OAFF and Savera are Riding Into the Year with More Projects and Live Shows

At their recent live debut at Vh1 Supersonic festival in Pune in February, OAFF aka Kabeer Kathpalia and Savera Mehta had their set down to the tiniest detail. Kathpalia says over a call, “I was chuckling when you asked how much planning went into it because everybody’s been telling us that you guys have spent way more time than any human being could, to prepare a live set.” Mehta adds, “We were told, ‘Relax guys, please!’”

The composer, producer and guitarist explains that the tendency grew out of how they’ve always had full control of their sound in the studio, but they did learn “to let go a little bit” while preparing with their band, outfits, visuals and full production performance. It worked out well nevertheless and paid off, so Kathpalia jokes that maybe they should be taskmasters about it.

OAFF and Savera as a composer-producer duo (with Savera also singing) have built a solid reputation from within the studio for long, even in their solo projects. Mehta says he last performed about eight or 10 years ago, barring the most recent guest appearance he made to sing “Beqaboo” off the Gehraiyaan soundtrack with co-vocalist Shalmali Kholgade at a show recently. Kathpalia adds, “For me, it was even longer. I had maybe guested on [pop artist] Kayan’s set, but I don’t think I’ve done that [perform live] since college days.”

More live shows are on the agenda and they’ve got plenty of sonic fuel to run on. While OAFF and Savera as a duo say they had a bit of “radio silence” following the success of songs like “Doobey” off Gehraiyaan in 2022, they were always working on material. Within the first few months of 2023, they’ve had “Udja” with singer-songwriters Jasleen Royal and Burrah to lead the new season of the rechristened Coke Studio Bharat. Then, they teamed back up with singer-songwriters Lothika and Ankur Tewari for “Feel You Now,” a sublime, understated yet dancefloor-ready tune that came out via Sony Music India.

Mehta insists they’re not going to budge on doing their live shows with all the works, as intricately as they want. Kathpalia adds, “We’re trying to figure out how to streamline things, if we do want this to be a more regular thing. We could have different iterations of the set, but we’re not giving up on the creative vision of it.” Soon enough, the producer knows just how much of a challenge this is going to be, but he can see the lighter side too. “I think the answer is to just become a DJ. You know, just one person saying, ‘Put your hands up in the air!’” Kathpalia says with a laugh.

The first quarter, then, has been “pretty overwhelming” as Mehta puts it, with the live debut and two new releases. He adds, “But it’s been a beautiful experience. Working with all these people and back-to-back studio sessions and then getting on this live train, where we were rehearsing nonstop.”

The output – “Udja” and “Feel You Now” – might give us a further indication of what OAFF and Savera’s signature sound is, but Kathpalia says it’s when such terms begin to be bandied about that they start questioning their sound. “Because then you’re trying to imitate what you used to be. That’s trouble,” the producer says.

The duo follow the philosophy of whatever is most exciting and fun to them is worth chasing. Mehta adds, “The bassline, and the minimalism for ‘Feel You Now’ was pretty much a natural thing when we wrote it.”

There are more film projects, more releases via Sony Music India and their independent songs coming up. “We’re doing T.V. shows and a lot of things. There are great songs that are already there, we’re just waiting for them to release. This year is going to be full of music for us,” Mehta says.

Kathpalia adds that the sound that’s expected out of them for soundtracks is often “brief-driven” and he sees it as “freeing” in terms of the composition process. “You don’t have to make that decision yourself, so you have a thing to start from.” He refers to an upcoming movie set in Bombay, with an “urban and modern” backdrop with young characters. With the two songs they’ve contributed, Kathpalia says they reflected the vibe. Mehta adds, “It’s more singer-songwriter, mixed with a little electro-pop and stuff like that, I would say.”