Premiere: Singer-Producer Onkar Tarkase and Beatsmith Keydroid Celebrate the Monsoon in ‘Saawan Laye’ Video

We’re well into the end of October and the rains continue to be a source of inspiration (or annoyance, it depends) to musicians. Mumbai/Pune singer-composer Onkar Tarkase has teamed up with Mumbai producer Keydroid aka Rakshit Thantry for their latest Hindi song “Saawan Laye,” with its music video serving as a snapshot of a wanderer in a typically wet Mumbai monsoon.

Although they’re both composing more accessible electronic music now, Tarkase and Thantry were both part of the metal circuit in Pune and their friendship began a decade ago in the midst of club gigs and moshpits. Thantry says they procrastinated a bit on a potential collaboration for nearly three years, but found their muse and created “Saawan Laye” when Tarkase shared lyrics written by Shamika Bhide, as an ode to the rains.

Tarkase already had a melody composed for the track and Thantry says he immediately jumped into the production side of things. The singer agrees that Bhide’s lyrics about the rains played a major role in developing the track. He adds, “Although the monsoon has this incumbent broodiness to it, we thought, why not celebrate this emotion by making an electronic music track out of it? With Shamika’s sterling lyrical phraseology in Hindi, my stronghold in melodic songwriting/composition and Keydroid’s prowess in electronic music production, everything seemed like it fell into the right place for this track.”

Directed by filmmakers Zeeshan Ali Dossa and Tithi Joshi, the visual side of “Saawan Laye” sees a musing protagonist (essayed by Adil Saify) roam Mumbai and get drenched as he spends time in typical tourist spots. There’s also a masked figure who performs a part of the song, who is eventually unmasked. The music video came about after Thantry submitted the song for a 48-hour music video creation project by civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. “’Saawan Laye’ got selected instantly post submission and the track was assigned to three or four filmmaker teams. It was a very overwhelming experience for us to see these filmmakers represent our track visually. All the videos had a unique USP but we had to choose one as an official music video,” Thantry says. Tarkase adds here that Dossa’s visual tone and concept was closest to what they felt while making the music, which made them pick him.

Dossa, on his part, calls working on “Saawan Laye” an “absolute delight.” He aimed for “a techno hub DJ vibe” and “a grounded Mumbai monsoon feel” in terms of elements, even if those do sound contrasting in aesthetics. “I was in love with the track from the very first time I listened to it. The nicely constructed piece really worked well for me because this way I could let my mind go to all different tangents and concepts,” the director adds.

Watch the video for “Saawan Laye” below.