Live music on bhansali's guzaarish set

Live music on bhansali's guzaarish set

May 27, 2010 by FSJ
Trust SLB to do it differently.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali Gets Songs Choreographed With Live Guitar!

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's next magnum opus Guzaarish brings together Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan and has been in the making for about a year now. The buzz is that after Dhoom: 2 and Jodhaa Akbar this is the chance for the lead pair to pull off a hat-trick.

Bhansali certainly is putting everything into his next directorial debut. But Bhansali also marches to the beat of a different drummer – and while lavishing attention on every detail of his film, he makes sure he does things in his own individualistic manner. After keeping the sets of Guzaarish under strict surveillance and then deciding to compose the music of the film himself, we now learn that Bhansali has found a novel way to shoot the songs of his current film.

"Aishwarya and Hrithik freaked out when they heard of a concept like this"

Pony Verma, who has choreographed most of the songs for Guzaarish, reveals Bhansali's modus operandi for song picturisations. She discloses, "In Guzaarish, Bhansali himself is the music director. As soon as he would conceive a song, he'd send it to me and then sing it to me as well. And while shooting the song, we had a singer and a guy with a guitar on the sets. I would say '1…2…3…4…music' and the singer would sing the song, Aishwarya and Hrithik would perform, and we would shoot it. It is the first time I have choreographed a song to live music."

Pony fervently feels that this novel way of functioning has enhanced the appeal of the song. Speaking from a choreographer's point of view, Pony says, "When the number is playing live, you pick up a lot of nuances on the spot, which really helps the song."

Ask Pony what the stars thought of this novel live format of shooting songs and she enthuses, "Aishwarya and Hrithik freaked out when they heard of a concept like this. They were enjoying every moment of the music playing live."

"We had a singer and a guy with a guitar on the sets. The singer would sing the song, Aishwarya and Hrithik would perform, and we would shoot it. It is the first time I have choreographed a song to live music" – Pony Verma, Bhansali's choreographer


Pony insists, "It's a fabulous idea that Sanjay has come up with. Sanjay is somebody who does his best in each song. He understands the choreographer's perspective and gives me full rights because he has a choreographer in him besides a director. Not surprisingly his films are musicals – whether it is Saawariya or Khamoshi. He is one person who takes a keen interest in the nitty-gritty of choreography – he works out exactly when the actress should raise her eyebrows so as to get the maximum effect. While shooting we would have great discussions and Aishwarya took keen interest and participated in them. There were times when we would stop shooting and talk about the feel of the song and how to touch people's heart."

"Bhansali himself is the music director. As soon as he would conceive a song, he'd send it to me and then sing it to me as well"

A total convert to Bhansali's style of functioning, Pony avers, "Sanjay is one director all choreographers would willingly fall over themselves to work with. He is not only hugely talented but comes up with innovations too."
Live music while filming is innovative indeed!

http://www.thefilmstreetjournal.com/2010/05/live-music-on-bhansali's-guzaarish-set/