By Neha Kalra, afaqs!, New Delhi, September 17, 2008
Section: News Category: Advertising
Ashutosh Phatak and Dhruv Ghanekar run Blue Frog, a fully equipped music production company. afaqs! talks to them to find out what it takes to bring together the best of both...
Their names may not strike a chord immediately, but their music will. They have composed music for brands such as Kinley, Reliance, Titan, Samsung Mobile and the Indian Cancer Society. They also have big ticket film projects such as Drona and Chandni Chowk to China awaiting release. They work independently as well as in a team. In other words, Dhruv and Ashu of Blue Frog have arrived.
Both had an interest in music and had their individual bands. Ashutosh Phatak sang informally in a band which he formed with his school friends. This band later metamorphosed into Orphean Revival (1989-95). Ashu, as he is popularly known, later went on to study music and economics at the University of Pennsylvania (1989-93).
He returned to India and did a brief stint with the family business, simultaneously composing music for TV serials and commercials. He soon carved a niche for himself in the industry, and in 1995, was responsible for one of the first original scores for a fashion show for Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla (1995). This was later performed at the Femina Miss India contest in the same year.
Dhruv Ghanekar is a vocalist who trained under Suresh Wadkar from the age of nine. In fact, he had an album of nursery rhymes, called Hi Ho, released at the age of 13. He learnt to play the guitar at the age of 16 and later on, formed a band called Chakraview, which closed down in 1996. He then studied jazz at the Musicians Institute in California.
So how did they meet? “We met at a talk show in 1996, where our bands, Orphean Revival and Chakraview, were invited,” says Ashu. They kept in touch. Later, they came together to form Smoke, a music production company. Now, Smoke has given up music production and exists as a band which handles projects from time to time.
In December 2007, they flagged off a live music club under the Blue Frog banner. In May this year, the other three collaterals – the art recording studio, record labels and the music production company – were launched. Blue Frog’s other members include Ashu, Dhruv, Simraan Moolchandani, and Mahesh Mahtai and Srila Chatterjee of Highlight Films, a film production company.
Though Ashu and Dhruv work for Blue Frog, they work and handle independent assignments to make work easy. “It’s like working in the same room as composers sometimes, and at times, it’s about working out of two different rooms,” says Dhruv.
If they have to choose between films and jingles, what would they pick? Both have a soft corner for jingles as they started their careers with them. “It’s different every day, especially at this rate when we are making almost a jingle a day. Feature films obviously take time. Jingles keep us alive and kicking,” says Ashu.
The boys have a body of work in the TV space, too. They have created sonic (audio) identities for channels such as MTV, INX, STAR and Sony and audio compositions for the first and second seasons of Nach Baliye.
Individually, each is looking forward to his solo album. Dhruv is awaiting his album on world music and jazz called Distance, while Ashu is on his way to releasing a solo rock album, called The Sigh of an Angel, in October.
(In the picture, Dhruv is on the left and Ashutosh is on the right.)
Section: News Category: Advertising
Ashutosh Phatak and Dhruv Ghanekar run Blue Frog, a fully equipped music production company. afaqs! talks to them to find out what it takes to bring together the best of both...
Their names may not strike a chord immediately, but their music will. They have composed music for brands such as Kinley, Reliance, Titan, Samsung Mobile and the Indian Cancer Society. They also have big ticket film projects such as Drona and Chandni Chowk to China awaiting release. They work independently as well as in a team. In other words, Dhruv and Ashu of Blue Frog have arrived.
Both had an interest in music and had their individual bands. Ashutosh Phatak sang informally in a band which he formed with his school friends. This band later metamorphosed into Orphean Revival (1989-95). Ashu, as he is popularly known, later went on to study music and economics at the University of Pennsylvania (1989-93).
He returned to India and did a brief stint with the family business, simultaneously composing music for TV serials and commercials. He soon carved a niche for himself in the industry, and in 1995, was responsible for one of the first original scores for a fashion show for Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla (1995). This was later performed at the Femina Miss India contest in the same year.
Dhruv Ghanekar is a vocalist who trained under Suresh Wadkar from the age of nine. In fact, he had an album of nursery rhymes, called Hi Ho, released at the age of 13. He learnt to play the guitar at the age of 16 and later on, formed a band called Chakraview, which closed down in 1996. He then studied jazz at the Musicians Institute in California.So how did they meet? “We met at a talk show in 1996, where our bands, Orphean Revival and Chakraview, were invited,” says Ashu. They kept in touch. Later, they came together to form Smoke, a music production company. Now, Smoke has given up music production and exists as a band which handles projects from time to time.
In December 2007, they flagged off a live music club under the Blue Frog banner. In May this year, the other three collaterals – the art recording studio, record labels and the music production company – were launched. Blue Frog’s other members include Ashu, Dhruv, Simraan Moolchandani, and Mahesh Mahtai and Srila Chatterjee of Highlight Films, a film production company.
Though Ashu and Dhruv work for Blue Frog, they work and handle independent assignments to make work easy. “It’s like working in the same room as composers sometimes, and at times, it’s about working out of two different rooms,” says Dhruv.
If they have to choose between films and jingles, what would they pick? Both have a soft corner for jingles as they started their careers with them. “It’s different every day, especially at this rate when we are making almost a jingle a day. Feature films obviously take time. Jingles keep us alive and kicking,” says Ashu.
The boys have a body of work in the TV space, too. They have created sonic (audio) identities for channels such as MTV, INX, STAR and Sony and audio compositions for the first and second seasons of Nach Baliye.
Individually, each is looking forward to his solo album. Dhruv is awaiting his album on world music and jazz called Distance, while Ashu is on his way to releasing a solo rock album, called The Sigh of an Angel, in October.
(In the picture, Dhruv is on the left and Ashutosh is on the right.)
No comments:
Post a Comment