MUMBAI: Hailing from the town of Lucknow, Shashi Suman's career quickly escalated once he was recognised as one of the talented finalists of Indian Idol 5 in 2010. From assisting different music composers to making music of his own, Suman has already made a mark in the industry with his debut project Mary Kom. He talks to Radioandmusic.com about his roller coaster experience as the music composer of Mary Kom and his journey till now.

The offer to work on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's latest project starring Priyanka Chopra came after Bhansali Production's CEO had heard Suman's composition sung by the top five finalists of Indian Idol. Although, Suman had been eliminated, the CEO was impressed and introduced him to Bhansali with praises for the young talent, during the filming of Raamleela. After working closely with the production house for Ramleela, he was given the opportunity to compose music for the biopic of Indian boxing champion Mary Kom. He readily agreed and says that it was a huge honour and opportunity for him.

Suman says, "Right at the beginning, we were told that we needed an extremely different kind of sound and music for the movie. It had to be distinctive from the usual mainstream music and also unlike other biopic films. That was because Mary Kom is such a unique personality who comes from the North Eastern region of our country."

He added, "Even though this film is commercial, the story of the movie is not. We had to do a lot of research and dig deep into finding the essence of the community there. The colour, the background, everything including the music has to reflect the Manipuri culture in some way. So, we have incorporated a lot of folk elements, with Manipuri phrases in 'Adhure' and, of course 'Chaoro' which means a lullaby. I personally visited the state to understand their culture better."

Suman has composed undoubtedly the most popular song of the movie, 'Ziddi Dil', vocalised by Vishal Dadlani. The song has received critical acclaim as well as popular praise. The composer says, "This song has a very powerful and strong arrangement which made it easy to decide that we wished Vishal Dadlani to lend his voice. The lyrics are also brilliantly written by Prashant Ingole. So, when we pitched it to Vishalji, he liked it and recorded the track at 1:30 am in his studio. We were quite sure about which singers would do justice to the various tracks of the movie. Luckily, whoever we pitched the compositions to, liked them."

In this movie, famed singer Mohit Chauhan has also experimented with the kind of song he sings for the very first time. Unlike his usual romantic ballads, 'Teri Baari' is a high tenor inspirational track that comes under Dadlani's forte. Suman enlightens, "We wanted to experiment with this song too. After we recorded the track, we were extremely satisfied with the result. Even Mohitji agreed that it was an unusual experience for him."

When asked about why Priyanka Chopra was chosen to sing 'Chaoro', Suman said, "There are no songs in the movie which have been lip synced. So, the scene where Mary Kom is trying to relieve her son and put him to sleep needed on camera singing. If someone else would sing it, it would not feel raw or real which is why Priyankaji stepped forward and we all know that she is a good vocalist. It is a very real song because, it is a lullaby."

Suman confesses that his biggest inspiration is his father who works extremely hard and it is something he aspires to do. Besides, he is a huge fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who he believes is a brilliant composer and singer. He says, "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has so much soul in all of his compositions. It is very inspiring and of course, I also love AR Rahman Sir."

Suman discloses that he has been approached by a few directors to compose music for their films but, nothing has been etched on stone yet. He will be working on a few more projects with Bhansali and take it one at a time. He ends by saying, "I want to take it slow and concentrate on one project at a time. I am totally content with how Mary Kom's soundtrack turned out and it has been a big challenge throughout. This entire journey has been really great and so much fun."