Set in the early days of the Hindi film industry, Qala presented Trivedi with a unique challenge of creating a soundtrack that feels true to a bygone era, but not old-fashioned to our contemporary ears. What we get are songs that feels new for Trivedi, with melodies that are reminiscent of vintage classics while being distinctive and modern. “Ghodey Pe Sawaar” has the accordion playing to the beats of a galloping horse — could it be a hat tip to O.P. Nayyar’s use of the trotting horse in “Piya Piya Piya Mera Jiya Pukare”? — to create a song that’s nostalgic and playful. “Shauq”, with Varun Grover’s lyrics, is rich with melancholia and romanticism. Along with the compositions, the casting of the ‘voices’ for the film’s two singers is shrewdly done. Bhagavatula, an Instagram sensation, voices Dimri’s character and veteran Shahid Mallya sings for Babil Khan. The two singers, with their different backgrounds and experience, offer a curious parallel to the artistic rivalry between Dimri and Khan’s characters in the film.
“My focus was Qala – how was I going to do justice to the story Anvitaa had written. It’s a mother-daughter story, and there’s a real haunting quality to it,” said Trivedi. Dutt approached him to work with her on this project in early 2021. Trivedi said the entire album was composed during a three-day staycation in Goa. “Triptii (Dimri) was there, Anvitaa was with her AD, Swanand [Kirkire] sir was there,” recalled Trivedi. “Except ‘Nirbhau Nirvair’, a song Anvitaa herself was going to write, we were pretty much done in three days.”
Among the more haunting tracks in Qala are “Rubaiyaan” (curiously not in the final film) and “Shauq”. “Anvitaa drew a nice visual for me about the song. They’re on a boat at night, and the Howrah Bridge is visible,” said Trivedi. Sung by Swanand Kirkire, Shahid Mallya and Sireesha Bhagavatula, the song is one of those timeless melodies that could sit as comfortably in an Ashok Kumar film in the Forties, as it does in 2022. Yet it was a song that Trivedi wasn’t entirely convinced by when he first composed it. “There’s an obvious ‘O Majhi Re’ influence over any boat song. It really helped me catch the mood of the situation. I wasn’t very confident at first while playing it for Anvitaa, but thankfully she thought it was beautiful,” he said. Qala also stands out for being a rare example of music feeling integral to the film. At a time when a Hindi film’s standout song is invariably shunted to the end credits and picturised in a way that has nothing to do with the plot, the synergy between the narrative and music in Qala feels almost like a novelty.