Tag: Indian film industry
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Film Music’s Shift from Melody to Sound Design
Music composer Kaushal Inamdar recently posted an insightful Twitter thread about how film music had changed in recent decades. The crux of the point he made was that technological advances in music production had shifted the focus of music directors from music composition to sound design. He argued that creating interesting sounds was becoming more important than…
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Anand Bakshi’s Generation-Spanning Work
[Starting this week, we’ll re-publish here the Bollywood Retrospective series published in DNA blogs. This post was originally published here.] This post is based on a question posed a few years ago on Twitter by film historian Pavan Jha, a passionate follower and chronicler of films and film music. The question – “Name the 5…
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1930s Hindi Film Music – Now Available on MySwar
We had promised in February to complete the task of cataloguing the first decade of Hindi film music, starting with “Alam Ara” (1931), by April. We’re happy to report that the task is done right on time. MySwar now lists all the films released between 1931 and 1940 and their songs. At this point, the data for film…
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Thoughts On Amit Trivedi’s “Bombay Velvet”
This is not a review of Amit Trivedi’s Bombay Velvet. I loved the album to bits and wanted to share a few things that stood out for me as I was listening to it: It struck me as a rare album in that it is so thematically consistent. We hear Neeti Mohan’s voice in six…
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2014 Bollywood Music Review
2014 was not a great year for Hindi film music. The Indian Express carried a bleak piece discussing the death of Hindi film music in 2014. We have observed the rise of multi-composer albums and albums riding on one or two item songs for a few years now. This trend continued in 2014. The other…
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Bollywood Musicians Bare Claws
Is there something off in the Bollywood music industry? Consider this: Shaan on Twitter about Rahat getting off easy – Rahatbhai found rahat pretty easily with DRI and FERA. A Fine and he’s fine to carry on. Wonder if we were in Another Country in similar situation, would it be as easy ??!! My take:…
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The Importance Of Cover Songs
In an interview with Rajeev Masand, Asha Bhonsle rips apart Sunidhi Chauhan’s rendition of ‘Duniya Mein’ in a song called ‘Parda‘ in ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbai’. And she does it with a beatific smile lighting up her face. She’s a spirited old lady alright and I admire her verve and energy. However, I…
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Why India Survives
Two incidents in my apartment complex resulted in a lot of debate related to religion and language in India: 1. Religion – It was discovered that two maidservants who identified themselves with Hindu names were actually Muslims. The residents’ association banned these individuals from the complex since their integrity was now in question. Debate: Did the…
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5 suggestions to recognize film music’s “extras”
Ever wondered who played the violin in Yeh Ab Aap Sochiye (Mere Sanam); the sitar in Deewana Hua Baadal (Kashmir Ki Kali); the harmonica in Ye Dosti (Sholay); the accordion in Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega (Sangam); the guitar in Ilaya Nila (Payanangal Mudivadhillai); or even who whistled in Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (Nau…
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Is Bollywood Overdose killing Indian music?
I love Bollywood music. It forms about 35% of my music collection, only because I follow four languages, like a number of genres and most importantly – I research and buy music I like and I buy a lot of it. Most Indians find it easy to just succumb to Bollywood Overdose (BO). Although regional…