‘Working on ‘Asar’ during the challenging Covid -19 times was extremely difficult’, says singer Sur
Punjabi singer Sur’s latest song, Asar, has been garnering rave reviews and a lot of love by music aficionados. Composed and produced by Bharat Goel, lyricis by Siddhant Kaushal the track explores the feeling of being in love. The music video of Asar features Sur, Anaya Vasudha Bolar and Krishna Aneja.
The singer says that recording the song was amazing, but working on the music video during the challenging Covid-19 times was extremely difficult. “I had conceptualised the video myself and the team appreciated it. The only external element that we were dependent on was the female protagonist for the music video. We needed a specific type of actress, who was good looking but realistic, not like a supermodel. I wanted it to be very anti-Bollywood; the acting had to be very emotive and subtle, and not over the top. Our budget was limited and the lockdown made it even more difficult for us to find the right person,” he says.
Sur adds that after reaching out to several casting directors, his contacts from his theatre days and the University of Birmingham to help them find the right person for the role. “Eventually, we found one person and she was all on board. Since we were shooting in a family member’s friend’s apartment, I asked the entire crew to take a Covid-19 test before we started shooting. It was two days before the shoot that our actress tested positive. In those two days I was going frantic and asked regular people if they were interested in being part of the music project. Finally, we had to postpone the shoot.”
It’s interesting how they found the final female protagonist, Anaya, for the music video. “A couple of days later, I received an email from a young dancer called Anaya and she was interested in the project. She did a Covid-19 test immediately and soon after she got a negative report, Anaya and I met for four days straight and I explained everything to her. I told her the expectation that I had from the character. She is not an actress, but she threw herself into the role and delivered exactly how we envisioned. I’ve received great reviews for her performance from the viewers,” says Sur.