SRINAGAR: Santoor maestro Abhay Rustom Sopori was emotionally disturbed when producers of `UnWoman’ approached him for composing the background score and music for the movie.
Sopori’s father Pandit Bhajan Sopori was critically ill and Abhay was spending much of his time at the hospital. What made things worse for Abhay were post-Covid complications. In the meantime, his father passed away.
Sensing an emotional crisis, filmmakers Gunjan Goel and Pallavi Roy decided to wait and give him time to heal.
However, time was fast running out and Abhay did not want to become a source of their loss. So he called a programmer from Mumbai to Delhi and he shuffled between hospital and studio to compose music.
“It was a difficult time of my life. Yet as they say the show must go on. I was emotionally very disturbed. Yet I took out time and in bits and pieces composed music by shuttling from hospital to studio. It was an enriching experience, though,” Abhay told The Kashmir Monitor.
The story of `UnWoman’ revolves around a transgender, her struggles, stigma, and social ostracization. The award-winning film is written and directed by Pallavi Roy and produced by Gunjan Goel. Starring Bhagwan Tiwari, Sarthak Narula, Kanak Garg, Girish Pal Singh, and Karan Maan, the movie will hit screens on May 5.
“I am very choosy about projects. I either do those projects which convey some social message or which are related to Kashmir. UnWoman filmmakers are debutantes. I liked their script very much. It is an offbeat movie that has won many international awards. They have depicted the pain of transgender in a very subtle and beautiful manner. Sometimes people unwittingly hurt transgenders. It has a cascading effect on their lives,” said Abhay.
Abhay composed both music and a background score for the film. “There is only one song in the movie. That song is played at different intervals. Plus I have also composed its background score. It has a Rajasthan setting, yet Santoor has been used to give a different feel. Filmmakers wanted Santoor to be used in the music,” he said.
This is the first release of Abhay this year. Later this year, his second Bollywood movie will hit the theaters. “My second movie is about Kashmir and that will be released towards the later part of this year,” he said.
Last year, Abhay made his OTT debut with `Tanaav’ which premiered on SonyLiv.
