With the immense response garnered for most of the campaign songs for various sports events, soon India's population will be humming to the most catchy campaign tune of the year Roar on the Shore. ProCam International teamed up with the most popular and sensational Bollywood duo composers Meet Bros. Manmeet Singh and Harmeet Singh for the campaign song. They are best known for their upbeat , Punjabi  and Bollywood style music and their electrifying live performances.

Besides composing for various films in the recent past, Meet Bros has also done a song Jolly Good Fellow from ‘Jolly LLB 2’.

They have won various awards and recently released their first ever Shabad called Guru Gobind Hoye Pargateya. Verus Ferreira met up with the Brothers to know more about their new song and what makes them rock.

How did the song Roar of the Shore come about?

The term Roar of the Shore was given to us by ProCam International and we liked the concept so we wanted to use it. The main line in our song, which is beautifully written by ‘Kumaar’ (who writes all our songs) is Jhanda Gade Paani Mein. He comes up with these lines which are always very apt. It’s a fun, poetic, line which is sensible and inspiring at the same time. Jhanda Gade Paani Mein meshed very well with the line Roar of the Shore, so fortunately we could put them together and the single was born.

It has a bit of electronica in it, which seems a bit different from what you guys normally do.

Electronica is what we have been doing since quite a while. If you closely listen to Chittiya kalaiya ve and Cham Cham, which have a lot of Indian melody, but they are still full of electronica influences. Infact, even Gal Ban Gayi, our latest song is very electronica. So, it’s not the first time we have tried it, a lot of our songs have the undertones of electronica.  

You have done numerous projects, which do you consider is your breakthrough project?

I think the project that changed our lives and got us in the limelight was Baby Doll. We did have a few hit songs before this also, but Baby Doll was the one that put us on the map.

What made you take a name such as Meet Bros? How did the name come about?

When we started in 2002, a lot of crazy names were suggested to us like ‘Tandoori Brothers’, ‘Punjabi Brothers’, etc. But then we realised that, ‘Meet’ is in our names i.e. Harmeet and Manmeet and it is the one word that binds us together. Also, we wanted to use a reference like Warner Bros. Our parents loving the idea was an icing on the cake, so we just went with it.

You use a lot of newcomers in your songs. How is it working with a newcomer and a well known artist.

We love working with new artists because all of us are always looking for something fresh. We all like listening to songs which are different and have a new vibe, which can only happen when you have a new voice in the mix. Like when we brought Kanika, made Salman Khan sing or introduced Khushboo Grewal, they all made the songs sound different and took our music to another level. Also, newcomers have no baggage, are keen to learn, more enthusiastic and always listen to you; therefore, it’s a treat working with them.

What qualities make you both different?

It’s difficult to identify what makes us different, we can only answer this question based on what others tell us. A lot of people say that we are very humble, and this is something important to us. We have come up the hard way so we never let the success of any song go to our head. It has taken us 15 years to reach where we are. We credit our success to God and our parents; it’s their blessings that we have reached here. Whatever good we have done is what has brought us here. Talent only gets you so far. If it was merely based on talent then we would have reached great heights within the first 3 - 4 years of our career. But along with talent we feel that there are a lot of contributing factors that have helped us. We also feel it is important to value all the people in your life, no matter how big or small their role is. We are grateful to everyone who has been a part of our lives. Maybe having gratitude is something that sets us apart.

Who is your inspiration for making your music?

Honestly, we have no inspiration to make music, it is something that comes to us naturally. What gets us going is the fun we have while making music with Kumaar and our team. We have not followed anyone in terms of music. People are always telling us, that the kind of beats we produce and music we make is our own patent style. This can only happen when you are not influenced by a lot of outside factors, it is something that comes from within. We enjoy doing our work and never let it worry us. It is never a challenge to make our music because we get immense pleasure doing it. Having said that, we always keep our ears and mind open for any constructive criticism. We work with a very young enthusiastic team who are always very honest with us. So, we are always on our toes and never let ourselves get complacent.

Which do you like the most, composing for film or composing a song?

We just love making music full stop. We have never let the thought that, ‘Oh this is for a film or for a single’, hinder or influence us in any manner. In fact, we very strongly believe that songs are the ones who dictate whether they should be in a movie, album or a single, not the other way around. We enjoy our work so much that it doesn’t matter how many or for what we are making the tunes.  

You guys have worked with the biggies of Bollywood like Amitabh, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan. Anyone you would like to work with in the future?

We would love to work with Shahrukh Khan because he is a lot of fun. We recently came very close to collaborating with him on a song but somehow it didn’t work out. In fact, we have even met him at a party once and sung a song. His full of life persona takes any song to another level and we feel he will match our energy in music perfectly. It would be very interesting to see the chemistry when we work together. And in female artists we would love to work with Aliya Bhatt, the energy and vibe she brings to a song is amazing. We have worked with almost everyone but are still waiting to work with her.

What are your latest projects on hand?

We have a few projects in hand which are very exciting but can’t talk about right now. Our most recent release has been the title song ‘Jolly Good Fellow’ (Jolly LLB 2), which has been toping the charts.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira