Following on from Bafta winning Brian Hill’s previous Documentary musicals such as Feltham Sings, Mumbai High takes this unique approach to documentary making one step further.

So when Brian offered me the project, I couldn’t really turn it down…

I don’t have extensive experience of pop song-writing. I also don’t speak any of the languages that the songs had to be written in - English, Hindi, and Marathi. Coupled with an incredibly tight schedule, and organising the logistics of working with children in a foreign location during the monsoon season… how could I say no ?!

So began one of the most creatively adventurous and challenging creative projects I have embarked on…

PRODUCTION PLAN:

Project Duration: early may to end of august.

Filming / recording in India - mid June

String orchestral recording session in Bulgaria in July

The general process involved writing the songs (melody, lyrics and general music production) before the filming of the songs. Then I would send the songs to the children and teachers to learn. I would then go to India to record the children singing their songs in a recording studio.

Then the children would be filmed performing their songs in a variety of locations, miming to their own songs to playback.

PRE PRODUCTION:

Brian the director, had already been on an on / off journey with this film for several years finally getting the green light early this year.

With the green light, cameraman and co-director Sam Benstead had already spent a couple of months casting and interviewing children, spending time getting to know

them. They narrowed it down to 6-7 children who were cast on the strengths of their personalities and stories as opposed to their singing ability.

When I was brought on board in early may, the brief was to write 8 songs for various children that attended a school in the heart of Dharavi - the largest slum in Asia - in various popular contemporary styles such as urban-rap, acoustic folk ballads, traditional Bollywood, pop and RnB but with an Indian influence.

The children speak a range of languages ranging from Urdu, Hindi, English and Marathi so it was crucial to write in those languages in order to be authentic as well.

They also had little singing ability let alone record in a studio so I got Agnel Roman, a vocal coach on board to familiarise and teach them their songs before I went out to India to carry on working with them.

The songs had to be simple, memorable and catchy due to the fact that the children would have only a few days to learn them (and in two instances only 1 night to learn their songs!). The songs also had to reflect their personalities and incorporate the most important elements of their lives.

In order to do this, I was given a few transcriptions of some of their interviews and a few snippets of them singing generally, so I could judge what they were like and absorb the way they communicated on camera, their style of speaking, inflexion and any commonly used phrases. This was so that when the lyrics were written, it would be as authentic as possible in the way they spoke and came across, along with choosing the right musical style sensitive to their personalities and stories.

The lyrics had to be extensions of the characters, offering an insight into the children’s personalities in addition to their interviews.

We wanted filming completed before the monsoon so I had a very tight schedule. Each song had to be written in 3 days…

Once this process was complete, the songs were sent off to the children to learn. However, due to some of the children being on school holidays, one child was not contactable at all until the day before the recording !

Some children didn’t have electricity in their homes let alone internet, computers or recording devices… so mp3 players had to be bought so that the children and teachers could learn their songs.

Some of the children only spoke Hindi or Marathi.

So I wrote all the songs in English initially. Street poet Alex Frost wrote some initial drafts that were used as an inspiration pool of ideas for the lyrics.

Once the songs were written, they had to be translated.

I didn’t want a straight forward translator as that wouldn’t have worked creatively.

So I worked with Arun Kumar, a Bollywood song lyricist who translated each song into the relevant language, that way the rhyming, rhythm, meter and melodies as well as the meaning of each line would remain intact.

Once this was done, all the songs were sung with guide melodies in the relevant languages.

Rough mixes of the songs were then sent to Agnel Roman - a vocal coach who only had a few days to work with the children.

PRODUCTION:

So, after an incredibly intense process writing the songs, I arrived in India ready to record.

Working at EM2 studios, we had 4 days to record the vocals on 8 songs.

Despite our efforts to get song production complete on time before the monsoon started, the rains had already started a week before we arrived.

Some of the children were very poor singers - they didn’t have any sense of pitch or timing which was a huge challenge to work with.

