Shashwat Sachdev on why he escaped to Europe after ‘Dhurandhar’ โ Firstpost
Shashwat Sachdev is not quite what the job description suggests. The man behind some of Hindi cinemaโs most recognisable scores guards silence fiercely at home, cries easily around old friends, and is still waiting to make the one thing that is entirely his own. He spoke to Firstpost, and was characteristically unhurried about all of it.
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
I wake up pretty late, usually in the afternoon. But I also love working in the mornings. Since I often sleep in the early hours, Iโm awake through that time, and that is when I enjoy working. So I would say Iโm both, in a strange way: a morning person and a night person.
Classical training as a kid means a lot of practice hours, a lot of discipline imposed from outside. Were you genuinely devoted to it or were you just very obedient?
I think in the beginning I was just very obedient. I was too young to be a rebel, or to even clearly say whether I liked something or didnโt like it. I started learning very early, so at first I just followed what I was told. But along the way I became extremely passionate. I started waiting for my teacher, taking him very seriously. He became my family, my mentor, my guru, everything. Eventually, he took complete control of my life, the way it is even today.
Who in your life is completely unimpressed by what you do, and why is that person important to you?
My mother is usually the most unimpressed. She has very high standards for me, moral, ethical and musical. She was my first teacher, and she has been the most important inspiration for my music. My father is easier to please with my music, but much harder to please with the way I operate in life. My mother is harder to impress with my craft, but she keeps appreciating how I live my life. With each song, I still have to work very hard to make her feel something.
What does your home actually sound like? Is there always music, or do you guard silence more fiercely than people might expect?
My home is much more silent than people might imagine. Silence is very important to me, and I guard it quite seriously. I start my day by practising the piano, and during that time people are not allowed to talk. My friends and family make fun of how strict I am about silence at home, but it really helps me think. It helps me sit with what is inside my head and slowly bring it out. My wife truly understands and appreciates it. A lot of other people donโt always get it.
What are your fondest memories associated to music?
My fondest memories are usually the moments when I feel I have figured out or composed something beautiful, something I personally love. That feeling is deeply satisfying. I can remember those moments for most of the songs I have done. With background scores, if I write something on a scene and it really elevates the scene, that stays with me. It becomes a memory.
Whatโs the last thing that made you cry that had absolutely nothing to do with work?
Iโm too emotional. I grew up quite lonely as a kid, mostly learning music and practising at home. My school life was not very flashy or exciting. So when I feel emotions with friends and family now, it really inspires me and often brings tears to my eyes. Most of my close friends know this about me and have learnt to live with it. It can creep out newer friends a little, but with older friends it only brings me closer to them.
Every composer has a private ritual before serious work begins – something superstitious, something structural, something theyโd find hard to explain. Whatโs yours?
I think about my parents and my guru every time I begin serious work. That is the thing I always return to.
Is there a piece of music, by anyone, in any genre, that you return to so often itโs almost embarrassing?
It is almost embarrassing, but if I like a film and its score, I will watch that film again and again. I can watch the same film for a whole month. After six or seven viewings, it becomes very difficult for my family, my wife and people around me to live with. But I get obsessed with things. I go into loops and keep repeating them. It is very natural to me. It is not rare, it is actually very common. I genuinely feel repetition is part of my process.
Whatโs a sound youโve been carrying around for years that you havenโt found the right place for yet?
I still want to do my own sound for an epic or a major historical film. I have a version of that world inside me, and I have been carrying it in my heart for a long time. I do get asked about these things once in a while, but I am still waiting for the one that I truly love.
โB*****s of Bollywoodโ let you be genuinely unserious. Did that kind of freedom clarify something about what you actually want from your work, or did it just feel like a good time while it lasted?
