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Andher Nagari — Hindi
The Cue and Backdrops Player showing a live cue in Bhartendu Harishchandra's Andher Nagari, Hindi script with English translation, running over an AI-painted backdrop
Hindi · Andher Nagari — Showcase →
Nautankee: Colour your story with music

For theatre companies, drama clubs and producers

Your script, scored.

Created directly from your script Your direction AI-powered

Music, ambience, sound effects & visuals design

Your script already knows where the music goes. Nautankee reads it like a dramaturg would — act by act, scene by scene — and proposes a complete score: cues, timing, mood, placement, and the visuals for each scene. What used to take weeks of back-and-forth with a composer now takes an afternoon of review.

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The Jungle and The Sea — English
The Cue and Backdrops Player showing the opening of S. Shakthidharan's The Jungle and The Sea, running over an AI-painted backdrop
English · The Jungle and The Sea — Showcase →
A note on how this works

Nautankee uses AI to generate your score — the words are human, the judgement is human, AI composes, it does not author. Every cue, song, and image it produces is yours to review, change, or reject before it reaches your production. Read AkunaMedia's approach to AI →

How it works

1. Upload your scriptWe clean it up, number it, and estimate running length.
2. We propose the scoreScene by scene — you review, adjust, approve.
3. You run the showCue player, QLab and Multiplay import, ready night one.

Try it — no paid account required. Run two scripts through Nautankee for free, two runs each, at a third of full Premium output — enough to see exactly how your show would sound before you commit. One month's access, no card required.

What you get

Prices for each bundle are on Pricing.

Production

Direct your score

Your play, your sound. Before each run, tell Nautankee how you hear it, and the score is composed to your direction.

How much sound
Key moments only, a typical production, or a full soundscape.
Style
True to the period and place, expressive and abstract, or cinematic and orchestral.
Musical tradition
Let the play decide, or choose one: Western classical, Hindustani classical and more.
Your notes
In your own words: “a lone flute for the grandmother; silence before the storm.”

We follow your direction where it suits the play, as a composer would. Not quite right? Change it on your next run: Production includes three. Essentials leaves every choice to us.

Songs from your script — as a custom add-on

If your script has diegetic songs — numbers the characters actually sing — Nautankee flags them in your score but doesn't produce them. Recording original songs is Songumentary's craft, not an automated step, so we keep it separate: tell us what the script needs, and we'll quote it as a custom add-on, composed and produced the way we've always done it.

Listen to songs from our plays

Our Story

Nautankee comes out of Songumentary, a Melbourne studio that's been setting stories to music since 1992 — first on community radio, now also on the page and on stage. Our founder, Rajeev "MelRaj" Arora, has spent over 40 years in technology and just as long writing lyrics and presenting Hindi programming on 3ZZZ. In 2025 Songumentary released its first AI-composed album and launched an AI-music radio program, work recognised that year with the NEMBC Best National Ethnic Program award. Campus Rhythms, our institutional arm, brings the same approach to schools and universities — most recently a performance at a BITS Pilani reunion in Jaipur.

Nautankee grew out of a problem we kept running into ourselves: a show is cast, blocked, and ready to rehearse, and the music still isn't scored. We built the engine we wished we'd had.

Team

Rajeev Arora — Founder & Artistic Director. Composer, lyricist and broadcaster; 50 years writing lyrics, 30 years in community radio, 100+ published songs.

Working with a music director? Want a commissioned score?

Request an invitation

For music directors, composers and sound designers who want to shape the score themselves. Expert mode is opening by invitation.

Commission a score

A score directed by Rajeev Arora by hand, songs included, for companies, festivals and institutions. Quoted for your production.

Contact

songumentary.com/contact · schools.songumentary.com for Campus Rhythms and institutional work.