First there were the Grammy nominations. Then came the Oscar wins. International recognition for Indian talent is not over yet, as music composer duo Salim-Sulaiman bag a nomination for the Daytime Emmy Awards, in the Outstanding Original Song category in children’s animation. They won it for their composition We like being small in the popular American show Wonder Pets. “It is an animated series about saving pets — from baby elephants to camels. So when it came to saving the Bengal tiger, we were approached since their team had heard our music in Chak De! India and Dor,” says Sulaiman Merchant.

The duo composed the track in operatic style. The composition alternates between melody and dialogue spoken by kids in New York, and has a strong backing of Indian instruments such as the tabla, sitar, santoor and the flute. “The Indian influences were required since the episode was about Bengal tigers and once the basic composition was done in Mumbai, we sent the track to New York where it was produced with inserts of children’s lines,” says Sulaiman, who adds that a voiceover by Nandita Das too is featured on the track.

Before the Merchant brothers fly to Los Angeles for the awards ceremony on August 30, there is plenty to do in Bollywood. Apart from the background score for Kites, they are composing for Teen Patti, Pyaar Impossible, Qurbaan and 11 other films. “We started with background scores and have gone on to making songs for films. Both are creatively very challenging, but doing the background score is a passion,” says Sulaiman. The international nomination hasn’t quite sunk in though. “I think the feeling will really sink in once we walk the red carpet there,” he laughs.