Rock on a Roll

Going by the Box Office account,every second film released this year has at least one rock-based track. For instance,F.A.L.T.U’s song Chaar Baje,Shor-in The City’s soft number,Saiba,metal band Bhayanak Maut’s number in Shaitan,Dum Maaro Dum’s title track etc. “Rock is working because of the kind of films being made,” remarks Amit Trivedi,famous for his music in Dev D and No One Killed Jessica. “It’s a new change,and every few years,we need experiments like these to stir things up. Films now are riskier,darker and daring. So we need rock music with it,” says Trivedi. According to him,rock is all about angst,attitude,the cool factor,the grunge,the aggression and this brings out the various elements in films like Dev D,Shaitan,Delhi Belly.

Luke Kenny,who acted in Rock On!!,believes every other song is created with rock as a base primarily because a lot of music directors have been fed on a diet of alternate rock,classic rock,heavy metal and been former musicians themselves. “If Loy and Shankar come from the school of classic rock,Ram Sampath brings in an edgy style of music while Vishal Dadlani’s into alternate rock. Also,Sampath had his own band in the 90s and Dadlani is with Pentagram,” says Kenny,adding the sufi feel,is passe. Instead,there is a new global sounding music that is Indian at heart.

Sampath agrees,describing it as “reflective of a state of mind.” “It’s a point in time,and now you’ll get both — mainstream and alternate music,” says Sampath,who got bored of Bollywood’s “synthetic sound”,and wanted to do something different. “I’ll credit Euphoria for bringing in a new rock sound. Even bands like Junoon,who brought in the desi rock trend,and this is the music youth wants to connect with,” he adds. His wife,singer Sona Mohapatra credits Bollywood for being a melting pot of genres. “The Doors,Led Zeppelin,The Rolling Stones have themselves been influenced by Indian music,” she explains. Music directors Sachin-Jigar,who composed for F.A.L.T.U and Shor-in the City,see this as a sign of good times. “Today,we have heavy drum-n-base,loop,distortion,elements of rock in our music. The youth is loving it and we’re playing it.”