Music 2000

As we step into the new millennium, what can we expect -- musically?

The ’80s and especially the ’90s have seen a paradigm shift in the quality, style and packaging of film music. The essence however seems to have undergone few changes, chiefly because the new brigade of lyricists and composers (or for that matter filmmakers) have little new or original to offer. The only tunesmith who forged a new trial, AR Rahman, is caught in the chakravyuha of commerce and lost in a maze of repetitive mediocrity, with exceptions like 1947 proving the rule.

However, on the music director side, he, Jatin-Lalit and Anu Malik still rule the roost, and while one accepts that they are -- taking the broad picture -- leagues ahead of their collea...oops!... rivals, there is nothing in their music which is extraordinary or conducive to a long innings at the top. These music directors are ruling chiefly because the opposition is weak. Among the rest, Viju Shah, Rajesh Roshan, Vishal and may be even Anand-Milind can really shake these three entitles up if they creatively rouse themselves and get rid of certain in-self indulgent and self-imposed constraints and prejudices.

Of the newer lot, the brightest bet is -- of course nad obviously -- Ismail Darbar. But he will restrict himself to three films at a time, which means that his role if significant will be only so in a qualitative sense.

Sanjeev-Darshan have the popular touch (Mann), they are also striking the right balance between quantity and quality, but only time will tell how much is dad Shravan’s contribution to their music. Besides, Mann was neither entirely original nor marked by any spark of especial brilliance. The rest of the new brigade are totally undistinguished, and if some like Sandeep Chowta make tall claims, well, Bollywood can be very ruthless towards such self-hyped chaps.

Thankfully, most of the existing composers are increasingly resisting the deplorable trend of getting in extra music directors into one film. And it’s time they acted real tough in this matter. In any case, the charts and turnstiles too echo their views -- of all the multi-music director films, only Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (way back in early 1998) made by impact. The rest, including the recent Dillagi (a rare case where the broth was not spoilt by too many cooks) failed to evoke any enthusiasm.

The new millennium will hopefully see the end of the ‘item’ (read irrelevant) song era and the return of thematic scores with a strong traditional base and modern packaging. The recycling of vitage hits and the er, adaptation of non-film songs of Indian or foreign origin will course continue -- though one hopes that the music composers work on the tunes they adapt rather than serving them as they are.

The field of lyricdom shows cause for worry. Anand Bakshi, Majrooh and -- when he is not writing oddball lyrics -- Gulzar are certainly not busybees today. Indeevar isn’t around and Javed Akhtar has become erratic. Sameer, out of choice or compulsion, writes cursory rhymes, and since he is the only all-rounder among the young lot the situation is far from euphoric. Mehboob has substance, but how many Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam will he get? The newer lot always complain of pressures and lack of substance in films and situations. They cannot deliver innovation or excellence in the routine song as the veterans could, did and still do.

Among the filmmakers, Sanjay Leela Bhansai is -- musically -- the true successor to the Raj Kapoor-V Shantaram-Guru Dutt-Vijay Anand-Raj Khosla heritage. John Matthew Matthan has shown that overall cinematic excellence can encompass quality as well as sterling use of music in Sarfarosh. Milan Luthria has an ear for music, if his first film is any indication, and so do Rajiv Rai, Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar and to an extent, JP Dutta and Vinod Chopra. Subhash Ghai may have delivered musical hits in Pardes and Taal, but to cover better ground, he must get over his LP hangover. But the tragedy today is that these few filmmakers can hardly hope to deliver more than one film in three years each, and today’s prolific brigade is pronouncedly besura. Back in the good old times, we had Nasir Husain, Raj Khosla, J Om Prakash, Mohan Kumar, Shakti Samanta, LV Prasad and other musical filmmakers churning out a film a year (almost) with great music).

For a combination of reasons, I would expect the following films to have exceptional music -- Devdas, Jaana Na Dil Se Door, Censor, Refugee, Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke, Mohabbatein, Lagaan, Friends, Hum To Muhabbat Karega, Loveria, Mission Kashmir, Deewangee, Mehbooba, Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya, Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, Josh, Dil Diya Chori Chori, Chori Chori Chupe Chupke and Abbas-Mustan’s film for Venus. The millennium will kick off to a good if not fabulous start with the recently-released bright music of Jaanwar, Kaho Na... Pyaar Hai and Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.

But the brightest area in the music world is the singing department. One only hopes that our talented breed of singers do get compositions which their talents deserve -- and this does not mean Latabai and Ashabai alone. I foresee a scintillating future for Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Kumar Sanu, Udit Naryaan and Abhijeet (among those who are already firmly entrenched) and Kay Kay, Shanker Mahadevan and Sunidhi Chauhan in particular. There are several other singers who have terrific talent but need to improve in specific areas. Like, Sukhwindra Singh needs to abandon his obsession for scoring music, ‘writing’ lyrics and for Punjabi songs -- he was stunning whenever he sang non-Punjabi songs as in Saudagar, Khilaaf, 1947 and Shool. Hema Sardesai needs to eschew her Cambridge accent in her Hindi renditons. Jaspinder Narula need to -- pronto! -- shed her superiority complex -- pride always comes before a fall, and if she loses ground a monumental talent will lost out. Sonu Nigam needs to decide which of his dozen voices is for keeps. anuradha Paudwal needs to realise that the composer, not singer, is boss. Sadhana Sargam, Manhar and Amit Kumar and Suresh Wadkar need better self-marekting to avoid the abominable waste of their colossal talent. Hariharan and Preeti Uttam need to brush up on their expression. And Roopkumar Rathod needs to explore his own originality rather than try and be another Rafi in his film songs, just as bhai Vinod Rathod must shed his even greater obsession with Kishore’s style. And talents like Alisha Chinai, Talat Aziz, Anup Jalota, Pankaj Udhas and Jagjit Singh must consciously try and do more film songs, and the music industry should encourage and exploit these taiyyar artistes.

Finally, let’s pray for a lot of new blood with genuine talent to help make this new millennium musically magnificent.

Rajiv Vijayakar