Coupled with that, we couldn’t get hold of Iffat, our main girl singer.

We had to start recording on Saturday 13th June and the school year was starting again on the Monday 15th June.

Iffat wouldn’t turn up from holiday until the evening of the 14th and we rescheduled her to record on the 16th so that she had 1 day to learn 2 songs ! Her own song as well as the School Anthem she had to feature in.

OPEN YOUR MIND: The teachers song

The idea for this song was for it to be about the power and joy of education. As well as teaching, the teachers have a very mothering and nurturing quality about them. So this song encapsulates that side.

Some of the teachers are very close towards the children who sometimes don’t have enough food to eat or anywhere quiet where they can study.

So they keep their doors open till 10pm at night in order to offer the children somewhere peace and quiet where they can study.

I decided to write a very upbeat song in a classic Bollywood Latin style. I instantly thought of the Hollywood feature ‘Sister Act’ with Whoopi Goldberg about the Gospel Choir of Nuns and because many of the teachers wear Hijabs, I thought the visual idea of seeing the teachers animated and dancing to a fun upbeat could be very exciting and add a lightness of touch and fun to the opening of the film.

The idea was that this song would open the film, introducing the school and children to the audience as the school stats in the morning.

The Recording:

What a logistical challenge ! Though I had sent the songs a week in advance, somehow … the songs never reached

them. So, due to the producer Liesel’s valiant efforts, we managed to get 4 teachers including the headmistress, who turned up at the studio at 6.30pm before the recording session the next day to listen to the song.

After 2 hours of listening - there was only one decent singer who I was pinned my hopes on…

Arriving at the studio extra early the next day for an 8 am start (we had to record the teacher’s song and Iffat’s song - Jolly Jalebi)

the teachers turned up at 9am , announcing that they had to leave at 2pm in order to pick up their children from school !

So

CHEEKY CHEEKY CHAPPY: Ashish

Ashish is a very happy go lucky kid who studies very hard. He is captain of the cricket team and wants to be a doctor when he grows up. He can also be a little bossy as he also takes on responsibility of teaching the other students.

He is full of energy and has a big effervescent personality full of enthusiasm. He has a good home life and speaks English very well.

Therefore the idea was to write a light upbeat pop track.

This was originally titled Cheeky Chirpy Chappy but this key chorus phrase was too much of a tongue twister so I tweaked it on the day of the recording to Cheeky Cheeky Chappy.

SESSION RECORDINGS:

I wanted to take advantage of the musical talent in Mumbai so we had a few recording sessions out there…

Sabir Khan, esteemed Sarangi player played exquisitely on Raj and Mayuri’s song.

We recorded some classic Bollywood Saxophone on the Indian-Latin track for the teachers, and the pop song ‘Jolly Jalebi’ for Iffat.

We then recorded a 10 piece string section on 5 of the songs for touches of that classic Bollywood sound.

Alongside this, I also went to Sofia, Bulgaria to record a 28 piece string ensemble for many of the songs to enhance the Indian string session recordings.

POST PRODUCTION:

Back in London, editing began in earnest and more recording sessions with soloists Jyotsna Srikanth on Carnatik Violin, Alok Verma on tabla, Mehboob Nadim on sitar and Alex Teymour Housego on Bansuri Flute. All incredibly sensitive, virtuoso musicians, they added that authentic touch to the western - Indian fusion tracks.

ASIAN CULTURE VULTURE

The Observer- “Uniquely, this wonderful programme is really a ‘musical documentary’ about the life of children..in Dharavi..Charming, uplifting, with great songs and dancing…A joy.”

The Times- “This was the life-affirming surprise of the week”

Sunday Times- “…the songs are seamlessly integrated and well performed…”

The Telegraph- “…clever mix of documentary and musical offers not only a portrait of the street children at a school in Mumbai, but also a snapshot of…the film moves seamlessly from dance scenes and songs reflecting the hopes and dreams of the people, to intimate footage of the street children talking about their lives and ambitions