Don't want to get typecast: Composer Arko

Singer-composer Arko Pravo Mukherjee, who is known for his romantic compositions "Abhi abhi", "Nazm nazm" and "Tere sang yaara", says he does not like to be typecast.

"Many composers, I included, have gotten typecast in the industry. There are makers who just approach me for love songs... I don't like being typecast.

"I want to try something new... There are composers who are composing whole music album of the films... They are getting opportunity to play with different situations but I feel sometimes I am being approached for specific type of songs only," Arko told IANS over phone.

For Arko, versatility plays a vital role.

He said: "I want to try out new genres and songs which deal with different kind of stories. I don't want to get slotted under one particular category. It is very important to play with different themes and get out of the comfort zone."

So Arko recently came out with his first patriotic song "Teri mitti" in Akshay Kumar's movie "Kesari".

Composed by Arko, the song was sung by Punjabi Singer B Praak. "Teri Mitti" focusses on a soldier's life, his feelings for the country, his love and more.

Arko considers it one of the "most emotional" songs of his career.

"I have never composed such a song. This was my first time in the patriotic genre. I am glad I got an opportunity to pay tribute to the brave soldiers.

"For composing the song in a right way, we watched a lot of footages from the film. Generally, it does not happen but to bring out true emotions in the song, we had to first study the film," he added.

Arko also shared that filmmaker Karan Johar, who has produced the film, got "teary-eyed" after listening to the song.

"Karan Sir literally had tears in his eyes when he heard the song for the first time. Even Akshay Sir became emotional. He (Akshay) even said that 'Teri mitti' is his favourite song from the film."

Apart from trying out different songs in Bollywood, Arko has made his foray in Bengali cinema.

"Despite hailing from Kolkata, I have never worked in Bengali cinema and finally I am on board for several Bengali projects.

"My mother is very excited about my Bengali debut..."

But Arko feels that "Bollywood has more reach than regional cinema" and he will not mind translating his upcoming Bengali songs in Hindi.

He said: "Bollywood is now at par with Hollywood. It has wider reach. Be it in terms of money or scale, everything is larger in Bollywood. Entire world listens to Hindi songs... So I don't mind converting my Bengali songs in Hindi."

(Simran Sethi can be contacted at simran.s@ians.in)

--IANS

sim/mr