ahead with.

We recorded a bunch of musicians in Chennai. We worked with the Chennai Orchestra along with A. R. Rahman sir’s Sunshine Music Orchestra. We had an ensemble of more than fifty string artists. Along with that, we got the sitar portions rendered by Sweekar Katti. Sreekar is an extremely talented sitar player and comes from the renowned Katti family comprising greats like Pandit Shashank Katti. We also recorded a solo violin piece by Embar Kannan, who is one of the best Carnatic violinists in Chennai. The percussions have been played by Krishna Kishor who works with Rahman sir on many of his projects. More than sixty musicians have played on this song.

Javed Akhtar and you first worked together on ‘Namaste England’ (2018). How was it working with him on this song?

As I said earlier, Javed saab was the one who introduced me to Anuradha ji and Prashanth ji. I became a part of this project because of him. Honestly, I feel Javed saab’s presence is a blessing in my life. He has praised me in front of industry veterans in so many events. He has always been appreciative of the work I do and that means the world to me. A while back, Javed saab and I worked on ‘Laut Ke Aa’, the single which released on Goongoonalo. It was sung by Shreya Ghoshal ji. Every time, I work with Javed saab, I feel a sense of responsibility on my shoulders. He is a legend and one of the greatest lyricists we have had. I look forward to doing a lot more work with him and learn from him.

You are known for coming up with strong raag-based melodies. This song, too, is in a similar vein.

Yes! The mukhda of the song is in Raag Bhimpalasi. The antara has a feel of Raag Bahar to it. It is a very rare combination. There is a portion in the song featuring the ‘shuddh ni’. You can see an element of Raag Bahar there. If you listen to the music piece before the first antara, you will realize it has a combination of sitar and santoor. That is Hindustani classical music. The music piece that arrives before the second antara is proper Carnatic music. It feature solo Carnatic violin playing. The string section which follows in the antara is done in Carnatic style. Prashanth ji was an incredible producer. He gave me complete freedom as a composer. As a professional composer, this has been one of my best working experiences.

The song marks your foray into non-film music.

Yes! I had earlier released a single on Goongoonalo, the artist-first platform which I have also invested in. However, it is available only on the app. ‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’ has released across all platforms and is accompanied by a music video as well. It is, therefore, my first major release in the non-film space.

How do you feel about stepping into this space?

More than anything, I feel happy about the fact that I have got the opportunity to create the kind of song that one seldom heard in the non-film space in India. I have heard a lot of independent songs made in the last 7-8 years. Most of those had a minimalistic sound and were influenced by western music. ‘Mohabbat Ki Zabaan Hai Khamoshi’ is a song rooted in Indian melody. The video shows a modern, young couple and the audio has a traditional Indian setup. I think the audio and the video complement each other very well. We should be proud of the music of our soil. In the near future, I hope more artists make the kind of music that is entrenched in an Indian sound.

The song has been arranged by your frequent collaborator, Prasad S.

The more you talk about Prasad, the less it is. He is one of the best music producers in our country. He is also a genius composer. This year, his work as a composer on ‘Krishnavataram Part 1’ was outstanding! Prasad and I have this great understanding as musicians which make the process of working with each other so smooth effortless. I worked with a few other people whom I have collaborated frequently with. Shadab Rayeen is the mixing engineer on the song. Shadab has mixed most of my songs in the past. It is always wonderful to work with an incredible talent like him.