Our hips don't lie - Shakira explora nuevas facetas en un musical indú

Here's some news to make you go "Waka waka" in the new year! Music director Debajyoti Mishra is composing for Shakira in a musical that will have the Latina superstar explore the many facets of desire through her songs.

The film is a British production - the working title is "Desire - The Flying Butter" - and is being directed by Enamul Karim Nirjhar from Bangladesh.

At a time when Indian composers are gung-ho about foreign collaborations, Debajyoti has pulled off a musical coup of sorts. "Enamul has been working on the script of this English film for a long time. Initially, he had wanted to haveBangladesh as the film's backdrop, but it was changed. Now, the film will be shot in Scotland, Dover and London," says Debajyoti, who has given us musical gems like "Raincoat" and "Chokher Bali" earlier.

The musical shows how desire plays havoc with people's lives. "Even if desire is genderless, in the film it appears in a woman's form," Debajyoti adds. All the five songs in desire's voice will be sung by Shakira, while Debajyoti has composed another 25 numbers to fit various situations in the musical. Talks are also on with Shakira to play the character of desire in the film.

"Shakira was keen to sing English songs, not Latin numbers. Each song is about 4.5 to 5 minutes. She also made an effort to find out about the length of the songs. About her in the title role, nothing has been decided as yet," Debajyoti says. So, has she heard any of his songs? "Before giving her go-ahead, she had heard the soundtracks of "Raincoat" and "Aha!" (an Enamul film with Debajyoti as composer). She was particularly impressed with the song, "Dur isharaye", and that's what she told me over the phone on the second day of coming on board."

Another high point of the film's music is the collaboration with Chinese-American cellist and composer, Yo-Yo Ma, a recipient of multiple Grammy awards. "Yo-Yo Ma is a legend. I had met him long back in London and kept in touch. It feels great to be working with him on this project. He is co-arranging the film's music with me," says Debajyoti.

UK DATE WITH SHAKIRA IN FEB

Out of the five songs for Shakira, Debajyoti has already composed four. ""Living beyond windows", "Desire" and two other tracks are ready apart from quite a few short numbers. All of them are popular Western songs. They have a sensual quality about them, but it's not the same as seductive. They are mostly bouncy, naughty songs," the composer adds. And even if the composer is yet to consider an Indian instrument, he is keen to use the dialect of Moymonsingha Geetika. "We want to give a bizarre twist to the folk music of Moymonsingha. In fact, Shakira too was keen to sing in that dialect."

Apart from Shakira, the unit has also zeroed in on Moroccan singer Abdelhakim. "Hakim, as we call him, is a great singer. We will also use a few other singers from the subcontinent. There are a few Bangladeshi characters in the film. Actors from the neighbouring country will be doing those roles. We need to record some songs with singers in Bangladesh," Debajyoti says. He is also collaborating with London Philharmonic Orchestra for the film. The team will be leaving for London end-February to record the songs at Ignition Studios. While the composer will be busy recording till mid-March, shooting for the film will begin in April.

Enamul, who is currently in Bangladesh, says, "The project's been born out of a strong friendship. Debu, Mustafa Khalid Prokash, architect and co-producer of the film, and I are great friends. And it feels great to be in your comfort zone. "Desire - the flying butter" is a celebration of this friendship and will be made under the banner, "We"." About the film, Enamul adds, "From political changes to technological transformations, I have seen it all in the past few years, but the one thing that remains constant is desire. It has both local and universal appeal. I have tried to weave both on a single thread."

Enamul is an architect-turned-director, whose first film, "Aha!", was the official entry to the Oscars from Bangladesh in the Best Foreign Language film category in 2008. His second, "Namuna", was banned in the country for its strong political overtones. Music for both films were composed by Debajyoti.