‘Mallaah’ was conceived as a love song but Amitabh Bhattacharya gave it a philosophical turn

Mumbai: The recently released track ‘Mallaah’ (Boatman) by the band Agnee, which is known for the song ‘Aahatein’, was initially created to be a romantic ballad but lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya turned it into a philosophical song with his words. Koco of Agnee made the revelation as he recollected the journey of the song.

‘Mallaah’ takes listeners on a journey of self-discovery and introspection. It captures the quintessential Agnee sound combined with Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrical genius. The song uses metaphors of the Mallaah, representing a protector, a saviour and a confidante.

Speaking about the song, Koco said: “Initially, when the song was being made, I came up with the dummy word Saiyyaan and the song was a romantic ballad. But when Amitabh came in, he took the song in a completely different direction with Mallaah and it turned into a philosophical song. Hrishi and Chirayu also insisted on playing on the song even though I had programmed drums and bass already, and that just brought the entire Agnee personality to the song.”

He added: “Another interesting fact about the song is that we went through four or five tempo changes throughout the track and this was to incorporate what we like to call a “live feel”. While the song sounds seamless and it is difficult to catch the tempo changes in one listening, when you listen to the song on repeat, you would realise that the song starts at a much slower tempo than what it ends on. We’re really looking forward to performing this on stage at our Agnee gigs soon.”

Mohan Kannan said: “I’m extremely thrilled to collaborate with Amitabh and with Salim Merchant and his team on this one. When Salim asked us if we wanted to be part of SoundChk, we had no hesitation in saying yes. Along the way, we found out that the entire team at Merchant Records, starting with Shivansh, is made up of musicians and that shows in their excitement, involvement and genuine interest in making a product the best it can be.”

He further mentioned: “Tushar, the director, and his team are just the same. It’s always an absolute pleasure to work with such people, and the end result is always better when everyone contributes with such honesty. Overall, we’re very happy with the song and the video and hope everyone likes it too.”

The music video of the song has been released on Merchant Records as the first offering of the SoundChk Series.

–IANS