A line from the article "after Roja (1992), every year can just as easily be called the ‘year of A R Rahman’. Heck, if the 2000s were to belong to a musician, it would be called the decade of Rahman. "
what a pleasure to read it. No sweater words have ever been written. :-) -- Rawat On 1/1/2010 9:08 AM India Time, _$ Pavan Kumar $_ wrote: > > > http://www.hindustantimes.com/From-Melody-to-Dev-D/H1-Article1-492354.aspx > > Conventional ‘melodies’ were replaced by experimental music, as > Bollywood became ‘cool’. > > *2000 The end of ‘melody’ > *Nadeem-Shravan had cracked it. The ’90s had belonged to the composer > duo, who churned out chartbuster tunes, one album after another. After a > brief hiatus, the duo had come back to Bollywood in 2000 with Dhadkan. > Almost instantly, the music created new records. > > But with /Taal/ in the last year, A R Rahman had proved that > conventional Bollywood melodies were giving way to a new sound – where > experimentation would lead the way. The dawn of music directors like > Vishal-Shekhar and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy on the scene, who gave equal > importance to music production, as they did to composition, all > signified a complete overhaul of ‘conventional’ Bollywood music. > > *2001 The Bhatt film formula > *The signs were there, right from the time of /Kasoor/. A high-pitched > romantic number with a catchy hook (‘Kitni bechain ho ke’), a male sad > song with deep vocals (‘Mohabbat ho na jaaye’), and a female sad song > about unrequited love (‘Zindagi man gaye ho tum’). Mahesh and Mukesh > Bhatt’s films had worked out a distinct music formula at the time > of /Kasoor,/ that they’d replicate every year, in every movie, even if > the composer and singers changed. So, in the years that followed, Anu > Malik gave a similar sound in /Murder/, Pritam in /Gangster/, right up > to Toshi-Sharib in /Jashn/. You could identify a Bhatt-film song from a > mile away, but that’s not a bad thing. > > *2002 Kaanta laga > *If the Bollywood music industry was ever in peril, it was in 2002, when > remixes threatened to replace the ‘mukhadas’ and ‘antaras’ with > different variations of the phrase ‘Let’s party’, and some turntable > effects thrown in for good measure. Shefali Zariwala became the face ... > or.. err.. butt of the remix revolution, when she starred in the music > video of /Kaanta laga/, thong firmly in place. Pristine Hindi songs > like /Chadhti jawani /acquired a new meaning, the moral police had a > field day, and DJs minted money with Non-stop remix albums. And we found > out that even Bappi Lahiri can be plagiarised, when he sued R ‘n’ B > singer, Truth Hurts for remixing his song /Kaliyon ka chaman /in his > single, /Addictive/! > > *2003 The Return of R D* > It had to happen. After RD Burman passed away in 1994, his mad > orchestrations, wacky experiments, and penchant for using unusual > musical instruments to create songs that broke out of the typical > rhythm-based Bollywood routine, could never be recreated by any other > composer. A lot of remixes came and went, but the Panchamda sound had > been lost forever. Until /Jhankaar Beats /and /Dil Vil Pyaar > Vyaar /came. Vishal-Shekhar’s break out album, /Jhankaar Beats /was an > ode to the legacy of Panchamda, and was rooted in his sound. And /Dil > Vil Pyaar Vyaar /went the whole mile, recreating 14 of Burman’s best > songs, in the voice of the present generation. The Pancham flavour was back! > > *2004 Zip, zoom, dhoom* > Move your body, shake your ass’, did you say? That was the domain of the > ‘foreign’ singers, that we caught glimpses of, on late night shows on > MTV. Music videos, did you say? Only the Indipop world of Sunita Rao and > Baba Sehgal had that. Car music, did you say? Well, unless you > call /Kanta laga /car music... In 2004, Pritam changed all that > with /Dhoom machale/. With Thai singer Tata Young at its helm, the song > was singularly responsible for the zipping ‘Hinglish’ songs we hear on > every track now, the trend of music videos, and the much-abused phrase, > ‘international collaboration’. > > *2005 Kajra re > *There’s something about /Kajre re /(/Bunty Aur Babli/). Maybe it is the > sight of a droolsome Aishwarya Rai performing trademark Bollywood > ‘thumkas’, in a ravishing, sexy avatar, that men had so-far only dreamed > about. Maybe it is the father-son duo dancing with abandon. Or maybe it > is the reinvention of the qawwali by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Gulzar, that > helped the song pip /Omkara/’s /Beedi/ (2006) as the item number of the > decade. We think it’s Aishwarya! > > *2006 The phenomenon called Himesh > *He came, he sang, he conquered. In 2005, Himesh Reshammiya was > unwittingly encouraged to sing title song for his/Aashiq Banaya Aapne/. > The song, which had a ‘sufi flavour’, became a rage across India. And an > idea was born – that took shape in the form of a 23-song debut private > album, /Aap Ka Suroor/, by Reshammiya, who exploited his nose to sing, > swallowed his tears for beautiful models, who ditched him in music > videos, and wore a cap to hide his bald patch. The sale of caps reached > an unprecedented high, Reshammiya was signed on for a big-budget movie > that would explain ‘why he doesn’t smile in music videos’ and ‘nasal > singing’ found a synonym. And a phenomenon was born. > > *2007 Chak De India > *Last decade, India never really had a sports movie that set our pulses > racing and made us bite our nails in excitement./Lagaan/, in 2003, > changed that. But though /Lagaan/ became the toast of our nation, we > still didn’t have a sports song, which would inspire patriotism in us > and motivate us to kick some ass. And then came, /Chak De India!. /The > movie moved us and inspired us in all kinds of ways. It didn’t do much > for Hockey, but no one complained since, coinciding with the year T20 > became huge, the song became the national chant for supporters of the > Indian cricket team at matches. India had found a sports anthem. > > *2008 Jai ho Rahman* > In retrospect, after /Roja/ (1992), every year can just as easily be > called the ‘year of A R Rahman’. Heck, if the 2000s were to belong to a > musician, it would be called the /decade of Rahman/. Yet, 2008 was > special because, for the first time, Rahman churned out as many as five > Bollywood soundtracks, with each one hitting the right notes. > From /Jodhaa Akbar/and /Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na/, > to /Ada/, /Yuvraaj/ and /Ghajini/, Rahman covered just about every genre > from historical to contemporary romance, to /masala Bollywood/, > showcasing his versatility and mind-boggling range. Then, just before > the year ended, there was /Slumdog Millionaire./ And world music will > never be the same again. > > *2009 Dev D* > If there was one song that could have been singularly responsible for > driving audiences to the theatre to watch a movie in 2009, it would > easily be ‘Emosanal attyachar’ from /Dev D/. Amit Trivedi’s radical > 18-song soundtrack that turned every Bollywood stereotype on its head, > with a fresh, edgy sound, could well be Bollywood’s first rock opera. > Aided by Amitabh Bhattacharya’s wacky lyrics, that incorporated a bi**h > somewhere, and a wh**e elsewhere, Trivedi’s music signified the dawn of > a new era in contemporary Bollywood music – that’s driven by sweeping > orchestrations and extraordinary experimentation. And after the > exquisite /Iktara/ in /Wake Up Sid/, you know that Trivedi’s just > getting started. > > > > >
