It was a dream come true: Amal Malik

He was once the lead vocalist of college band Virus, but now he is walking in the steps of his grandfather Sardar Malik, father Daboo Malik and uncle Anu Malik. While he has earlier worked on the background music for 3 Nights 4 Days and remixed Mere Desh Ki Dharti for Apne, Amal has got some of the best classical singers to sing for his forthcoming project The Whiteland — a film about salt pan workers.

The likes of Shubha Mudgal, Pandit Jasraj and Shivamani have worked with him for the background score for the film. “When I started working on the music of Whiteland, I started blending Indian instruments with Western instruments. I had this inner desire to record live instruments for the score and I discussed this with the producers. They were thrilled with the idea and gave me the go ahead. I was quite taken aback though when they said they wanted stalwarts like Shubha Mudgal, Sivamani , Pandit Jasraj. But I was quite excited that I was getting the opportunity to work with such legends at the onset of my career. It was like a dream come true,” says the 19-year-old.

He says that it was a great learning experience for him. “The essence of this score is just like the movie. It is high on emotional content and I worked on it with a true heart. This score will always be close to my heart. I have worked on it with complete freedom and have put in 45 days. So I am hoping the hard work pays off.”
Though Amal has been highly influenced by western music, his family background is very Bollywood.

“It was a natural choice for me to do film music. I have my own sound. It’s a mix of my film and western influences. Today, the sound has changed and films have changed and there are a lot of music directors in the industry from varied musical backgrounds,” says Amal, who has also sung a couple of tracks for one of his films.

He has been deeply influenced by his grandfather and often seeks the advice of his father. “I have some 250 tunes ready already. I often make father listen to my tracks and he gives me unbiased advice,” says Amal.