Inside the sound of ‘Rockstar’: Jahid Nirob on scoring a musical film

As “Rockstar” prepares for its Eid release, one of the biggest talking points, beyond Shakib Khan’s transformation, has been its music. As a full-fledged musical film – still a rarity in mainstream Bangladeshi cinema – “Rockstar” places its soundtrack at the centre of its narrative.

Ever since it was announced that Jahid Nirob would serve as the film’s music director, fans have been eager to hear the unique tracks shaping its sonic world.

So far, only two songs have been released. With a total of nine tracks, along with some bonus tracks throughout the film. We caught up with Jahid Nirob to talk about how he planned the entire musical journey and the unique instruments that shaped its sound.

For Jahid Nirob, the project quickly became deeply personal. “This is a very special project for me because I am the music director for all of the songs in ‘Rockstar’,” he said, recalling how lyricists Sunny and Rusho had already been developing the material before he came on board.

He joined the project around September or October, when the idea of a full-scale musical film was first pitched to him. “I was really excited as there is a huge chance to explore songs,” he added.

At first, the casting itself surprised him. “Initially, I couldn’t believe it, because Shakib Bhai is usually seen in action films; I had doubts about whether he would agree to play a rockstar character,” he said. But once the project was confirmed and production began, his uncertainty turned into creative focus.

What makes “Rockstar” special, he explains, is the level of responsibility he ultimately carried. “Usually, what happens is that even if a film begins with one person handling the music, multiple music directors eventually get involved,” he said. “But in this case, the opposite happened and I got to compose all of them.” He adds that it is a rare achievement in recent Bangladeshi cinema for a single music director to handle an entire film soundtrack from start to finish.

That responsibility pushed him to explore across genres. The album moves through rock, classical, rap, rock and roll, blues, soft rock and soul rock—each style designed to reflect different emotional layers of the story rather than stand alone as individual tracks.

Instrumentation also became a space for experimentation. One of the standout choices was the use of the zitar (an electric form of the sitar), which is rarely heard in Bangladeshi films. “We have used zitar in two songs,” he explained, noting that it was brought in from India and performed by sitarist Mehtab Ali Niazi. 

The team also leaned heavily on live recordings, including choirs, violin sections recorded in London, live drums, and cello arrangements.

Even classical elements were captured organically: “We brought a Dhrupad singer and recorded it live with tabla and harmonium,” he said. “We could have easily done it with software, but as it is a musical film, we wanted musical honesty.”

That same sense of honesty shaped his approach to arrangement. Knowing the full script allowed him to design each song in line with what would appear on screen. 

In some moments, that meant restraint instead of scale. He recalls a sequence where a stripped-back approach worked best: “The protagonist is performing with a guitar on the stage—if we used a lot of instruments, it wouldn’t look good,” he explained. In another case, he deliberately removed instrumentation altogether: “There was this song which was larger than life, we could have experimented a lot with it. But I decided to not use any music. When the final product came, the crew loved it.Sometimes silence is louder than any instrument.”

For Nirob, the biggest risk he acknowledges is whether the songs will connect with a wide audience. “Shakib Khan has a massive fanbase who are used to romantic songs or item songs. In ‘Rockstar’ there is a huge variety of songs. So there is this risk of whether we will be able to connect with the audience,” he said.

Looking back, he also reflects on possibilities that didn’t happen—such as collaborating with multiple rock band members or bringing in emerging talents. But the final vision stayed focused: a single sonic identity for the rockstar character, anchored through one voice across the film, that of Ahmed Hasan Sunny.

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In the end, “Rockstar” is more than just a soundtrack for him; it is a project he has poured his heart and soul into as music director. With the film’s release, all eyes are now on how audiences embrace its sound.