MUMBAI: Ajay Singha will make his Marathi music composition debut with the upcoming film 'Kaakan'. The film also marks the directorial debut of Marathi actress Kranti Redkar. In addition to the two versions of the title track, there will be another slow acoustic version released soon, revealed Singha. It will be released as a bonus track.

The original title track features vocals by Shankar Mahadevan and Neha Rajpal, while the voice of Raman Mahadevan and Rajpal can be heard in the reprise version. The new version will only feature the voice of Mahadevan, Singha revealed. He also said that the version is a striped down, acoustic cover, emphasising only on Mahadevan’s voice.

Of the development of the track, Singha said, “For the track, I have used an entirely new and different rhythm. While composing the track, I sat at the piano and played a melody; and then later I added the instrumentation. In my opinion, this track is really groundbreaking. The quality of sound mixing, sound editing and sound engineering is really top notch.”

Originally, Singha was not finalised as the music composer for the film. He told Radioandmusic.com that the director had initially asked him to compose one track- ‘Suki Poli’, which is sung by Shriram Iyer Anish. Once Singha was ready with the track, he played it for Redkar. “She really liked the track and immediately asked me to compose all the songs for the film. She wanted more, based on just what she had heard,” said Singha.

One of the tracks in the film’s soundtrack- ‘Saajana’ was not originally supposed to be in the film, he added. “There were two lines written for which I gave music; and Kranti liked it so much that she wanted to turn it into a full-fledged track that could be played when the end credits roll. So, the lyricist, Omkar Dutt, wrote a couple of lines and showed them to Kranti, and then she added lines of her own. That is actually how the song came to be,” said Singha. He also stated that the song was recorded with only a tanpura, with further instrumentation added later.

‘Kaakan’ marks the first time Singha has worked with vocalist Neha Rajpal. He composed the title track in a way which requires high and low notes. “I wanted someone who can sing at a really high range. So, when I first spoke to Neha, I asked her what range she can sing in. She said that her vocal range is between B and F. That is actually a really high range,” stated Singha. He loved Rajpal’s vocal range so much that he also has her singing a duet with Papon in an upcoming Hindi film called ‘Hain Apna Dil To Awara.’ Singha has even roped in Mohit Chauhan to sing for the film.

‘Kaakan’ hits theatres 10 April. ‘Hain Apna Dil To Awara’ is still in post production, with the sound currently in the mixing stage. According to Singha, the film will hit screens by the end of the year.