It’s only your work, not gender that matters here: Rachita Arora

Having made songs for films such as Newton (2017), Judgementall Hai Kya (2019) and Mukkabaaz (2017), composer Rachita Arora is proud to counted among the few female composers in the industry. While there are a lot of female singers out there, the dearth of women composers is apparent. “Many women composers are not coming forward to compose for films, but I’ve seen several female independent artistes doing their own projects now. I am sure things are changing and we’ll see more women composers soon,” says the Sacred Games and Decoupled music director.

When asked if gender disparity exists in the industry, the musician has a straightforward view: “Gender inequality is a universal devil, you can’t escape from it. But, I feel the music industry is fairly better in terms of gender equality. If you perform well and work hard, you won’t experience any inequality. It’s only your work, not gender that matters here.”

Arora has been working on films and web projects simultaneously. Is there a difference in terms of the process and approach between the two mediums? “The approach remains the same, which is to tell a story with conviction. It’s just that the timeline changes – from a 120-minute film to a 300-minutes web show. The only difference is that the music in a web series has a lot more themes and detailing.”

Apart from composing soundtracks, Arora has also done background scores for many projects, including the Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017). While not many background scores are credited to female musicians, Arora enjoys working on them. “Background music is a really interesting and challenging task. You create music to enhance the emotions, which helps the audience relate with the characters. Every background score that I’ve done has been a special journey for me,” she says.