It's an amazing feeling and powerful experience when you do something for the first time. It's a new beginning with a bit of nervousness and joy of creativity. The most evolving part is the process you go through.
I am Ashish Lotangane and here is a short story on the making of our first song "Sudhakara" (Marathi Song).
No matter where you are in the world, you are always connected to your roots. With this thought, I have written this song. The song is based on Lord Ganesh and depicts the story of Omkar's dilemma. Omkar is well settled in the USA, however, it always reminds him of the Ganesh Festival back home in India.
Three years back, I called my friend Aadityaa Ulhas Barve and asked him if one of my verse can be a song. He reviewed the words and his response was affirmative. And that's how an incredible journey to complete my first DREAM song came to life.
I must admit that I had little to no experience in song-making however ARK music (Aadityaa Ulhas Barve, Ambarish Deshpande, and Kedar Phadke) made it simple for me.
I learned a lot of things about words, composition, rhythm, and specifically lyric meter. From pre-production to post-production, the quest to achieve your dream is what one strives for.
Several sittings, overseas calls, brainstorming on words, schedules, and in the end, thousands of thoughts churning during editing kept me motivated.
Meet the man behind the camera - "Rakesh Narra - the Cinematographer" who truly made this possible for me. When I first approached him, he quickly agreed and started a thought process around schedules and cinematography. He is the one where art meets technology and made informed visual decisions in the pursuit of telling this story. His invaluable and immense knowledge on camera, various angles, lenses, gears, and filters added reputed dimensions to the song.
There were 4 schedules, a day-night shoot in New York and few in Connecticut. Rakesh and I were roaming around New York in search of various locations with camera gears, tripods, and properties. We explored various locations and finalized on Wall Street, Times Square, Battery Park, Bull and several other spot in the Manhattan area.
Day part was done at Walls Street. Because of the crowd, we had many interruptions however we were able to manage with the shots by requesting people. I should admit that people were very supportive. The most amazing part was shooting in Times Square at 2 AM. The streets were practically empty and were brightly lit at night. Lights really helped us in getting that cinematic look for the scene. In the end, we were tired, exhausted, and sleepless however happy with enough to pack up. In fact, we felt great! We love New York!!
Meet the mesmerizing vocals for the song - Nikhil Shridhar and Siddhi Bondre.
During the composition by ARK music, Aaditya asked Nikhil Shridhar to help with the singing and sent the very first note to me. And I instantly liked Nikhil's voice. No matter how many times I heard the song, there's something unique and special about his voice. I just love his beautiful, sacred singing and the blessings that he has given to the words.
At the same time, when the song got recorded, to my wonderful surprise ARK music added notes of Siddhi, which makes this song complete. Her voice is a perfect blend of soothness and emotions. She has given complete justice to the singing. This also shows the deep understanding of Aadityaa about the song, words, its meaning, and music.
The backbone support is a critical component of any creative work which was provided by my wife - Sonika Ashish Lotangane. She helped me with costumes, travel arrangements, and mainly motivated me to take the first step.
My mother not only encourage me to make this song but also provided voice over at the start of the song. This support from my mother and my wife really guided me in this journey.
Special thanks to my friend Anand Jadhav for the Lord Ganesh pictures, Ashish Bhojane for subtitles, and Karunakar Sajjana for providing camera gears.
I am a self-taught amateur video editor. It is difficult to teach yourself, direct the song, and also act in it. At the same time, it's an opportunity to explore and extend your horizon. Yes, it took 2 years to complete and released the Music video (from one dream to thought to Action to Music video). It was long journey but I loved and enjoyed the experience of every part of my very first song. This was also not possible without the team. After such amazing teamwork, we were able to release the song "Sudhakara" on the YouTube channel - Dreaming Duo's on 02 Sept 2019.
So far, the response is overwhelming. The journey was memorable and the song's official selection in the below film festivals was the cherry on the top.
"Best Music Video" Award at CSIFF - Chhatrapati Shivaji International Film Festival 2019, Pune, India.
"Outstanding Achievement Award" at TIFF - Tagore International Film Festival - 2020, India
NOMINATED for the prestigious SUN OF THE EAST AWARDS - 2020, India 4. Official Selection "10th PUNE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2020", India
Official Selection at Pune Short Film Festival 2020, India
Please watch and listen to the song and share your feedback. I hope the efforts that we have put in for the song, you will appreciate the work.