It didnโt feel unserious to me, actually. โB******s of Bollywoodโ was not a random funny or comic series. It was genuinely trying to create a piece of art, to tell its side of the story and bring something fresh to the audience. That was exciting for me. What was special was that there was no pressure to make something overnight. Mr Shah Rukh Khan, Aryan, the producers, everyone around me only empowered me. They were amazing patrons. They gave me whatever resources I needed to try and create something exceptional. That journey was one of the first times I truly understood what it feels like to work with a major studio, and how great leaders empower their technicians and their teams.
The โDhurandharโ soundtrack re-contextualises tracks that already carry enormous cultural weight. At what point in that process did you stop being nervous about it?
I was never really nervous about it. We always hear hip-hop tracks that sample iconic jazz pieces or ideas from the 50s and 60s, and when they are done well, they create something new. For me, I was trying to create my version of hip-hop and EDM within that world. Aditya and I felt none of that pressure. In fact, we were just enjoying the process of telling our side of the story.
What collaboration in โDhurandharโ was your favourite?
Collaborating with Aditya was one of my favourite things to happen in the last six months. Also, collaborating with Lokesh bhaiya, and having him in the room when I was under pressure, has become a very beautiful memory for me. I have never had an elder brother. Having him around, having my back, made me feel taken care of. That was truly special.
โDhurandharโ is out, itโs everywhere, people have opinions. What do you do the morning after something that big lands?
I usually want to disappear. After โDhurandharโ, I was travelling in Europe and finishing a few things with friends, long-pending ideas I had wanted to do. The first thing I did was get away from โDhurandharโ and move towards something else. I had been living with it for one and a half years, maybe closer to two, going back and forth with it. So more than thinking about the morning after it landed, I was thinking about how to get away from it for a bit and do something different. I just wanted a change for a week.
Youโve spent your career translating other peopleโs visions into sound. When do you get to make something that is entirely, uncomplicatedly yours?
I am in the process of doing something really special that is going to be truly mine. I am collaborating with a few of my best friends to make that happen. I am looking forward to people seeing it and feeling whatever they feel about it.
A profession like composing demands its own kind of discipline. What does that look like for you, physically and otherwise? Is there a diet, a fitness routine, something that keeps the body in service of the work?
I donโt think of discipline primarily as a diet or a fixed fitness routine. For me, practice is the main discipline. My mother keeps me on my toes and makes sure I am spending enough time practising. That is the most important part of my music. Listening to new music, practising, and spending time with friends I resonate with musically are all essential. I also try to work with some of the greatest musicians of our time, because that keeps my musical taste and my proficiency at a certain level.
The industry runs on long hours and shorter deadlines. Is work-life balance something you actually believe in, or is it a concept that sounds better in interviews than it lives in practice?
For me, my work, my life, and everything around it is structured around practice and work. Most of the time my family understands that and keeps everything at bay. My friends also make space for me to express musically and collaborate with new people, rather than spend those moments elsewhere. My parents, my family, everyone around me has sacrificed a lot for me to be able to get what I wanted. Now that I have the opportunity, I donโt want to spend time on anything else. I only want to be in the studio.
Is there room for hobbies โ things that have nothing to do with sound, with film, with any of this?
Most of my hobbies still end up returning to film or music. I love watching films and reading about them. I love reading about great directors. I completed watching 10,000 films a few years ago, and now I am going back and rewatching many of the films I loved in childhood and college. I also love mixing and mastering music. When I am tired and exhausted from making music, I take a break by mixing. It is still music, but the process feels different to me. It is spiritually gratifying.
AI is composing now, or at least attempting to. Where does that sit with you?
I think it changes the law of the universe. That is what I would say about it. And I am very hopeful for the future.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Shashwat Sachdev’s next big project?
How does silence influence Sachdev’s music?
Shashwat Sachdev finds silence at home crucial for his creative process, allowing him to “sit with what is inside my head and slowly bring it out”. He guards silence fiercely, which friends and family often joke about. This discipline helps him think and is a key part of his composing profession.
Will AI change music composition significantly?
First Published:
June 10, 2026, 18:45 IST
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