Book excerpts of The History Of Indian Film Music : Bollywood News

The History Of Indian Film Music

The excessive (as the listener perceived it then) degeneration in lyrical and musical standards - Bappi Lahiri also unleashed the cacophonous Padmalaya-Jeetendra genre of scores full of cheap lyrics and raucous Kishore duets 0 led to a mass rejection of such film music in this decade. And thus was born a parallel music industry of bhajans and ghazals.

By definition ethnic and traditional, the movement generated a bevy of trained artistes or had them emerge out of the struggling shadow, with Jagjit and Chitra Singh, Rajendra and Neena Mehta, Bhupinder (who had never made it really big in films) and Mitalee Singh, Anup Jalota, Talat Aziz, Penaz Masani and others, and their albums often outsold most film soundtracks - something unthinkable till that point of time in recorded music in India.

But the so-called degenerate decade (which also spawned widespread lifting of Western numbers, especially by R.D Burman, Rajesh Roshan, Bappi Lahiri and Laxmikant-Pyarelal) had a very healthy flipside: unlike what happened post-2004, there were crusaders at work, helped by evolved audiences. So unlike in the millennium when some great musical and lyrical works went unsung, this generation of listeners for whom songs were still like friends to be treasured, went all out to welcome every great score and song that came in.

And so even unsuccessful films like Umrao Jaan, Kudrat and Saagar had hit music, and but for a few standout exceptions like Deedaar-E-Yaar, Jaag Utha Insan, Sur-Sangam, Batwara and Naqab (whose parent films also emerged non-starters) great music scores like Nikaah, Prem Rog and Hero were taken to the skies.

Revival Of Melody

In 1985, Laxmikant-Pyarelal dealt a decisive blow to the prevalent cacophony with Pyar Jhukta Nahin, a modest film that became huge at the box-office and placed disco deity Mithun Chakraborty in the A-league of social dramas. It was rapidly followed by R.D Burmans Saagar, Ravindra Jains Ram Teri Ganga Maili and L-Ps Meri Jung and Utsav and the cacophony was decimated.

The effects of this crusade were not immediately felt, though 1986-87 had its share of melody-based winners like Karma, Naam, Janbaaz Mr India, Sindoor and Khudgarz.

But in 1988, Anand-Milind, sons of the gentle Chitragupta, brought about a major revolution with Nasir Husains Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, along with L-Ps Tezaab and Rajesh Roshans Khoon Bhari Maang.

Author: Rajiv Vijayakar

Book excerpts of 'The History Of Indian Film Music'