With Special Compliments to DEVDAS, LOBS, KYA DIL NE KAHA,HUMRAAZ and DEVDAS(I'll add SUR to that)
Mumbai, May 21 (IANS) Alarmed by dismal sales of Bollywood film soundtracks, music companies had slashed prices of cassettes and CD a few months back.
Now there is reason for some jubilation in the music industry with several soundtracks doing brisk business, including "Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa" and "Humraaz."
Incidentally, both soundtracks are by composer Himesh Reshamiyya.
Sony Music has already notched sales of 600,000 copies of the soundtrack of "Kyaa Dil Ne..." in the first two weeks of its release and it is a welcome relief for a music industry in the slump.
"In two weeks, my 'Kyaa Dil Ne...' has sold almost as many copies as the last hit music soundtrack 'Raaz,'" says Reshamiyya, adding that part of the impressive figures could be due to a sharp 30-45 percent reduction in prices.
Music company executives say soundtracks have lately been failing with increased regularity because they have not broken new grounds.
"Look at the kind of work established music directors are doing. It's definitely time for a change," says a disgruntled senior executive at a top music company.
Tried-and-tested composers seem to be falling fast and hard.
Anu Malik, who reigned the charts non-stop for eight years, seems to be going through a bad patch with his scores for "Ab Ke Baras," "Awaara Paagal Deewaana" and "Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein" showing no sign of kicking up a sensation.
For the first time since "Baazigar," filmmaking super-duo Abbas-Mustan replaced Malik with Reshamiyya in "Humraaz" and seems to have been awarded with a hit track that has been climbing the charts.
Another established brand name that appears to have lost its touch is composer duo Jatin-Lalit, who last did the music of Karan Johar's hit "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" (K3G).
Though music sales of K3G recorded grand figures, it's common knowledge that the film's hit songs "You're My Soniya" and "Suraj Hua Madhyam" were composed by "guest composer" Sandesh Shandilya.
Johar has vowed not to work with the duo again. "They couldn't deliver what I wanted and then behaved badly with me."
He says there's a paucity of tune makers in Mumbai.
Malik and Jatin-Lalit, for now, seem to have lost their magic and the other name in the music industry -- A.R. Rahman -- seems to have his eyes set Westwards.
Rahman, currently in London where he has given the music score for Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical "Bombay Dreams," has said he barely has time to do music for one Hindi film a year.
He has exhausted his self-proclaimed one-film quota this year with the music for Raj Kumar Santoshi's "The Legend Of Bhagat Singh."
While the soundtrack for four other bio-pics on the Indian freedom fighter are yet to catch on, Rahman's score has been instantly liked and is steadily climbing the charts, despite being offbeat.
But the most startling of successes this year has been the raga-infused classical score for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Devdas" -- again revealing that listeners are ripe for change.
The period epic's soundtrack has notched a comfortable place in music charts, belying scepticism about a classical film score.
But critics and industry experts are also quick to point that a "specialist" composer like Ismail Durbar can only deliver a chart-friendly score when working with a music-minded filmmaker like Bhansali.
It is a similar story for music composer Rajesh Roshan, who emerges triumphant only in conjunction with his filmmaker-brother Rakesh Roshan. Rajesh Roshan's two scores this year - "Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage" and "Na Tum Jaano Na Hum" - did not generate much heat on the charts.
Earlier, the promising Vishal Bharadwaj slid when he gave music outside his mentor Gulzar's cinema.
The question plaguing the music industry is: where are the all-rounder composers who could deliver hit music even when the film flopped?
The only exception seems to be the composer duo Nadeem-Shravan who continue to create hit music even in flops like "Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai" and "Haan... Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya."
:p
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