Akshay & IP Singh: We gave the love song an electronic treatment

Rendered by B Praak and Asees Kaur, Akshay & IP Singh’s composition Dar ba dar was a track safely guarded by Rhea Kapoor who admired it when she first heard it, several years ago.

It wasn’t until Crew came along that the song found a suitable home. “Rhea, who had been listening to it since we first played it for her, contacted us to use it for this film,” recalls Akshay of the Friday release, adding, “There was no script that demanded this song before Crew, but when this was made, the song was a fitting [addition].

She wanted us to see the film so that we could make some minor tweaks for it to fit the story, and that’s how this number came about,” says Akshay, who calls the track “special” given that it resulted from a casual jamming session with Singh. “Until now, it was only [played] on the piano. But Rhea encouraged us by stating that even if it was a soft romantic number, we could venture into an electronic zone. We are glad that it plays at an integral part in the film,” he says of the Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Kriti Sanon starrer.

When Rhea asked the musician duo to watch the film and introduce suitable tweaks to the track to make it “fit the movie”, the composers realised that there were “more situations” in the film to which they could contribute their skills.

“We went through the catalogue of the [music label] and arrived at two past numbers that we could re-imagine,” says Singh, as Akshay adds, “In the film, [some characters] are seen smuggling gold. That’s why we zeroed in on Sona kitna sona. Similarly, Choli ke peeche was selected for another appropriate situation.”

Credits have been retained for the original singers of Choli ke peeche, including Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik. “We know remakes are not appreciated, and that’s why we call them reimagined numbers—because, apart from the hook line, it’s like a fresh composition.

We’ve retained the original integrity. There’s a reason why a song was loved. If we do something wrong, we’ll [invite criticism]. So, the songs are like the originals, and we’ve kept the original vocals of Ila ji and Alka ji. Sonically, though, it has a contemporary treatment,” says Akshay, as Singh adds, “We wanted to retain the song’s legacy, flavours, and essence, and add our tadka to it.

We jammed along and came up with the Punjabi and hip-hop bits.” Given that Diljit Dosanjh features in the offering, approaching him to render this new version was a no-brainer. “Diljit usually sings on a high scale. Here, we made him sing on a low scale. So, while this is not typically his sound, [it is enjoyable]. We had 30 minutes [to record it], and he gave us everything we needed.”