Purity of emotions intact in Bollywood's patriotic songs: Sachin-Jigar

"Mere desh ki dharti sona ugle" in the 1960s to today's "Ghar layenge gold" -- the vibe of patriotic songs has undergone a change. But there's a constant.

"When it comes to patriotic songs, one thing that has remained common forever is the soul and pure feeling of love for the nation," Jigar Saraiya of the Sachin-Jigar composer duo told IANS.

Their composition "Ghar layenge gold" enlivens the soundtrack of Akshay Kumar's upcoming film "Gold".

"What has changed is the sound and the representation, which depend on the way you want to reach your target audience. The feelings for the motherland remain intact, but we try to make such songs more modern and accessible to the younger listeners. The purity of emotions does not change," Jigar added.

His music partner Sachin Sanghvi pointed out the lyrical difference in the Hindi songs from the 1960s and 1970s to now.

"Earlier, patriotic songs were about the post Independence movement or in glory of the independence fight. Whereas patriotic songs today are about retaining that glory, our culture and values.

"Today's track speak of national pride... So, with time, songs have changed lyrically," Sachin said.

The duo, who had also created "Vande mataram" for "ABCD 2", will on Sunday perform a set of patriotic tracks at the awards night of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) here.

It's their maiden time Down Under, and they are glad it is just days ahead of the Independence Day.

The year has been fairly busy for the composers with projects as diverse as horror comedy "Stree", sports drama "Gold" and romantic drama "Arjun Patiala". They had also scored for "Parmanu - The Story of Pokhran".

"We have realised that our journey is not going to be about repeating a certain formula. It is about doing different scripts and proving ourselves as music composers. So, versatility is important as a feature for us," Sachin said.

When their "Chaar baj gaye" became a chartbuster, they felt they were tagged as the "partymakers" and as those "who make songs on alcohol".

"But right after that song, we did 'Saibo' for 'Shor In The City'. From the starting, our priority was to feel challenged by scripts and genres."

In that sense, "Stree" -- which has foot-tapping tracks like "Milegi milegi" has "Kamariya" -- has been an experience of a lifetime for them.

"Music does the job of lightening the mood while the script of the film is taking the responsibility of horror. This is our best score this year, and one of our strongest albums."

(Radhika Bhirani is in Melbourne on an invitation by IFFM organisers. She can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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