Riding high on the success after the release of his second album, Voyage 2, composer and producer Dhruv Ghanekar believes that the aspiration of a musician should be “to be original”. Specialising in fusion music, he explains in an exclusive interview with HT City, “I think it is important to have your own voice. It’s a sword that needs to be continuously sharpened.
” That’s why, in the midst of the opportunities in OTT music, the seasoned guitarist still makes a conscious effort to write his own music and finds freedom in it. Ghanekar, having worked on several commercial projects, has strong views about the Bollywood industry. He says, “The conversation is never about, ‘Let’s make an amazing piece of music’.
It’s more about, ‘Let’s make a hit song’." He shares how the responsibility of the composer is to write a hit song and they should use all the means to do the same: I don’t look at it as a negative thing but such is the nature of the industry. Often, independent music is blindsided by commercial work, particularly in Mumbai, as musicians need to make a living.
To the 50-year-old, there are two big differences between commercial music and independent music: the timeline and the freedom. While parametres like themes, genres and character arcs narrow down creative freedom; deadlines and schedules in commercial work are the biggest advantage. He notes, with respect to individual music, “We [creative artists] are very bad at being disciplined ab.