‘First it was mom, now my husband’

Dhruv Ghanekar and Ishita Arun at their studio, Wah Wah Music, in Khar. Ghanekar has composed the background score and three songs for Dhaakad, and Arun has given the lyrics. Pic/Satej Shinde

The first four lines of the lori [lullaby] I have written for Dhaakad is actually one that my grandmother sang to me. It has been passed down from one generation to another. I have been singing it to my children for nine years. But, since my grandmother is no more, most of us remember only a few lines. I had the task to build on them."

Former actress Ishita Arun is talking about So ja re, a track in the just-released Kangana Ranaut starrer-Dhaakad, for which she wrote the lyrics; her musician husband Dhru Ghanekar is the composer. Ghanekar says that the lullaby's missing lines gave him space to improvise with Arun, before it was rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan and Hariharan. This isn't the first time the couple is working together. Arun says she has been writing a lot for Ghanekar's advertising campaigns. "It started off as me having to step in for a writer who hadn't turned up one day. Then it became a long-term thing. Everyone knows I act, but a few know that I write." Arun has also written the title track, sung by Vasundhara Vee.

Ghanekar has enjoyed composing for the film because he has a good working relationship with director, Razneesh Razy Ghai. "We can comprehend each other, so I knew what his monosyllabic replies meant. The songs I have done for the movie are born out of the background score - these aren't lip sync songs, they help the action film move forward," says Ghanekar of the story in which Ranaut plays Agni, a trained field agent on a mission to eliminate an international human and arms trafficker. "The title track was supposed to have a feminine vibe, but exude strength and ferocity. I also like Babul, which is a bidaai song, but is pretty dark for a wedding."

Ask them if writing and making music together was as easy as Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore had it when working in Music and Lyrics, and they laugh. "Before you say something, remember, that you have to come back home today," Arun jokes. "Of course, that has its own challenges. Ishita likes to switch off when she comes home since she then has to wear the mom's hat. But I carry my work everywhere I go. So at home, I have to approach her with trepidation if I must ask her about work. But at work, it's completely professional." Arun agrees, "I like to compartmentalise, because otherwise I won't be able to do either. I work well with briefs, and Dhruv gives me a clear one, so I get the work done."

Ghanekar says that along with being a writer, Arun also has a ear for music, and it helps to bounce ideas off her. "First it was mom," Arun says about her theatre actress and singer mother Ila Arun, "and then my husband. I was always listening to music, either backstage, or from the wings, or in studios. I have been a listener for long. So, I may not be a musician, but I have always been the ears."