Soaps tune into Bollywood

The idiot box is doing it again, borrowing from its big brother - Bollywood. Only this time round, scripts and stars have been replaced by lyrics and musical scores.

A film might come and go but its music lingers on. And why not, when the hit numbers of films are kept alive in daily soaps, which ensure that they remain fresh in the memory of viewers.

Whether it's saas bahu sagas like Kahani ghar ghar kii and Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi, or hyper emotional family dramas like Saat phere or Kasautii zindagii kay, songs from Hindi films are certainly popular in tele-serials. Makes one wonder if there's a tie-up between the filmmakers and tele-soap directors! So how do these numbers add a punch to the serial? KT finds out.

Almost every second tele-soap is supported with songs from Bollywood flicks. Is it a sort of contemporary trend?

"Perhaps it can be called fashion,"avers Ravi Rai who has directed such popular serials like Kashish, Thoda Hai Thode Ki Zaroorat Hai and Sailabh, which began the trend of introducing recorded songs in serials.

"I always record exclusive songs for my serials. But now the trend is that of using Bollywood songs. This is an easy way out as minimal effort is involved. But one can't claim to be innovative while using a film track in a serial,"says Rai who has recorded most of his tracks with Jagjit Singh, Nida Fazli and Javed Akhtar.

But does a viewer really appreciate this move of tele soap makers? Homemaker Kamna Anand says, "I think tele-serials don't need songs and even if they have a music score, the songs should be innovative. Songs of serials like Talaash, Ghutan, etc are remembered even now. Where is the exclusivity in adding a rocking or romantic number from a film to suit the mood of the serials? It makes it over-dramatic."

Actor Sangeeta Ghosh can't agree more when she says, "After a point of time, this trend will lose its charm because it will get monotonous. Serials will then have no choice but to resort to recording original songs."

Ask actor Ritu Chaudhary who has been working in all those 'k' serials whether songs from films add punch to the serial and she replies, "They definitely do. Adding a song depends on the discretion of the production house and if people call it being hyper-dramatic, so be it. Serials are meant to be dramatic, anyway."

Interestingly, the Bhatt camp seems to be everyone's favourite when it comes to picking up a song for a soap. Most of them seem to be using songs from their films.

Director Mahesh Bhatt, however, is far from happy about this trend. Says he, "I've been consistently objecting to this practice and have been repeatedly seeking explanations from music companies. I don't comprehend the kind of understanding that exists between music companies and tele-soap makers. It's obviously for mutual benefit."

However, the music companies are singing a different tune. As Azaz Khatau, senior PR executive, of a well-known music company confirms, "When films sign up with music companies, the latter gets the copyright for the music.

We have a contract with the production house concerned, as per which the production house can pick a fixed number of songs from our company and pay us in return. Filmmakers shouldn't show antipathy towards this. Serials with songs from movies are doing well, so the practice is thriving."
But that doesn't seem to be music to some ears!