Multiple Tracks

“Variety,” explains Swanand Kirkire,who worked in Striker. “Songs and music albums are also used for promotions. So,it is necessary to have variety in order to increase a film’s appeal.” Check out the multiple folk sounds of Peepli Live,the Anusha Rizvi-directed,Aamir Khan-produced black comedy on rural life — Delhi-based band Indian Ocean created and sang a fast-paced,percussion-based folk ditty called Des mera,while Mehangayi by a little-known band from Bhopal has a crude,earthy tone with lyrics like Mehangayi dayan khaye jaat haye,and Nageen Tanvir’s Chola mati ke Ram is a slow folk number. The first two have shot up the charts in radio and television music shows just as the filmmakers planned. “Peepli Live has a variegated kaleidoscope so the music also needed to represent that. All the songs are not part of the film but they help to make the film popular,” says Mahmood Farooqui,the co-director.

The formula also seems to have worked for debut director Abhishek Sharma,whose film Tere Bin Laden’s album had music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy,Delhi-based Dhruv Dhalla,Ali Zafar and Abhijeet Vaghani. “Having diverse flavours is a good idea but all songs should ultimately come together in an organic whole. The music should also fit in with the mood of the film,” says Sharma. “Tere Bin Laden was a crazy comedy and needed music that was equally crazy. Thankfully,all our music directors were on the same wavelength.” The songs like Ullu ka patha and shor sharaba explored different territories and impressed listeners.

Onir’s next film I Am uses four music directors. “The film is a mix of four stories so I wanted different sounds for each story,” says the director. I Am has Amit Trivedi,Mithoon,Vivek Phillip and newbie Rajeev Bhalla,whom Onir selected after he sent his resume to the director on Facebook. The filmmaker,however,believes in having a single music director for a one-story film. “If the composer is versatile,he can create different tracks by being in sync with the theme of the film,” he says.

Kirkire differs. “Unlike one composer working on a number of tracks,we now have several artistes giving their best creations to the film. So,the chances of songs becoming a hit are higher.”

In Rajneeti,which had music by Shantanu Moitra,Pritam,Aadesh Srivastav and Wayne Sharpe,it was the heavily classical Mora Piya that became a chartbuster. The other songs quickly faded from memory.

In the past,it was only on rare occasions that a film would bring in a second or third music director. The practice of using more than one music composer was first seen in Kishore Kumar-starer Ladki that used two composers—R Sudarshan and Dhaniramand.

Surprisingly,having multiple composers doesn’t always mean a higher film budget. “When new or little-known music directors are a part of a film,the producer actually spends less as compared to paying lakhs to well-known music directors,” says Sharma.