Viju Shah Reflects on 23 Years of Music and His Work in Hansal Mehta’s ‘Chhal’

The composer, Viju Shah, discussed his early collaboration with director Hansal Mehta in the crime thriller ‘Chhal’. Shah recalled his initial association with producer Nitin Patil, lyricist Amitabh Varma, recording and mixing engineer Tanay Gajjar, and singer K.K., describing the overall experience as highly enjoyable. The film, though not a musical, featured a substantial amount of music for its genre. Shah highlighted K.K.’s enthusiasm for the title track and the contributions of other singers such as Asha Bhosle, Alka Yagnik, Sadhana Sargam, and Shaan. He also mentioned Javed Ali’s alaap in one of the songs and his enjoyment of working on the background score. ‘Chhal’ also marked the debut of actors Kay Kay Menon and Prashant Narayan. Shah shared a memorable anecdote about Asha Bhosle’s dedication, recounting how she climbed four flights of stairs to dub a song when the studio elevator was out of service.