Ameya Saraf: ‘I Wanted to Do Music for Life the First Time I Picked Up a Guitar’

There are a lot of commonalities shared between Mumbai and Los Angeles, as composer Ameya Saraf can attest.

Both cities are widely regarded as entertainment capitals, reflecting multicultural, dream-chasing inhabitants. There’s of course, the great cuisine and the quality of people too. “The major thing that I’ve found in common is both cities have horrible traffic,” Saraf adds with a laugh.

Raised in Mumbai and currently making music for films and T.V. shows in Los Angeles, Saraf moved from being a studio engineer assisting the likes of pop artist Arjun Kanungo (including the song “Aaya Na Tu” from 2018 with Pakistani artist Momina Mustehsan) to study film scoring at UCLA between 2018 and 2020.

Saraf says life in L.A. was initially feeling “like an uphill battle” but things began falling into place after he gained momentum. He says, “It’s very competitive, and there are a lot of talented people here that will inspire you to improve your craft and do better. The access you have to some of the most talented artists here is definitely unparalleled, and it feels surreal working with people who have worked on some of your favorite things when you were growing up.”

Influenced by progressive rock acts like Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree, Saraf says the sub-genre’s sprawling, often dexterous and intricate songwriting was “a great education in the technical aspects of music.” He adds, “I have spent hours figuring out songs on my own and learning a lot from it.”

He knew he wanted to “do music for life” right from the moment he picked up a guitar and began playing. Along the way, he showcased his prog influences in Mumbai band Abscinthe, which was founded around 2012. Writing music for films too happened serendipitously, although it’s fair to say Saraf was already on his way and more than ready for it. “A friend barged into my studio one night asking me to record some music for his short film that needed to be submitted for a film festival in seven hours, in exchange for a few beers. I truly just fell in love with the process of telling a story through scores because I could say a thousand things with probably three notes, and that was something I didn’t know I wanted to do,” he says. By 2015, Saraf had worked on the music score for season two of 24: India.

Saraf counts working with Arjun Kanungo as a formative experience taking place four years apart. His first-ever internship was at Kanungo’s Promethean Studios. “I think four years later, I got a call from Arjun saying that he was looking to expand his production team to work on his upcoming singles and if I would like to be a part of it,” Saraf says. Before setting off to study at UCLA, Saraf got to work on songs like “Aaya Na Tu.” The musician adds about Kanungo, “It’s incredible to see how deeply he’s involved in all aspects of making a song, right from writing to marketing plans itself. It was poetic in a way to finish my journey in India where it started.”

After finishing his program at UCLA, the first project that came his way was to make music for the documentary Bend Or Break, which is considered his first score release. Directed by Karan Sharma and Sidhant Sharma, Saraf’s somber yet hopeful score highlighted Mitch Martow’s struggles with the genetic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

Saraf says he was “incredibly nervous” to see how his score would be received, but looks back on it as something that went well. He adds, “Having something like that on my reel allowed me to approach bigger projects, and the music itself would often help me get meetings with directors and producers.”

Once that was done and out, Saraf was able to try more new and experimental approaches to sound for screen. “The funny thing is I am working on a docu-series right now where half of the episode is temped with the score from Bend Or Break. It’s definitely a new and weird feeling for me to hear my own score on a temp for something I am working on,” he adds with a laugh.

On what is perhaps the other end of the film spectrum, Saraf got to score music for comedy flick Not Another Church Movie, which released in May and stars the likes of Jamie Foxx and Mickey Rourke. It was a seven-week window that Saraf had to mix jazz, funk and hip-hop, plus orchestral and gospel music elements all in one for the score. He says about his process, “Comedies are actually such a different beast because your score has to be very understated; otherwise, it can change how a scene is perceived. There are many significant characters in the film, and all of them needed their own sort of theme, if not at least a particular vibe.”

Tight deadlines are par for the course in the world of composing music scores and Saraf has had a good number of those kinds of projects to figure out how to work on the fly and not panic. From assisting to now leading the music himself, the composer is well aware that artists are “always known for what we did last.” He adds, “[It’s] definitely more responsibility and more pressure, but I honestly thrive on it.”