Uncompromising Aesthetic Standards
Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) Productions is renowned for its meticulously crafted cinematography, grand frames, and uncompromising visual choices. For the Gangubai Kathiawadi music release, our video monetization team at Saregama had to make the lyrical videos and marketing assets in conjunction with the creative team at SLB..
Their operational brief was exceptionally strict: the lyric text could never overlap or cover the moving footage of the actors. To protect the integrity of the film scenes, the text was required to appear exclusively over stylized, animated still frames and custom graphic backgrounds during vocal parts, returning to full-motion video only during instrumental sections.
I was tasked with executing the lyrical deliverables for three major tracks from the album: Meri Jaan, Jab Saiyaan, and Shikayat. Meeting the precise design standards of the SLB team served as a massive learning experience, pushing my technical attention to detail forward.
The primary creative challenge was keeping the mandatory still-image assets from looking completely static. To comply with the brief while keeping the video engaging, I relied heavily on After Effects' 3D camera workspace to introduce fluid, subtle movements via animated frames, tracking sweeps, and textures sampled right from the source footage.
Taking direct visual cues from the official music video’s opening title sequence, I designed a glowing, custom neon light aesthetic for the typography. To add depth behind the text layers, I recreated the geometric mirror reflections seen at the start of the music video to frame the animated stills.
For this track, I developed a custom paint-brush transition style to organically animate the actors' still images onto the screen, precisely timing the introduction of the synced lyrics alongside the fluid strokes of the graphics.
To match the visual environment of the track, I isolated and sampled a heavy curtain backdrop directly from the source video file. I then built custom, motion-tracked character frames that slid smoothly over the textured backdrop as the vocals dropped.
Working with a top-tier production team like SLB meant everything had to look absolutely perfect. There was no room for sloppy work—even the font choice, text placement, and colors had to feel like they belonged in the actual movie.
Because they wanted to make sure the video never looked boring or totally frozen when the text popped up, I spent a lot of time playing around inside After Effects. I added subtle 3D camera movements, slow-moving backgrounds, and smooth transitions so there was always a little bit of life on the screen. Operating within such strict design rules was a massive learning experience and really helped me level up my video editing skills.
The final lyrical assets were successfully released on Saregama's main music channel, providing clean companion content that respected the visual legacy of the film while generating sustained organic viewership.
Asset Performance Breakdown
The three custom-engineered lyrical videos collectively drove over 5 Million cumulative views on Saregama Music’s primary YouTube channel.
- Meri Jaan: 4.1M views
- Jab Saiyaan: 527k views
- Shikayat: 395k views
