ALYSSA and SHANE MENDONSA Interview: Music's Contemporary Young Wave

Bombay is India's foremost landmark in terms of Hindi cinema and music, both mainstream and independent. Today's post focuses on two musicians who have been crisply and ingeniously contributing to enriching the Indian music scene. Shane and Alyssa Mendonsa have become a leading pair in the new young wave that swings Indian urban music from Bollywood pop to electronic music. Spanning a series of youthful genres, brother and sister have been making their mark, whether it be by opening a DJ school, creating background scores for internationally acclaimed films or remixing Bollywood hits and contributing fresh vocals or sounds to these mainstream favorites.

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KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK: The man behind the thriller

'Karthik Calling Karthik', a slow romantic-thriller starring Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone and a futuristic soundtrack by Shankar Ehsaan Loy, is Vijay Lalwani's maiden feature film.  Prior to his directorial debut, for which he took up the roles of story/screenplay writer, director and producer, Lalwani worked in the advertisement industry and received numerous awards for his work, including a Cannes Lion award in 2004. He has graciously accepted to answer some of HCB's questions during one of Bollywood Hungama's live chat sessions.

HCB: How did the character of Karthik come to mind?

VL: Karthik was my main character from the start. I needed a troubled soul for the film, so I created him. The script required him to be weak... disturbed... etc. I fleshed (his character) when the story was still being crafted.

HCB: What comes easier to you: writing or directing?

VL: Writing comes easily. It requires only me. Directing requires coordinating with many many more, hence I am still learning...

HCB: Did you receive any advice from any of your film industry seniors during the writing or directing phases, if so from who?

VL: I actually received no advice because I did not have the fortune of meeting as many people as I would have liked then. However, Rensil D'Silva, a good friend of mine, did encourage and support me a lot. In fact he suggested I directed KCK.

HCB: Vijay, it has been a pleasure to be able to interact with you.

Visit the Karthik Calling Karthik official website

For more on Vijay Lalwani, check out Verve Online's exclusive interview with the director.

Buy the 'Karthik Calling Karthik' soundtrack on Itunes.