Dr L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurthy on music and more

Now, post a decade-long sabbatical from Hindi films, Subramaniam has donned the music composer’s hat again for Ananth Mahadevan’s ‘Gour Hari Dastaan’ that hits the Indian screens on August 14. He recorded a version of Mahatma Gandhi’s famous bhajan, Vaishnav Jana To, with Krishnamurthy and Pandit Jasraj for this film. Excerpts from an interview with the couple:

Q. It’s rare to see your credits on the music albums of Hindi films. Why?
A. Dr L Subramaniam (LS): Post ‘Salaam Bombay’ (1988), I composed music selectively for films like ‘Mississippi Masala’ (1991) and ‘Little Buddha’ (1993). Due to my hectic schedule, I have been unable to devote time to music compositions. I travel for eight months in a year, performing at Indian Classical and Western Fusion concerts. Kavita and I will begin our six-weeks international tour in August, performing across Europe and USA. I also write compositions for international symphony orchestras. For instance, in the next sixth months, I will be preparing four orchestral works, one of them being for a Spanish symphony orchestra. That takes a lot of time because you have to write for each instrument separately and then, collectively for the orchestra.

Kavita Krishnamurthy (KK): I used to sing a lot for Hindi films (last being ‘Rockstar’ in 2011); trends have changed now. Reality shows have thrown up many singers with Sufi and Western style of singing. We were traditional playback singers. I haven’t had many good offers in the last few years, so there is no point in singing inconsequential songs. I am quite into singing for concerts and I try different things.