Can Classical music make a comeback? - Page 4

I wonder if this is not happening because a majority of the MDs are INCAPABLE of churning out such tunes? Other than ID and ARR and Shankar Mahadevan (all have a classical background if I'm not mistaken), who else (in Bollywood) has really come up with such tunes?

Do you think if HR did a classical tune, his young fans wouldn't atleast give it a chance? His fans relate to him and his music, so why not?

Actually Shankar Mahadevan's "koi jo mila tha mujhe" from Breathless became quite a hit didn't it? It was based on Yaman Kalyan and so different.

Originally posted by: ab_srgmp

I wonder if this is not happening because a majority of the MDs are INCAPABLE of churning out such tunes? Other than ID and ARR and Shankar Mahadevan (all have a classical background if I'm not mistaken), who else (in Bollywood) has really come up with such tunes?

Do you think if HR did a classical tune, his young fans wouldn't atleast give it a chance? His fans relate to him and his music, so why not?

Looks like what you are asking for in the new age movies are songs that have an obvious classical / sem-classical feel to them, and not just songs that are based on raaga, but a layman can't make out that they are based on raagas.

I think that absence of such songs has a lot to do with the kind of movies they make today. It is tough to imagine a classical sounding song in any of Govinda / Salman Khan's (usually pointless) movies, or movies like neal and nikki, garam masala, mr ya miss, Dus etc.

I am very thankful and proud of music directors like ID and ARR, who can bring a classical feel song even into a movie as new age as Yuva, Rangeela and Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya, while some other music directors like Vishal Bharadwaj completely let go an opportunity of composing classical in Bhagmati, which is a 400 year old love story! I thought the music of that movie (songs like Jiya jaaye amma) is crazy!

Originally posted by: ummm

Looks like what you are asking for in the new age movies are songs that have an obvious classical / sem-classical feel to them, and not just songs that are based on raaga, but a layman can't make out that they are based on raagas.

I think that absence of such songs has a lot to do with the kind of movies they make today. It is tough to imagine a classical sounding song in any of Govinda / Salman Khan's (usually pointless) movies, or movies like neal and nikki, garam masala, mr ya miss, Dus etc.

I am very thankful and proud of music directors like ID and ARR, who can bring a classical feel song even into a movie as new age as Yuva, Rangeela and Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya, while some other music directors like Vishal Bharadwaj completely let go an opportunity of composing classical in Bhagmati, which is a 400 year old love story! I thought the music of that movie (songs like Jiya jaaye amma) is crazy!

couldn't have agreed more

Originally posted by: ummm

Looks like what you are asking for in the new age movies are songs that have an obvious classical / sem-classical feel to them, and not just songs that are based on raaga, but a layman can't make out that they are based on raagas.

I think that absence of such songs has a lot to do with the kind of movies they make today. It is tough to imagine a classical sounding song in any of Govinda / Salman Khan's (usually pointless) movies, or movies like neal and nikki, garam masala, mr ya miss, Dus etc.

I am very thankful and proud of music directors like ID and ARR, who can bring a classical feel song even into a movie as new age as Yuva, Rangeela and Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya, while some other music directors like Vishal Bharadwaj completely let go an opportunity of composing classical in Bhagmati, which is a 400 year old love story! I thought the music of that movie (songs like Jiya jaaye amma) is crazy!

👏👏👏

Well said.

Originally posted by: punjini

I wish I could hear a well-made classical composition on the lines of "manamohana badey jhootey" from Seema in a contemporary film. It's very important for the entire composition to sound good and I also don't like too many instruments drowning the singer's voice as in AR Rahman songs (my opinion only..sorry if I offend ARR fans).

I think ARR successfully broke the pattern that Hindi music (not sure about the rest of music in India, so talking only about HIndi here) has had for years, which is a starting instrumental dhun, followed by mukhda, then again dhun that would separate mukhda from stanza and similar or different dhuns (mostly similar) separating the different stanzas. An instrument or two (other than percussions) would play along with the singer, but mostly fill gaps in the mukhda and stanzas.

ARR came out with completely unpredictable music.. he can have lots of instruments paying along with singer, little or no break between stanzas, and manytimes no separation of mukhda from stanzas. He is incredible with the variation that he can bring in a song - "Saathiya" for example. I just love the song, the singer's part and the instrumental piece.

Many of the older songs (no offence meant for any of the old time music directors) have superb composition for the sung pieces, but the instrumental piece is not equally impressive or catchy.

Thanks, Magical-touch and ab_srgmp!

I think even in the older days there were 'masala' movies, but there were more quality/tasteful movies.

Even if it was a basic love story (I think the love triangles really caught on in the 90s), there was room for a good classical song. I recently watched a movie about a Multiple personality Pyscho, and even in there, there was a semi-classical tune!! So I don't completely buy the argument that there is no scope for such music.

How was 'Albela Sajan' picturized in HDDCS? I can't remember.

Even Jiya Jale (from Dil Se), was done in a very cotemporary setting.


(on a side note: Sangamam is also a good example of ARRs classical work (Tamil)).

Yep! Both the examples you brought out are ID / ARR songs! 👏 👏

Originally posted by: ummm

I think ARR successfully broke the pattern that Hindi music (not sure about the rest of music in India, so talking only about HIndi here) has had for years, which is a starting instrumental dhun, followed by mukhda, then again dhun that would separate mukhda from stanza and similar or different dhuns (mostly similar) separating the different stanzas. An instrument or two (other than percussions) would play along with the singer, but mostly fill gaps in the mukhda and stanzas.

ARR came out with completely unpredictable music.. he can have lots of instruments paying along with singer, little or no break between stanzas, and manytimes no separation of mukhda from stanzas. He is incredible with the variation that he can bring in a song - "Saathiya" for example. I just love the song, the singer's part and the instrumental piece.

Many of the older songs (no offence meant for any of the old time music directors) have superb composition for the sung pieces, but the instrumental piece is not equally impressive or catchy.

I agree that ARR has made a contribution to modern Hindi film music. I like a number of his songs. He did bring something new. But quite soon, he became repetitive.

If you ask me to compare him with earlier music directors like Salil Choudhury, I am afraid he loses out in terms of composition and melody. Instruments cannot take precedence over human voices in Hindi songs.

There is too much of technical wizardry in ARR songs, very little of simplicity and purity that we found in the songs of yester-years.

I don't subscribe to the idea of change just for the sake of change, variation just for the sake of variation.