National award-winner filmmaker Arun Shankar has teamed up with Grammy-winning composer Ricky Kej for his next single. Arun was reportedly working on his next Hindi feature film but that had to be postponed because of the pandemic. Arun had received the National Film Award Special Jury Mention for his performance in The Chameleon(2015).
Arun said, “We are living in difficult times and the kind of situation we all are in right now, has forced me into thinking if we have gone wrong somewhere! And this particular thought became the inspiration for my next single. Since my film work will not commence due to the unavailability of permission to shoot in different places, I planned to work on my next single.”
Kej is an environmentalist who won a Grammy award for his album Winds of Samsara(that also topped the US billboard at no1 rank). Arun added, “Ricky is an active environmentalist and his music is mostly a depiction of nature. He has dedicated himself to this cause and I felt it would be best to work with him and compose a meaningful yet peppy track that gives out a positive message to the masses.”
Arun will pen the lyrics for the song along with Raqueeb Alam, a popular lyricist, who has written songs for musician A.R Rahman for blockbuster films like Slumdog Millionaire, Million Dollar Arm, Sivaji- the Boss. The song is set to release by Diwali. Arun had made his debut into the music world with the album Hidayat(2018) under the banner of Zee music company.
Arun Shankar is a National award winning director. He is known for The Chameleon, Camel Safari, Hidayat- a single and has worked in many TV commercials. Arun is currently also working on his next Bollywood feature film under his banner Arun Shankar Productions LLP.
When we contacted Ricky, he said, “I am very excited to work with Arun Shankar, he is a fantastic musician and shares my passion for creating art on social causes. He wants to give back to the society through his music, and I am glad that I can help him achieve this noble goal through this collaboration.”