Music to my ears

I am musically inclined. Years of training in Classical Carnatic Music during school days has equipped me with some ability to be able to analyse and discern various forms of Music. While I dabbled with English Rock and Metal for some time, I must admit that my actual interest lies in Indian Music. I have been following Bollywood/ Kollywood music for quite some time now and it seems interesting to me to able to evaluate the Music style of various contemporary Music directors. From the Marketing perspective, I wish to discuss about how they have differentiated and positioned themselves in the minds of the target audience. I will be discussing this starting with my favourites

AR Rehman – What strikes you immediately is the vast repertoire of Musical styles that Rehman has given us for the last 10 – 12 years. You cannot typecast him as a Music director with a certain style of Music. His compositions cover melodies, classical music (both Hindustani and Carnatic), folk, Indian rock and pop to name a few genres. Apart from versatility, what differentiates him further is his ability to fit the genres remarkably to the situation and the script. Starting from humble origins, today his Music has universal appeal. No wonder then that there is huge anticipation concomitant with any Music release of Rehman’s composition.

Ilayaraja – A legend and an inspiration for a lot of Music Directors atleast in South India. I am a huge fan of Ilayaraja and love his music. Again, apart from the sheer musical genius, the greatness of the man lies in his ability to understand the taste and preference of the target audience and compose music accordingly. While his compositions for Bollywood have been limited (notable ones being ‘Cheeni kum’ and ‘Paa’) he is an icon in every household down South. His compositions again cover all Music styles ranging from melodies, folk, carnatic classical and a fine blend of Western music.

Shankar/ Ehsaan/ Loy – A remarkably talented trio that has given us some outstanding music in this decade. Again, versatile composers, who have managed to capture the imagination of the Indian youth. Compositions are very relevant to the script on most of the occasions (case in point being ‘ Rock On’…. You might not have imagined anybody to have so beautifully enmeshed with the script). With 3 sharp minds from varied backgrounds getting together, it is certain that the musical magic will continue in the days to come.

Salim/ Sulaiman – To be frank, this duo was never under my consideration set until I recently happened to watch the ‘Indian Idol 5’ show. And then, when I went back to see the scores composed by Salim and his brother, I was surprised on how I could have missed it. ‘Chak De’, ‘ Rab ne…’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Race’ to name a few movies that I always knew had great compositions but I never bothered to check who the music director was. Once again, extremely versatile with an ability to compose scores suited to the script. And when there is humility inspite of the accomplishments I can only wonder the heights to which these guys are going to scale in the future.

Pritam – It is fair to state that my respect for the man has gone several notches over the last few months. Some of his recent compositions have been amazing. The fact however remains that Pritam operates within a restricted set of Music Styles. Over a period of time, there is a likelihood that the audience might find the compositions repetitive. However, most of the Music directors also participate as Judges and special guests in different reality shows and seeing Pritam, I get the feeling that he is a smart and talented operator who can re-invent himself when required.

Anu Malik – Certainly quite a few credit-worthy compositions to his account. But in my view, when a man commits to more than what he can deliver, he runs the risk of getting repetitive or running out of ideas. Plus the allegations of plagiarism have only tarnished his image further. Irrespective of what Mr. Malik thinks about himself, what gets evaluated is how much has he been part of the Music Industry in the recent times and the data points that he is moving only in one direction… which is the path to eventual oblivion

Himesh Reshammiya – Amazingly repetitive, irritating to the ears, brazenly non-compliant with the finer nuances of music….. that is how I would like to classify Himesh Reshamiya’s compositions. But to give credit to the man, he was able to generate mass appeal for some of his earlier compositions. The audience found the style to be unique and new. However, the mantra going forward is likely to be ‘Innovate or die’.

Let us try and develop a graphical plot of whatever has been discussed so far. I have proposed looking at the above details from 2 perspectives. One, a generic perspective from a Music follower’s point of view and the other a very specific perspective that evaluates Music in the context of the movie that it is a part of. The first map covers the following factors

a. Music Quotient – The demonstrated ability of the Music director to be able to provide a variety of Music genres. This essentially captures the versatility.
b. Mass Appeal – The extent of Public appreciation and acceptance of the compositions.


The second perceptual map would cover the following factors

a. Script Seamlessness – The ability of the song/ the score to seamlessly fit with the movie script. Herein lies an underlying assumption and acceptance that the script in itself is robust enough
b. Lyrics Seamlessness – Irrespective of the chronology of the Lyrics/ Music development process, the ability of the Music to seamlessly fit with the lyrics.