MUMBAI: Shashwat Sachdev marked his debut as a music composer with Anushka Sharma starrer Phillauri that released in 2017. He soon captured the attention of the music fraternity and music lovers for creating sounds that are earthy but have a contemporary feel to them at the same time. In 2019, he won the National Award for the Best Music Director (Background Score) for URI: The Surgical Strike. Shashwat has now become a name to reckon with.

The musician is currently in his hometown in Jaipur. Being a trained Indian classical singer from a tender age, he decided to make productive use of his time while at home. Shashwat has taken to his social media to share a five-part series of him singing some of his favourite Indian raags. The videos have met with an overwhelming response from his followers on Instagram.

Apart from singing some of the most difficult compositions, he has also been sharing stories of his music training sessions with his father, Dr Sudhir Sachdev and his guru. The anecdotes have struck a chord with his fans who are now looking forward to a new video. So far, the singer-composer has shared videos of him singing Raag Yaman, Brindabani Sarang, Gujari Todi and Raag Nand.        

Talking about it, Shashwat says, “It has been about a month since I am in Jaipur. It is a city which is very close to my heart because I began my classical music training here. My mother is very particular that my do my riyaaz every single day and so, I decided to make videos out of them and put them up on social media. The kind of response that I have been receiving is amazing.”

He adds, “I started learning music because my parents wanted me to. I’m so grateful that they made such a decision for me. This video series has helped me come in touch with the kind of music that I learnt from my guru for about 22 years and brush up my understanding of it.”

Shashwat believes that the video series will help him reach out to young music lovers who are not well-acquainted with Hindustani classical music. “They think it’s boring. I studied my Instagram insights and found that most of my followers are in the age group of 18-24 years. Hence, I thought of finding some sounds which the younger audience can relate to so that they understand the beauty of classical music,” he shares.

On a related note, he will soon be flying back to Mumbai and resume work on a bunch of films that are lined up for release next year.