Screenindia : Screen Latest News
PopularNews
Most Emailed Articles
Most Read Articles

Independent bands make Bollywood 'sound' different

-A +A
Font
Pallavi Jassi Posted: Sep 25, 2008 at 1249 hrs IST
Kailash-kher-bandKailash Kher's band 'Kailasa' has given music to a few films and the shift from convention is 'audible'.
Randolph Correia, of the relatively small electronica duo band Shaai’r n Func, has for the first time composed a full soundtrack, for the movie, ‘Saas Bahu aur Sensex’. The movie may have been a dud but Correia feels that it’s a headstart for him, since it’s his first serious exposure to Bollywood, and towards making mainstream popular music.

Though music from the Indian film industry has always been catchy, the predictability of the tracks is about to change, with bands that have focused on creating original sound coming in. “A lot of music from Bollywood sounds exactly the same,” says Correia, whose tracks for ‘Saas Bahu…’ has a lot of progressive electronic sounds instead of dance and bhangra beats.

‘Kailasa’ is another group that has created a separate Bollywood identity for themselves and like to call them the Kailash-Paresh-Naresh trio. Departing from their conventional Sufi sound, the trio is ready to bring in unplugged and acoustic beats with their composition for Sushant Shah’s ‘Dus Vidhaniya’ starring Vinay Pathak and Neha Dhupia.

“The music that we have done for the film is new for us as well,” says Paresh Kamath, guitarist of Kailasa, who have recorded their music live. “There’s a certain human element that lengthens the songs shelf life when it’s live,” adds Kamath. The trio has also composed two tracks for the forthcoming ‘Chandni Chowk to China’ that even includes a quwwali with a twist.

But not all consider Bollywood a progression, though all musicians acknowledge it the fastest way to get noticed and top the charts. “I’m not progressing to Bollywood. In fact it is a step down for me as a musician since it cannot provide any inspiration. But it is a decent money-making proposition,” says Correia, who has also produced a track for ‘Drona’.

Agrees Rahul Ram, bassist, ‘Indian Ocean’ who says, “Bollywood is not our final bastion. The filmmakers are coming to us for our sound.” The band has composed the soundtrack for the recently released ‘Hulla’ and a film titled ‘Bhoomi’ is in the pipeline. “The soundtrack for Hulla basically has one main song and three versions of it apart from the background score. But the sound for our films, be it in the past or the future, will continue being the sound that is Indian Ocean,” says Ram.

Most of these bands are continuing with their independent work that only benefits from their exposure to Bollywood. “It aligns your creative thought process with what people want to hear which can be a challenge,” admits Ram. “Working on a script written by someone else makes us think differently which may not have been possible otherwise,” says Kamath.

While Correia is busy with his albums for his groups Shaai’r n Func and Pentagram to take the band to next level, Kailash-Paresh-Naresh turn back to Kailasa to record their third album. And Indian Ocean, which has just released their DVD, Indian Ocean Live in Delhi, is still hoping their fans will go and pick a copy.

PostComments
Post Comments
Name * Message *
Email ID *
Subject *
TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.
ViewComments
No comments posted yet. Be the first one to post the comment.