Theme music used for Naal's protagonist was once rejected by another filmmaker: Composer Advait Nemlekar

First-time director Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti’s Marathi movie Naal is receiving rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. The performance and innocence of Shrinivas Pokale, who played the little protagonist Chetya, is being highly appreciated too. 

The theme music, called Fire, used for Chetya in the film played an important role in enhancing his character. Interestingly, the tune was once rejected by another filmmaker years ago. Music and background composer of the film, Advait Nemlekar, revealed this during an exclusive conversation with Cinestaan.com. 

Naal review: Moving tale of a child exploring his relationships

“We did a lot of trial and error. We did around five to six themes till he [Yakkanti] approved the right sound for the film. That theme is called Fire. It was an accident. It was a theme that was created four years ago for a Marathi film but it had got rejected," Nemlekar said. 

However, Nemlekar strongly believed in the music. “As an artist, you realize whether you have made something decent or average. I knew this was slightly in the better category,” he added. 

The director not only liked the piece but it also became central to the character of Chetya. “I made Sudhakar listen to the theme. This theme was made for the scene where they light the fire. There are these long beautiful shots. We created the strings. And then I saw that it became the entire theme of the protagonist. He loved it so much,” said Nemlekar. 

Speaking about working with Yakkanti, Nemlekar said when it came to music, the director had a good amount of clarity regarding what he did not want. “He was very sure about what he did not want. He said that he doesn’t want flute, tabla and that Malgudi Days kind of feel. He was clear about these things. He was like it’s already done, so let’s give the viewers something different, cinematic and larger. But yet very simple sounding,” Nemlekar shared.