The Fame Game – S01 E07
This show is available for viewing on Netflix
Song: “Duur” by Kamakshi Khanna and OAFF
A suspenseful family drama about a global superstar, wife, and mom (Madhuri Dixit Nene) who suddenly vanishes without a trace. As we watch, her perfectly crafted facade is stripped away, revealing hidden truths and painful lies in the life of an iconic actress. This song appears three times in Episode 7, and was instrumental in stitching the storyline together with its simple melody, direct impact and clear emotion that really works with visuals presented.
“Duur” is a song that was a long time in the making, and unearths a new layer in Kamakshi’s musicality; a side where she explored uncharted territories and conquered them as accomplished voices do. With a little help from her parents, Kamakshi and Kabeer Kathpalia (aka OAFF) turned a long-forgotten melody and a raw guitar demo into this masterfully-produced song.
We spoke with the show’s Music Supervisor Anurag Shanker, who told us a lot about how their search for a fresh and contemporary sound led them to this particular song, and what made it an ideal option to licence for this point in the story’s development, when the audience is already deeply entrenched in Madhuri’s traumatic past, her life as a star and a mother, and her struggle to break free.
It appears first in the episode as an opener, accompanying a flashback of a young Madhuri at the very cusp of being reluctantly thrust into stardom, attempting to escape from it. Barely a teenage girl at the time, the song represented a pivotal moment in her life, of hope and despair colliding.
The song appears again after her family suspects that she may have been kidnapped and the police force sets out to search high and low for her. With her loved one praying for her and mourning her in their own ways, the song now signifies their melancholy and tenuous hope of finding her.
The song appears again for the last time, at a strange yet powerful moment; when the Police Inspector in charge of her case realises comically and suddenly, that the kidnapping is faked. She sees in Madhuri the struggle to escape her facade of a life and the unhinged strength to make it happen in a creatively cruel way.
Kamakshi and OAFF go for the unexplored in this haunting and plaintive track, with Kamakshi’s Western-influenced musicality lending this piece very genuine tries at Indian-ness with no pretences. Its raw exploration of detachment and disillusion and it’s simplicity make it interesting enough to give the song its own voice even against some of the most emotional visuals of the series. It was a very well-received choice and according to Shanker, became the voice of the show.