Mithoon: My approach for 'Tum Hi Ho' was never to create a title track
MUMBAI: 'Tum Hi Ho' was touted to be the cult hit of 2013. According to Ormax, a company that specialises in providing media insights, the song spent 69 weeks in the Top 10 surpassing the next highest 'Munni Badnaam' at 42 weeks. The song was composed by Mithoon and the vocals were rendered by Arijit Singh.
"It all started when the director Mohit Suri called me up to make the title track for the film Aashiqui 2. Mohit Suri happens to be a very vocal director, so for an hour he spoke about what he expects from the song. And then I asked him to describe the song in one line and he said, 'Tum hi ho bas tum hi ho' so this is how it all started," said Mithoon to Radioandmusic.com's Dhairya Ingle. His aim was to do justice with the brief of the script and his perception of music was nothing to do with the brand 'Aashiqui'.
Mithoon opted for Arijit Singh when the latter was in search of one big hit. It was his voice and singing style that impressed the composer. "I always look for voice and not names. Singers like Shilpa Rao and Mohammed Irfan were just names when they started working and they have reached places," emphasised the 29 year old. While recording the song, he asked Singh to keep things simple. "I never wanted the emotion to be exaggerated. Despite the word "Aashiqui" being repeated quite often, the notes are extremely simple," elaborated the 'Banjaara' composer.
For him writing happens parallel to composing. "I always make it a point to ask the director to narrate the scene or the situation to me with dialogues if there is no song. This is how I get a complete idea and I make sure that my song takes the story forward," he said.
The composer believes that no numbers can represent the value of the song that has added to his life. "My approach for 'Tum Hi Ho' was never to create a title track. Of course I am really thankful to the audiences for their tremendous response, but I feel pretty okay. The song holds more values than these numbers," he concluded.