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In the last part of this story, posted with deliberate intentional irony on World Music Day, an attempt was made to show how and why regressive and retrograde changes had come into film music primarily because of a song’s foundation—the lyrics. Let us now go further.
The Music
In at least 80 percent of cases, the tune is finalized first—that is, the mukhda, with or without the hook or refrain (predominant today) and any other ‘catchy’ (read ‘saleable’ as per the deciding ‘authorities’) element.
Forget the fact that analog music is passe (though as per the latest global updates, it is coming back and set for a grand comeback!). This is something that happened about three decades ago. Film music still maintained its innate strength even afterwards, and no one missed the wholesomeness of the Hindi film song. Till recent years.
But today, but for standout exceptions like Krishnavataram Part 1: Hridayam, Ek Din and a few other songs (not complete scores), we miss the universal appeal of a score like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani or even Goliyon Ki RasLila—RamLila. There is a lack of wholesome sound as well, which can be done beautifully even with digital technology, as seen with the music in these films.
Worse, the use of songs only in fragments within a film deprive audiences of gratification from a well-written and composed song in many a film. Many of the best songs in a soundtrack come when the film’s closing credits are rolling, that is, when the hall is fast emptying: classic cases being the recent Bhooth Bangla’s Ram ji aake bhalaa karenge or Bad Newz’ Tauba tauba.
Trend overdrive
Trends have often been followed for the sake of it, but never so blindly, perhaps, as of today. Tum mere na hue from Sachin-Jigar’s Thamma (2025) is a classic example of this feeling of déjà vu. The producer, composer, lyricist, female singer and even the film’s genre is the same as that of the 2024 blockbuster, Stree 2, and its chart-slammer, Aaj ki raat mazaa husn ka. Isn’t a year too early for a covert repeat? In any case, neither the latter film nor its song get even a fraction of the older song’s popularity!
With lyricists, there was one issue that I did not touch in the earlier part of this story: their branding. This had always been there to an extent all through, but today it is in overdrive. A Punjabi-heavy party number needs a Kumaar, an in-depth film with a touch of Sufi invites Irshad Kamil and so on.
The music situation is also similar: Ajay-Atul and A.R. Rahman are the ‘pets’ for a period / historical drama even if these regional masters have largely failed to deliver in this department! Ajay-Atul’s Raja Shivaji (at least the Hindi version and that should have been considered since it was a bilingual), Adipurush, Panipat as co-composers and A.R. Rahman (Chhaava, Main Vaapas Aaunga, Maidaan, Pippa, Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh) have been musically catastrophic. In the recent past, if we had a party song, it was allotted to Meet Bros Anjjan while that song with alcohol became ‘trendy’ if Yo Yo Honey Singh was called in. And Singh was actually called to create such ditties, ad nauseam.
This latter ‘evil’ became rampant after Singh’s film debut song, Lungi dance, replaced the Vishal-Shekhar composition of the Chennai Express title-song recorded by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, sadly the last Hindi song by the Ek Duuje Ke Liye-Maine Pyar Kiya South stalwart.
The multi-composer miasma
We need not even talk about the multi-composer miasma that has now (hopefully not for ever) come to stay in film music. As two present leading lyricists and two today composers have summarized to me, “We have been reduced to employees who have to give one tune or one song. That’s not the way things were when great music was created!” Lyricist Sameer Anjaan adds, “A single composer and lyricist get involved from the script and characters down in a film. They sit and decide on the musical graph and work with a sense of belonging!”
Lyricist Irshad Kamil adds, “I enjoyed the creative interaction between a director, composer and lyricist that truly leads to a great score only twice so far, once with Sooraj R. Barjatya sir and Himesh Reshammiya sir on Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo (2015) and then with Aditya Dhar and Shashwat Sachdev in the Dhurandhar franchise.”
Western labels
Last but by no means the least, is the current subservience to labeling songs with Western names. A Hindi film, like any Indian film, should have songs classified (when need be, that is!) as ghazal, bhajan, qawwali, patriotic, mujra, children’s songs including lullabies, philosophical, Western songs including waltz, cabaret and disco, and romantic songs that are sad, happy, duets and so on. Each kind named after their situational description, that is.
But what are the labels being dished out today? Ballads, Blues, Lounge, Hip-Hop, Sufi with every add-on conceivable, and the generic names mentioned in the last part.
Re-Creations instead of Creations!
And finally, when re-creations are done (today, film and non-film hits are exchanged freely!), it is often taken for granted that these songs will be the main or exclusive selling-points of the film! Take the two Bhool Bhulaiyaa sequels and the first film’s Ami je tomar being re-created twice and you know what I mean!
In 1990, when Amitabh Bachchan had wanted a version of Guinean singer Mory Kanté original track, Tama tama for Hum, Laxmikant-Pyarelal suggested that they will compose something better of their own. But when Bachchan insisted, they only copied the opening lines and music as a mukhda and made an original song out of it—which with Anand Bakshi’s lines, proved cult!
Paying tribute or offering a respectful homage is one thing, but creative laziness and a lack of originality are quite another. When these are compounded by financial constraints that discourage the creation of original music, despite filmmakers often overlooking the long-term commercial and cultural value of a memorable hit song, the consequences can be damaging. As listeners, we should not have to accept this erosion of originality in what has long been a cherished staple of film music.
To be continued…
