‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ Composer Dhruv Dhalla Has New Music and a New Perspective

Film music and ad jingle composer Dhruv Dhalla took his own path to learn about the importance of doing work that satisfies one’s soul. Known for composing “Chak De Phatte” for the cult Hindi film Khosla Ka Ghosla and creating the background score for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Dhalla says that after the two films got him on the radar, he was often only asked to recreate the formula for the next projects.

In 2010, Dhalla – New Delhi-raised and once enrolled in the Western composition course at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles – composed music for Tere Bin Laden for director Abhishek Sharma. The composer says, “At that time, I remember telling him, ‘I want so many films and songs.’ He looked at me and smiled. He said, even if you do one or two brilliant things in your life, that is more than enough. Doing a hundred mediocre things is not going to help you. That made a lot of sense to me later.”

Since the 2010s, Dhalla has been much more selective about the kind of work he takes on, preferring to stick to ad work and documentary scores to sustain. In May, however, he’ll have another big-banner Bollywood movie song to his name – a yet-to-be-revealed song from the sports-themed romantic drama Mr. & Mrs. Mahi starring Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor and directed by Sharan Sharma under Dharma Productions. It’s sung by vocalist Kavita Seth and even has a production assist from singer-composer Kanishk Seth, with lyrics written by Devendra Kafir.

Dhalla says he had originally composed the melody for the song and called on Kafir, his friend, to write Punjabi lyrics. The song had gained a Sufi touch, which led Kafir to suggest Seth to come on board as the singer. Dhalla adds, “We had no plan of presenting it to producers but Kavita ji, when she was done with the song, she told me to make sure that we keep it for a good project and a big film. She turned out to be our lucky charm because it actually reached Dharma and got picked up for the movie.” Inspired by Kanishk Seth’s work with Kavita for “Rangi Saari,” he brought the producer in on this track. Dhalla says, “It’s always better for me, as an artist, to collaborate with younger people, because I think they probably know popular music today better than me.”

In the time since projects like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Dhalla says he’s learned to measure things out and wait on good opportunities, focusing on the impact his music might have on people and how that, in turn, would “benefit me as an artist in the future.” He adds, “These are the things which you realize over time after you made your mistakes. So, even if I get one project a year, or one project in two years, as long as it’s prestigious, it gets me excited.”

Dhalla is next working on a film project with director Sanjay Gupta, composing for a song with Shibani Kashyap. Dhalla, who was once tapped by fusion veterans Euphoria’s Palash Sen to be a part of the live lineup during his college days, is keen to get back to performing on stage as well. He says, “I got tied up in the studio after [Euphoria] and never saw the stage, apart from people here and there calling me to play the piano. I’m now missing the part of my life where I used to be on stage and interact with people in real time.” When his next film song is out, Dhalla says he’ll play live as well, drawing from his repertoire of the last two decades.