Music duo Ruuh (right) and Joh. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Music duo Ruuh and Joh’s sibling bond has shaped their best songs, from “Yaara Tere Bin” and “Baatein” from the series Call Me Bae to singles like “Tere Dil Ka Raaz” with singer-songwriter Shai this year.
Ruuh says, “I don’t think the music would ever sound the same if I was doing this on my own or with someone else. Joh does certain things better than I ever could and when we compose music together, we are literally reading each other’s minds. People say it’s never a good idea to work with family. Well [filmmaker] Christopher and [writer] Jonathan Nolan Seem to be doing great!”
So impactful was “Yaara Tere Bin” (with singer Lisa Mishra and lyricist Smriti Bhoker) and “Baatein” (also with Bhoker’s lyrics and vocalist Delraaz Bunshah) that Call Me Bae’s director Collin D’Cunha and music supervisor Azeem Dayani wanted “to form the sonic universe of the score” based on those songs. Ruuh and Joh delivered on that count, six more tracks that became the background score, traversing sassy rap to pop and more. “We used a lot of synths and vocal beds throughout the score and did our best to not use instruments you would expect to hear in a traditional score,” Ruuh adds.
The brothers believe that they bagged this project “against all odds” and presented a sound that they’ve developed for years. With over a million streams across platforms for “Yaara Tere Bin,” it’s a new chapter for the artists who have been previously part of the indie circuit – Ruuh played at mainstay Mumbai venues like the erstwhile Blue Frog – and then went on to composing music for ads. Not feeling challenged enough, Ruuh took on composing music for film, but on his own terms. “We also wanted to stand out which is what you’ll see with all the music we put out. Our sound is a blend of hook-heavy pop bangers blended with relatable emotional melodies,” he says.
From their years in the music space, they found friends in the likes of actor-artists Adarsh Gourav and Taaruk Raina, plus singer-composer and producer Savera Mehta. Ruuh and Joh worked on Gourav’s first independent song “Kho Gaye,” and joined Savera and singer-songwriter Shreya on “Akele Phir Kyun?” all released in 2024.
The siblings released “Tere Dil Ka Raaz” with Shai and created their interpretation of the traditional wedding song “Madhaniyan” with singer Kanika Malhotra, which released in October. Ruuh says, “I’ve only ever worked with artists I feel connected to. I think that layer of trust and friendship is key to writing a good song.”
Beyond the sibling bond, the music does run in the family as well – Ruuh and Joh’s father Vijay Benedict was arguably the voice of Indian disco when he sang “I Am Disco Dancer” and “Zindagi Meri Dance” for the 1982 Mithun Chakraborty-starring Disco Dancer, with composer Bappi Lahiri. Ruuh says, “My father’s music is iconic and I don’t think anyone in this generation can attain that but if I manage to achieve quarter of what he did, that’s good enough for me.” Through his decades of experience in the music world, the brothers have learned a bit about how to navigate the music industry and to “stay humble, but when you have your opportunity, absolutely smash it.”
There might just be more smashes courtesy of Ruuh and Joh, then. They have new songs coming up on the next season of romantic drama Mismatched, plus filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala’s Whack Girls series with Lisa Mishra, and the soundtrack for Netflix series The Royals. Ruuh adds that they’re also prepping releases with “massive artists and titans of this industry who we could’ve only dreamt of working with.”
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