Sheikh Saami Mahmud and Sheikh Shafi Mahmud are form Dhaka. The name of their musical production house is ‘Apeiruss’. These young siblings of Bangladesh are regularly creating music in Bollywood. Recently, they returned to Bangladesh and visited the office of Bangladesh Post. A Mizan writes about their current work and busyness.
Sheikh Saami Mahmud and Sheikh Shafi Mahmud are two brothers. They have already spread their light of music in Bollywood through creating music. Their music production team is called ‘Apeiruss’. Currently they are the new sensation of Bollywood music. They have come up on top of the discussion through creating music for top ranking music sensations of Bollywood. Saami and Shafi want to take their music to the international arena with their talent and hard work. In particular, they have no comparison when it comes to EDM Music.
In 2015, they got acquainted with the popular Amaal Mallik of Bollywood in India. He got interested in Apeiruss after listening to their music. Then, over phone, he said that he had composed a song for one of the top singers of Bollywood--Atif Aslam. He wanted the sound production of the song to be done by Apeiruss. Sheikh Saami Mahmud and Sheikh Shafi Mahmud worked on producing the sound of Atif Aslam’s ‘Zindagi Aa Raha Hoon Main’ from Dhaka. From then on, they started to fly in the sky of dreams and began catching stars without having to look back. In the same year, Saami and Shafi’s Apeiruss produced around six to seven songs for Amaal Mallik. These songs include ‘Golmaal Again’, ‘Hum Nahi’, ‘Kapoor and Sons’, ‘Buddhu Sa Mann’, ‘Barbar Dekho’ and ‘Saw Asmaan’. Also, in the middle of 2018 they created the music for the trailer of Zee Cine Award.
By 2018 the two brothers became Bollywood celebrities. Now, they are living in Mumbai. However, it is not permanent. They are always coming back and forth between Bangladesh and India. Asked if they want to settle down in Bollywood, Saami Mahmud said, “We are people of Bangladesh and we love our country very much. Our whole family lives here. We want to work regularly in Bollywood and we are there when we need work. We come to Bangladesh whenever it is possible for us, at intervals of two or three months.”
In addition to doing music production of songs, they have also composed and tuned a number of songs in Bollywood. The songs will be released in phases, they said.
About this, Sheikh Shafi Mahmud said, “Bollywood is not similar to our country. It takes a long time to publish a work there. On the other hand, a song can be released in Bangladesh in just a few days. That example is very rare in Bollywood. There songs are released after special planning. We are now working on music production for various films there.”
But even though they are busy in Bollywood, they are not finished with Bangla songs.
About this, Saami says, “We love Bangla music. We have immense weaknesses towards Bengali songs. We work with the country’s artistes whenever we have the opportunity. In 2016, we composed the music of Tahsan’s ‘Bhalobeshe Niruddesh’ and ‘Chalo Na Harai’. Then we made music for the band Shunno and also Naomi. In 2017, Armaan Malik sang a bangla song in Bangladesh where we composed the music. We are currently producing songs for a number of artistes. We recently remade a movie song by Belal Khan. Then, we did a song for Oishi’s album. We believe these songs will please the audience.”
Saami and Shafi Mahmud’s new song ‘Ishqam’ was released on September 23 of last year. Mika Singh and Afghan singer Ali Quli Mirza voiced it. The song gained popularity overnight and created a lot of buzz after its release.
Shafi Mahmud says, “In the meantime we have done many Bollywood songs. We are glad that everyone has heard the song of Mika Singh. We have finished two more songs by Mika Singh, one by Sunidhi Chauhan and one by Kanika Kapoor. We also worked on music production for music directors Meet Bros and Sarib Toshi. These songs will be used in some films and some are kept for online release. It is difficult to say in advance when a song will be released in Bollywood. For example, John Abraham’s ‘Pagalpanti’ will be released on November 22. We did a song in this film. Later, we heard the song is not for this film, but for another film."
Referring to Bollywood’s experience as a Bangladeshi, Saami Mahmud said, “Everyone in Bollywood knows our Runa Laila, James and Ayub Bachchu. They have immense respect for them too. And, many of Bollywood’s most renowned music directors and singers are Bengali. So we have no problem working with them there. They are very happy to hear that we are working there coming from Dhaka. We like it too. Having the opportunity to work in such a big place is always great. We want to deliver Bangla songs to the world court in addition to making music in Bollywood.”
