Watch A.R. Rahman Protégés Shashaa Tirupati and Hriday Gattani Duet on ‘Beparwahi’

While Mumbai singer-songwriter Shashaa Tirupati has released a couple of English songs – “String of Air,” “Oceans Rained” – her first solo Hindi song “Beparwahi” was originally written just for her collaborator, singer-producer Hriday Gattani. She says, “’Beparwahi’ was intended to be a male solo initially. While Hriday was tracking the acoustic (just guitars and voice) version of the song, it had then occurred to me that perhaps a couple of female lines in the stanza would add some color to the composition.”

Both vocalists have been part of master composer A.R. Rahman’s live shows and film music soundtracks, which is how Tirupati first met Gattani in 2013. The duo worked through multiple iterations for the song – including a “classic rock vibe” – before settling on the current playful acoustic duet version. Tirupati, an established playback singer known for film work in Hindi and Tamil, says she didn’t have to consciously think of veering away from giving her song a cinematic flourish. “Going in with preconceived notions, I suppose, already taints and falsifies the genuineness of the music or any piece of art. I never think about the outcome of a song during the creation process,” she says.

Gattani, for his part, helmed production duties and opens the song with his verses on “Beparwahi.” He says about working with Tirupati, “Shashaa is one of the most hard working and creative musicians I’ve seen, her thirst for fresh ideas and zeal to keep doing her own music while being super busy with playback is amazing.”

The accompanying video portrays the duo as a chirpy couple who look out for each other even in the midst of their personal commitments. Tirupati says the video intends to reflect the “intimacy” they sing about. She adds, “The song is about coming to terms with finding comfort in carelessness because you’ve found someone who’s accepting of your flaws.”

Watch the video for “Beparwahi” below.