Rhythm and blues

Most of us don’t need to read beyond the first line to either complete the song or to tell that it is a chartbuster from the film Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai. While the same can be said about many retro tracks,the music being churned out in films over the last few years — though at par with international sound quality — is surprisingly forgettable,complain many. “The shelf-life of music has reduced,” confirms Vinod Bhanushali,president,marketing and media publishing,T-Series,which has witnessed a drop of 50 per cent in the physical sales of music over the last five to seven years.

“Till a few years ago,every month people would buy music that they would like to add to their music collection; preserving good music was a hobby. Today,you have at best two to three albums in a year that one can say are for keeps,” he adds. If one looks at statistics,all of 2009 offered maximum ten film music albums that could liberally be considered worth stocking,including Love Aaj Kal,Kaminey and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. This year,halfway through,is yet to witness a third album — after Ishqiya and Raavan — that leaves an impact.

While the sound has evolved,there are hardly any songs that one finds oneself humming for days at end. Music director Lalit Pandit of the popular duo Jatin-Lalit,credited for composing music for films like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar,Khamoshi and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,reasons,“The style of composing music was different earlier and melody was important. The Westernisation of music has resulted in improved production quality but it sounds staccato.”

Ismail Darbar,on the other hand,blames film directors and music composers for not giving enough time for the music to develop. “Everyone is in a hurry to churn out music without spending time to understand the characters and the story of a film. Earlier,music directors and filmmakers would together work on the music and spend months to produce an album. In contrast,these days,the composer gives directions to the programmer who often in isolation creates the sounds for the songs,” rues the composer for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas. Pandit seconds Darbar. “When you arrange your own music with an orchestra—like AR Rahman does even today—the effort shows. A programmer lacks the style and soul that a composer can potentially introduce in a song.” He,however,adds that the filmmakers too lack knowledge and an ear for music. Directors like Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand were famous for this and that showed in their films’ music. “It is also important to encourage experimentation. In recent times,Amit Trivedi’s Dev.D showed potential on that front,” Pandit asserts.

As one of the key voices in the 1990s,singer Kumar Sanu complains about the lyrics though he feels that the recent crop of singers is immensely talented. Pyarelal Sharma of the composer team Laxmikant-Pyarelal,however,defends the current crop of music composers. With chartbusting tracks for films like Patthar Ke Sanam,Prem Rog,Hero and Satyam Shivam Sundaram credited to him,the veteran says,“The music is changing. This happens in every decade. You have to move on with the times and be willing to accept what is new.” In retrospect,it did take a while for people to take to RD Burman’s music,which,back then,was too “modern”. Pyarelal adds,“Take for example the trend of Sufi singers; they didn’t stand a chance earlier whereas today,those songs top the charts,be it Iktara from Wake Up Sid or Allah Ke Bande from Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II.”

Composer-singer Shankar Mahadevan points to the reducing gap between what would have been earlier classified as “filmy” voice and “non-filmy” voice. Also,he feels that if good music albums are too few and far between,it is because more films are being made. “Also,the attention span of the audience has reduced because of the variety available from across the world. Earlier,you had 30 films releasing in a year and merely the radio and Doordarshan for consumption. Hence you retained the limited music that you heard.” Besides,one might want to consider the limited knowledge of Indian music in the current and coming generations,which often look down upon Hindi film music.

Bhanushali agrees. “Today,you can download from the internet to your computer or on your mobile phone,for Re 1-Rs 3,three songs from one film,two from another and probably another five from albums by international musicians. Why then invest in an entire album?”

But he does concede that retro tracks in various compilations continue to sell even now. Shankar-Jaikishan,RD Burman and OP Nayyar are still the bankable legends. But will the film songs of today ever become classics? “That only time can tell,” muses Bhanushali.