Having composed the entire soundtrack for Abhishek Bachchan’s Be Happy, Harsh Upadhyay on the practices he adopted to do justice to Remo D’souza’s directorial venture
Abhishek Bachchan
Composer Harsh Upadhyay’s addition to the credit roll of Remo D’souza’s Be Happy could well be seen as a lesson on taking charge of one’s destiny. Upadhyay, who was offered the background score and one song in the film starring Abhishek Bachchan, punched above his weight to ensure that the entire soundtrack became his responsibility.
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“I had access to the script, so I made a note of all the places where they had left space for a song. After I made the song that he desired, Devi aayi, I also made the rest of the numbers. I completed all of it in 28 days. Today, directors like to hear songs from many composers. So, when I submitted my music, I made an appeal. I told him that if he doesn’t use my numbers, he must let me know why he was choosing to do so. I was glad that he retained all of them,” says Upadhyay on the day the 12-track soundtrack is released.
Remo D'souza
Upadhyay extends his favour for filmmakers who choose to employ music that is specifically designed for a film. “Instead of choosing songs from a pre-existing bank, we created them for the film. That made a big difference. Every four days, I’d present the next track to him, and he’d tell me he liked it. When filming began, I understood that my music was being used across the film. Having the entire album to my name was a dream that came true, and a big achievement."
Harsh Upadhyay
Even though several veteran artistes like Sunidhi Chauhan, Mika Singh, Shankar Mahadevan, Kailash Kher, Vishal Dadlani, and Sukriti Bhardwaj have contributed to the album, it is Mahadevan’s folk number, Devi aayi, that’s special for Upadhyay. “Remo sir always includes a Ganapati song in his films. This one is called Raja, and is a defining number."
A long journey
Harsh Upadhyay has been associated with Remo D’souza’s past films like the ABCD franchise and Street Dancer 3D (2020). The composer met D’souza in 2010, and has spent 16 years creating remixes of songs for dance reality shows. Upadhyay had abandoned a career in engineering to pursue music, and was homeless in Mumbai for a period before he could work his way up through India’s music industry.
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