Veteran singer Lalit Pandit’s sons, Abeer and Rohansh Pandit, made their singing and composing debut with YRF’s Alpha. The duo composed the entire album for Alia Bhatt and Sharvari-starrer. As they carry their family’s baton ahead, Abeer and Rohansh talk to SCREEN about joining the industry, working on Alpha, and their thoughts on playback singing today.

Starting as a musical duo at this time in the industry is rare; was this a conscious choice?

Rohansh and Abeer: There aren’t too many duo composers today. We feel that, as a duo, the biggest advantage is that there are two perspectives constantly coming into the music when we’re composing. We do tend to challenge each other and experiment with different ideas, and when one feels low, the other is there to pick you up. There’s just a very natural understanding between us. We’re still young, still entering an industry that’s constantly changing. The challenge is probably that we don’t always agree, but that’s actually healthy. We talk it through, experiment with both ideas, and usually music tells us which one works best. Working as a duo is even better if the other person is your brother.

Did your uncle and dad (Jatin and Lalit Pandit) inspire you guys to join forces for your debut with Alpha?

Rohansh: The idea of working together comes from a place of love for music. Obviously, Dad and Uncle have created some really special music over the two decades. But the important thing is to feel the synergy when you walk into a room with an artist alongside you.

Abeer: Rohansh and I never really sat down and decided that we have to become a duo. Obviously, Dad and Uncle inspire us a lot, and we feel like that’s the right thing, but when we sit down to make music, it just naturally feels right all the time. We realized that our strengths are complementing each other; the music was getting better when we were working together.

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What was the advice Lalitji gave you both before you guys started working on your maiden album Alpha?

Rohansh and Abeer: There are so many pieces of advice that we get every day. There are a hundred stories within the one big story, and Dad has been through the process with us. It’s a blessing to have experience by your side when you’re jumping into something with so much responsibility and so much at stake; his experience has really been helpful to us. One thing he always tells us is that there are ups and downs, but your love for music always has to weigh heavier than anything around you. I think as long as you can, be true to your art and keep showing up passionately, like it’s your very first day, I think you’ll have a good career ahead of you, and don’t take success and failure personally; both are part and parcel of the journey. Rather, try to create something really special to you, and something that people can hold close to them for a long time.

Also, Abeer, you were working as an assistant director on War 2. So, was acting somewhere in the picture at one point in time for you?

Abeer: It was something that I was looking at. But I always tell everyone that my journey with Alpha started with War 2, being an assistant director. That was the first stepping stone towards Alpha for me. And honestly, if you ask me what the things I’ve learned from War 2, being on set, I had the opportunity of seeing the great people perform. Seeing Ayaan (Mukerji, director) work made me realize how important it is for the whole team to come together to create something that lasts. I’d like to do both music and acting, like Diljit (Dosanjh), but for now, music is my calling.

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So when you say that the journey for Alpha began on War 2, how did it happen?

Abeer: So, right before I joined War 2 as an AD, Rohansh and I were also having our musical sessions with Adi Sir (producer Aditya Chopra), and they went on for a couple of months. I was also balancing War 2 and coming at night and creating music with Rohansh for long hours.

With Alpha, the stakes were really high — it’s a big banner, and the first origin action story, spearheaded by two leading actresses. 

Rohansh: Abeer was 18 at the time, and I was 21 when we started our journey on Alpha, so at that time there were so many questions we had in mind given the fact that it was an entire album. With that opportunity comes a lot of responsibility as well, because you’re carrying such a big film of the Spy universe; an entire section, which is music, is dependent on the work that you do. But we had an incredible director, Shiv Rawail, who was very clear about the sort of music that he was aiming for, and obviously Adi Sir was the guiding light for all of us.

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Abeer: I’d be lying if I said that I walked into it claiming that this is the way to go. It’s been a learning process; the most important thing that we’ve got through Alpha is the confidence of knowing that we can do something at such a big stage.

Also, when you are associated with a film, when you work very hard on it, and it somewhere doesn’t perform as expected, does it hurt?

Rohansh: Every person, every department, especially with Alpha, has worked hard. The director and the music team have been working on the film for over two years, and it’s been a really special journey. Every film has its own destiny. I can tell you one thing for sure: everybody associated with Alpha, including Abeer and me, will always feel very proud of what we’ve created. You don’t do your first film twice. Abeer and I are always going to be so fortunate to have made our debut with Alpha, and no regrets, absolutely. Every artist dreams that his name comes in Yashraj’s film. So to debut with it, regardless of what it is, honestly, it’s a dream come true.

So, what’s the plan ahead, what’s happening next?

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Rohansh: Abeer and I obviously started our careers with Alpha. It’s been an absolute honor to begin our careers with the Yashraj Spy Universe film. But having said that, there’s so much new music.

Abeer: We see it as a great start to the journey, and we want to keep continuing to explore sounds. At the same time, we’re really excited about building our identity as independent artists, and putting our music out. We definitely want to experiment with different sounds, work with different artists, and hopefully keep getting the love, but as Rohansh said, we’re really happy that Alpha’s music has reached people.

Alpha was released on the big screens on 3rd July and was recently released digitally on Netflix India on 28th August.