I often begin movies with music in my head it’s a very important dimension to me. Not just the music itself, but how to use music in film: when and how and subtlety. I don’t like to be too sweet in my stories, and I like the abrasive clang, the contrasting of sounds and cultures.

Nair describes music not as decoration but as an originating idea and structural tool: she “begins” with it, then shapes narrative through decisions about placement, timing, and restraint. Her emphasis on “subtlety” and dislike of being “too sweet” signals a preference for emotional complexity over sentimentality. The “abrasive clang” and “contrasting of sounds and cultures” points to an aesthetic of productive friction—juxtaposing musical traditions, textures, and sonic environments to mirror cultural hybridity, migration, and social tension. In her view, film music can create meaning by collision as much as by harmony, sharpening realism and complicating audience comfort rather than smoothing it away.