MUMBAI: Soothing melodies based on 'raagas' coupled with meaningful lyrics is what composer Jeet Gannguli is known for. He recently was awarded the best ‘Raaga Based Song’ for the song ‘Muskurane’ from ‘Citylights’ at the Mirchi Music Awards. The composer, right from the start of his career, has been determined to make songs based on raagas.

“Right from the start, I always wished to make songs based on ‘raagas’, as Indian music is very rich and these songs turn out to be really beautiful,” said the singer composer. With the increasing trend of pacy number with crass lyrics, it was not easy for him to convince producers about making a soothing melody. “A lot of people told me that the kind of music I envisage to make, might not work with the industry and the audience. But I continued making soulful songs and laid emphasis on classical music and finally we saw the trend changing post ‘Aashiqui 2’. The audience has started appreciating soulful music. Though it does not mean I am against rock numbers. I have composed rock numbers for ‘Aashiqui 2’ but I prefer to lay emphasis on classical music,” he elaborated.

Gannguli recently composed a couple of songs ‘Teri Khusboo’ and ‘You Can Call me X’ for the film, ‘Mr. X’. The lyrics are penned by Rashmi Singh. ‘Teri Khushboo’ has a male and a female version. The male version is sung by Arijit Singh and the female version by Palak Muchhal. “I was asked to make an emotional number and the moment I made this song, Mukhesh Bhatt sahab loved it. The song is based on the taal ‘rupak’ and we knew Arijit Singh was singing the male version. But for the female version we needed a voice which was sweet and had that innocence. So we thought of Palak Muchhal,” he explained.

Initially Gannguli was to compose only one song. But once, while sitting with Mahesh Bhatt he was randomly singing a tune and this was when Bhatt told him that he wanted a title track for the film. “Bhatt sahib started singing ‘You Can Call me X’ and I really loved his voice and I asked him to record the song,” said Gannguli. Mili Nair has also rendered vocals for the song.

When asked what the one thing is that makes him select a singer, he promptly replied, “I always look for singers who can add value to the song. I like the singers who surrender themselves to the song. I choose singers based on this.”

‘Mr. X’ is slated to hit the theaters on 17 April 2015.