So how does it feel — making it to the i-Tune World Music charts as well as hitting a high in India?
Shankar: Any success always makes a big difference. We always move on, but the enthusiasm is upped, so we want to come back after a weekend or even every day with those extra springs in our steps!

It’s almost a rhetorical question, but how rocking was the Rock On!! experience?
Shankar:This is a score that clicked totally on merit, like the film. The film had no star value but everyone was hooked because it was so fresh and out-of-the-box.
Loy: Film music, over here, has a definition. But why should it do so? Rock On!! proves that receptivity is high to anything good, even if it is not within regular parameters.

How did Farhan come to sing on it?
Ehsaan: It was Abhishek Kapoor’s idea. He did a test shoot with Farhan singing a U2 song. Farhan would always strum a guitar while jamming with us. He was always a singer. In any case, we were doing a straight rock kind of music for the film.
Shankar: Farhan is a musician at heart - he even plays the chords.
Ehsaan: When we were making Dil Chahta Hai, Farhan never even touched a guitar. During Lakshya, he was meddling with it. And by the time we were making Don, he was playing songs on the guitar! He had picked it up all by himself! He is also very fast on taking decisions on a song. The comfort level with him is always very high.
Loy: And that’s because Farhan has the same vision as we do. He is very spontaneous, loves things out-of-the-box and immediately and instinctively senses the potential of any song that someone else may not even touch.

How did he evolve as a playback singer?
Ehsaan: Oh, he was very fast! The first song we recorded was Na na na. We had given him a straight composition without any gimmicks but he was very nervous. It was when we made him hear what we had recorded that his confidence zoomed. By the time we came to the ballad Tum ho to, his confidence had shot up from 40 per cent to something like 95 per cent. Farhan could manage two-and-a-half octaves and did everything “live”.

How did Javedsaab tune with the music?
Shankar: You will not believe it when we say that we completed the score within 15 days. All our dummy lyrics had been written in English, but Javedsaab did an outstanding job.

And did you deliberately put in less efforts for the rival’s song in the competition because he was to lose?
Ehsaan: Well, we wanted a hard-rock song there because of its dark quality, as hard rock is more intense and louder and we needed a heavy metal feel. So we composed Zehreele zehreele and it was both sung and enacted by Suraj Magan, who is a very talented artiste. After that song Na na na was obviously softer and more meaningful and the kind that was more likely to win a competition.

You have been introducing several new singers like Suraj.
Ehsaan: Yes, we have introduced Nikita Nigam, Sonu’s sister, in Marigold and are giving her a song again in Shortcut. Shekhar of Vishal-Shekhar has sung for us in Zoya Akhtar’s film Luck By Chance and we are also introducing Kirti and Arijit. Salim Shehzada was highly appreciated after Heyy Babyy. And we had Anusha Mani singing Lazy lamhe in Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic.

Shankar, you are now a judge on Zee’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. How do you find the talents in the current season?
Shankar: They are really amazing. It’s terrific to know what kind of talent is out there.

Introducing a new voice has its pros and cons. What are the pros and what are the cons?
Ehsaan: So far as we are concerned, it’s all pros, not cons.
Shankar: I agree completely.

Do you expect Rock On!! to be a trailblazer?
Ehsaan: It will definitely open the way, if it’s not done so already, for Indian rock and Indian rock bands.

Anu Malik did a small cameo as himself in your film. Whose idea was that?
Shankar: Anuji was sporting enough to do it when Farhan approached him. By the way, he simply loves our music in this film!

You have been known for hit music in films that did not do well, like Salaam-e-Ishq, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Johnny Gaddaar. But you seemed decidedly uncomfortable in Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic. Were you and director Kunal Kohli on different wavelengths?
Shankar: I think that it’s all about perceptions, especially when a film does not do well. It’s true that Kunal was not used to us like he was with other composers and their style. So it took one or two meetings for him to get used to us. But that happens even with other filmmakers. Nihaal ho gayi and Lazy lamhe were very popular from this film.
Loy: Sometimes, a filmmaker and a music director have different viewpoints and both have to be satisfied.

You guys are accepted, yet considered different from the breed. Why is that?
Shankar: The image that we have is far from filmi, so that gives people an impression that maybe we are unapproachable and distanced from the hardcore filmi duniya. We are not sighted at every film event and when we finish work we prefer to go home and spend time with our families.

Is it that you are particular about whom you work with?
Loy: Yes, we do like to work with people with whom we are comfortable with. It’s very important to know where a filmmaker is coming from in terms of the work-ethic. And that’s because we believe in relationships that go beyond just making films together.
Shankar: We like to make genuine, pure music in a no-nonsense way in enjoyable environs. You will notice that 99 per cent of our filmmakers like to repeat us. Because we believe in sharing warm, personal relationships.

What else is coming up from you?
Eshaan: We have Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan and Wake-Up Sid, Farhan Akhtar’s next, a film with Bharatbala Productions, Walt Disney Productions’ next with Satyajit Bhatkal as director, Arshad Warsi’s home production and Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s London Dreams. There is also a Tamil and a Telugu film and Amol Palekar’s film Dumkata that releases in November.