For the Masses

However,Indian Ocean and Agnee are not just the only ones,hopping onto the Bollywood bandwagon. Pakistani bands such as Jal and Strings too have in the past composed music as well as sung for Hindi movies. Ram mentions that while visibility is one reason for taking up such assignments,money serves as another draw. These reasons,along side the new-age film-makers’s desire to use new sound,have been instrumental for bands such as Metro (Life in a Metro),or Ali Azmat of Junoon (Paap) in either singing,composing or even performing for movies.

For Aalaap ,Agnee consciously decided to just compose the music. K Mohan,lead singer,Agnee,says,“We have never charged the producers,who wish to use our songs. However,there are times when both Koko (Guitarist) and I are either jamming or just discussing ideas. We come up with tunes that are more identifiable with Bollywood. We prefer to explore these music genres in movies keeping aside the original Agnee sound,which is more rock-influenced.” That is also the reason why they are doing a folk item number in Aalaap.

Band musicians — who have made it big in Bollywood — have gone on to become very popular live artistes as well. A case in point is Mohit Chauhan,who used to be the lead singer of Silk Route . “In the peak of their popularity,Silk Route commanded a lot of money for stage shows. The band broke up owing to the failure of their second album. But Mohit (Chauhan) since then has done well for himself. There is a lot of difference now in what he earns individually through the stage shows and the songs,” says Ram.

Even in case of Indian Ocean,the sale of their studio albums went up after the Black Friday soundtrack released. Indian Ocean since then have lent their music to the soundtrack of Peepli Live. Ram,in fact,has gave voice for one of music director Pritam’s songs.

Some bands struggle to keep their sound intact even if they enter the world of Bollywood. “We have not done the regular four and a half minute songs because we never believed in them,” Ram says. On the other hand,Mohan says that they don’t give in to the traditional methods but find ways to adapt to the scenario. “Thankfully,we have not worked with directors who are rigid.”