Producer-composer Ian Pillai reveals about his first professional work with Sachin-Jigar

Producer-composer Ian Pillai sheds light on his professional portfolio, which includes several big films such as Shershaah, Malang, and Mimi, to name a few. He also kickstarted his journey as a sound producer with a project titled Dariyaa.Reflecting on his earlier work, Ian shares, “My previous work was much different from what I’ve done recently. Most of the work I did was tied to the Bollywood industry, with a lot of it being tracking bass for a song and programming additional parts to a track.”He continues, “The first proper professional work was ‘Gann Deva’ by Sachin-Jigar, followed by some additional programming for ‘Ho Ja Mast Malang Tu’ from the film Malang, which then led me to more work such as audio editing and cutdowns for songs from the film Shershaah and trailer cutdowns for Mimi.

I slowly moved into the realm of proper production when I got the opportunity to make a remix for Mithoon’s ‘Intezaar’, and also into session work as a bassist when I tracked bass for Mithoon’s tracks ‘Soch Liya’ and ‘Udd Ja Parindey’.”Speaking about his experience with live music, he adds, “Right after that period from 2019–2021, I started playing live music with ‘The Band With No Name’. This was an invention under Future Sound of Bombay, I suppose, since we played for three big events organised by FSOB in Bombay.

Leading the band and playing alongside the musicians gave me experience with live performance as well.”“Some of my work right before 2024–2025 also includes session work for Vikram Montrose, another superb songwriter and producer in the industry with power-packed production chops! Playing bass for his tracks such as ‘Sher’, ‘Var’, and ‘Mann Ye Bawra’ was definitely super fun and a unique experience! I was also introduced to Rish, who released ‘Jaane De’ featuring me on bass.

That season of life in particular was focused on a lot of bass recording,” he adds.Sharing his personal highlight, Ian says, “My personal highlight from that phase was probably working as a producer on Ravi Singhal’s Dariyaa. I am fond of this project because Mr Singhal approached me looking for the sound that he heard from my earliest work ever – my remixes that kickstarted my entire music production journey! He wanted that same electronic sound in his track, and by God’s grace, I was able to deliver. The entire process felt grounded to me, as if I’m where I belong, if that makes sense. I got to express myself and my artistry to the best so far at that moment,” he concludes.