Celebrity Column | Music by?, writes Sajid Khan

Bollywood, for the lack of a better word, is recognised worldwide for its colourful songs and dances. Back home, music in films plays a very integral part. Box-office pundits as well as many makers still believe that if the music is a hit with the audiences, the chances of the film being a hit are even stronger. This theory has been proved right from time to time, but was accurate to a 100 per cent in the ’90s — easily the most powerful and profitable decade for film music.

Music directors like Nadeem-Shravan, Anu Malik, AR Rahman didn’t just get top billing in the credits, but at most times, were even paid higher than a few lead actors. So popular was their music that audio cassettes and CDs of films like Baazigar, Aashiqui, Phool Aur Kaante, Rangeela, Taal and Saajan were a cash making rage even before the films had released. The time was such that filmmakers before finalising a script and cast used to finalise these music directors. Even a large section of the audience used to watch the particular movie to enjoy their songs composed by these few music composers. 

They were rockstars in the true sense because even their private albums were selling out. This trend continued in the 2000s with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar, Pritam, Sajid-Wajid and unarguably the most popular music maker in those 10 years —Himesh Reshammiya. 

Private shows, concerts and reality shows were now the name of the game for these technicians. So much so, that most of their composed hit songs featured their own voices. After all, it helps a little further to sing your own hit songs at concerts. Physical sales of compact discs and audio cassettes had now moved to downloads and ringtones. So, a peppy hit song would definitely help a film’s instant music sales in these formats. Somewhere, melody was getting lost.

For decades, we have all seen film credits where the name of music director(s) used to feature in the last four credits, thus giving them the due importance. Now-a-days, it’s a mere formality as 99 per cent of films have multiple music directors, who sell a song or two, rather than an entire album. The same difference between cooking a five-course meal and ordering through various food apps. What went wrong, one would ask? Perhaps the royalty issue which producers didn’t agree with the music directors. Perhaps lack of interest to slave inside a studio creating music rather than earning big time, being a star on TV and live shows. The reasons are a plenty but the outcome is — today, music is seen and forgotten, not heard and remembered. There are of course a few exceptions, but like I said… only a few! If this trend continues, then music will not be heard anymore, but faced.