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Films and pop culture are rife with the passion of young love. The brewing romance, the stolen kisses, the sleepless nights, the long phone calls, the love songs, the cancelling of all of your other plans as you enter a whirlwind of emotions with a new lover; it’s the sweet promise that only beginnings can offer.
But as all things, love too eases to a comfortable middle. The ease of belonging, the comfort that only routine and years of learning each other up can offer. Whether it is the sweet nothings of the beginning or the muscle memory of the middle, love exists regardless; shape-shifting and evolving and offering a romance in and of itself.
They say that distance makes the heart fonder. But what if, after years of living together, chai, chores, and lunches spent silently, the heart still wants more — more of the same? The season of love, pyaar ka mausam, after all, comes year after year. What is a zaalim sardi (merciless winter), but the promise of a coming spring?
Frame after frame of Divyam Sodhi and Nishant Nagar aka Khwaab’s latest single ‘Aaya Mausam’ eases us up to this idea of a comfortable ageing love. A reinterpretation of the classic ‘Aaya Mausam Tere Mere Pyaar Da’ by the iconic Pakistani singer Noor Jehan; the single which is a part of three re-interpretations done so far is set to a nostalgic Punjabi folk tune that meets contemporary sounds. The video, directed by Kush aka thebombaywala with Gorkey Patwal as the DOP, is an honest exploration of love. The arrangement of the song focuses on the melody and brings to the audience the warmth that can otherwise be only achieved with a cup of chai on a rainy day. It is the perfect monsoon single, whether it be sonically or lyrically and the music video adds an additional flourish that’ll keep you coming back for more. To understand the creative process behind the track and the music video, we had a conversation with Khwaab, the music producer on ‘Aaya Mausam’.
Firstly, could you tell us a little about your song and how it came to be? What was the inspiration behind it?
Hidden under a number of melodious gems, ‘Aaya Mausam’ is an old folk flavoured tune that comes from Pakistani-Punjabi heritage. The idea was to re-imagine the old tune with some modern elements, but at the same time keep it true to its original essence. I, along with Divyam Sodhi, have been working on a series where we re-imagine some old tunes that haven’t gained a lot of popularity and this was the third track in that series.
Sonically, there is an ease and comfort to the song with your voice wonderfully capturing the essence of it all. What was the creative process of songwriting for this single?
As a music producer, I’ve always believed in arranging the song by giving the main focus to the vocal melody of the track. In the case of ‘Aaya Mausam’, the tune needed to be backed with some folky elements and hence the use of the mandolin and the dholak came into play. Lyrically, the song automatically produced a visual of Punjab right in front of our eyes and we wanted to keep that alive in every aspect.
The music video is an exploration of love in the little moments, especially the way love stands the test of time. Was it a conscious decision to explore old love versus young love? Were you an active part in the creative process of the music video?
Love is forever young or so we feel and with each season we have the chance to experience love in different clothes with different meals and different flowers. It was a conscious decision to have characters that are older since the lyrics and musical arrangement have nostalgic undertones but the same moments could’ve worked with characters from any age, gender or sexuality.
What sets this single apart from the rest of your work? What would you consider the most exciting part of working on this sort of project?
Khwaab for me is an Indian Ambient Electronic act and ‘Aaya Mausam’ is the first track for me where the electronica took a small step backwards and the use of live instruments, the tabla, dholak and mandolin really came through as the hero elements of the song. Working on the music video for the track, was a really exciting part for me. It was my first time on a ‘set’ and I was curious about literally everything. The entire team that worked on the video made it really easy for me to enjoy everything that was happening.
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