It is said no Bollywood movie is ever complete without the naach gaana. Infact for many films, music has been most crucial behind their success. With this in mind, film producers and music directors had been sticking to a formula for creating the scores for this film. Films though, being an artform, couldn’t be restrained to this formula for long. A change in trend can be witnessed lately in Bollywood film circuit. Ask any desi movie buff and they would agree. This change has also ushered in with it new talent: a number of music producers/singers/composers who are willing and also have been given the freedom to experiment. This experimentation dwells into mashing of different genres to exploration beyond the perimeters of the threshold set before.
Let us take the example of Film Ishaqzaade, directed by Anurag Basu. Music Director Amit Trivedi brought on a fusion in a Bollywood love story with tracks of various popular genres and folk influences. Music Director Sneha Khanwalkar has managed to get raw Bhojpuri sound for Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur with numbers such as Jiya Tu. Fusion or Mashing of various elements/genres of music has been the flavour of the Asian underground music scene in places like Britain and United States since the late nineties. Consider the popularity of the Punjabi Hiphop scene and the number of well recognised Indian and NRIs involved in this. Such mashing has been found even in the commercial club circuit also (Popularity of the track ‘Who’s Dat Chick’ by David Guetta, a house DJ/Producer and Rhianna, a Caribbean based RnB singer). It could be that Bollywood could be taking notes from its Western cousins.
The shift is in your face; a decade ago the attempt to use Akon for a track in a movie might get you fired. There was a whole culture against rock music, it was considered to be associated with everything nefarious.Today, Rock music especially Hindi Rock music is being integrated into the formally anti-rock industry. Musicians belonging to rock bands have joined studios and been actively working in the Bollywood industry (Vishal Dadlani from Pentagram has been involved in many Bollywood films as a music director). And once something has been found to work, it is soon been integrated by the others and thus leading to a domino effect for the spread of the movement.
This trend for the new and different is also true to selection of singers. Gone are those days of using a single singer/songwriter for an entire film. Indian Idol, TV shows and Youtube have opened the gates for budding singers to enter the Bollywood industry. Cocktail, a newly released movie by has more than 13 vocalists on the music album. “There is room for everything now, from a romantic Teri Meri Kahaani to a Sufi number. The inspiration can come from any corner — whether it is nautanki, jazz or folk. Music directors have become gutsy. It is a good time for singers as well; there is lot of new voices coming in and singers are not typecast just for an item number or a slow number.” said Amrita Kak, singer of track ‘Dhinka Chika’. As long as the music supports the narrative of the story it goes, says Amit Trivedi commenting on his latest Bollywood exploits.
Critics stated that this use of various elements different elements of popular music has been the case for the long time. It is only that it has been promoted so as to attract certain audiences. However, the inflow of new music composers, producers, styles and ideas has increased. Bollywood seems to have moved away from its shell of a signature style of music to a diverse gamut harnessing and supporting different tastes. Use of orchestra and group singing harmonies were a characteristic feature of the film of the yesteryear. Just as the scene currently has evolved into this from the former let us see if this era of ultra dynamics swings.
