After writing songs and drumming beats in the background for Zero, a rock band from Mumbai, and singing and strumming the guitar for another band called Helgas Fun Castle for 10 years, 29-year-old Siddharth Coutto is all set to debut in Bollywood with Madhureeta Anand’s Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, not only as an actor but also as a music composer.

“I’m a songwriter first. But I was called in to audition for the role of a bassist whose band stays next door to the protagonist in the film. So I decided to take it since playing a musician comes naturally to me,” smiles Coutto.

However, he had another reason to turn up for the audition. “ I figured that being in the film would give me the opportunity to spend more time with the director and I could show them what kind of music I made,” he adds. And, it sure did. Not only did Coutto bag the background score for the film but also got to compose two other tracks — Kabhie kabhie and Kab talak.

“The director wanted an Indian sound so I mixed varied instruments — tanpura, sitar, santoor and tabla — with the bass and drums. It’s an orchestral piece that sounds nice,” says Coutto, a self-trained musician.

“Taking up Bollywood films is a different experience as I’m no longer hiding behind a band name. And acting has been fun too. Except the fact that for a two-second shot I had to wait in the vanity van for hours.”