Timely tunes

THE MUSIC COLUMN

The Hindi film industry is now playing fresher, more distinct sounds.

Iremember music director Ehsaan Noorani’s remarks on the “contemporary” sound in the Indian film industry. Our conversation took place a long time ago, at the time when Kal Ho Naa Ho released, a film for which Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy won several film awards and that year’s National Award.

In Noorani’s view, Indian film music was witnessing a transition in the mid-to-late 1990s because musicians from different rock bands were getting roped in for film projects by producers and directors who wanted them to compose music for their movies.

The genesis of the musical journey of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is almost legendary. Film director Mukul Anand wanted them to compose for his mega-budget film Dus, but even before the film could release, Anand’s tragic and untimely demise stalled shooting.

However, the film’s music was released as a tribute to Anand, and became an instant hit. If Dus got Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy noticed, Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai put them in a neat spot as music directors who were “experimenting” with a new sound and offering a delicious “rock” flavour, a far cry from Nadeem-Shravan or Jatin-Lalit; the latter duo had even started sounding monotonous.

Noorani said that with Dil Chahta Hai they got plain lucky; after all, wasn’t the film director (Farhan Akhtar, a guitar player himself) willing to give the music directors a free hand? Not just Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, look at Vishal-Shekhar, among the more recent music directors who find themselves booked by every film director.

Not all their songs are A-grade, but these directors are bringing to the table a unique sound. Vishal, part of Pentagram, one of India’s popular rock bands, not only composes but also sings tracks for film albums that the duo composes.

I was a teenager when Mahesh Bhatt’s Aashiqui released in the 1980s, touted as a “musical” (come to think of it, there were films like Dil, Saajan and Dil Chahta Hai, besides many others). I remember a friend sneaking the album’s cassette into a classroom while we all huddled around to listen to it on a little tape-recorder.

I didn’t know what the big deal was about Aashiqui’s songs: they sounded sweet, all right, but they were boring, and I never forgave Kumar Sanu for a couple of tracks. So, if I remember correctly, Hindi film music at that time was occasionally decent fare but mostly terrible. Somewhere, something wasn’t right.

So it was wonderful to step into the 1990s with melodies like “Pehla Nasha” and “Roja” from powerhouse talents like Jatin-Lalit and A R Rahman. When I met Rahman recently, he spoke about how he feels the need to experiment not just with different sounds but also singers. “So you’ll hear distinct voices in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. They’ll be voices that, on first hearing, you wouldn’t put your bucks on,” he said.

Interestingly, in a television interview, Rahman mentioned that Mohit Chauhan, an Indipop singer, is one of the best voices to emerge in recent times. Chauhan’s is a very unique voice — not a typical playback for the “Hindi hero”. But music directors like Amit Trivedi, Sandesh Shandilya and Rahman are making use of him, and how. Ten years ago his voice would have been drowned out, but thanks to the more experimental times we’re living in, Chauhan and other Indipop artistes will continue to work wonders not only in non-film but also in film albums.

With music directors graduating from music bands to bring their own sound to Hindi movies, and fresher, newer and distinct voices being heard in film albums (Rock On!, for instance) the Indian music industry is witnessing a change for the better.

Don’t believe me? Tune in to the music and hear it for yourself.