| The Hare Krishna man | ||
All these years, I was happy with just a narration of the story; I never read the script. But from the time of signing Jab We Met I am asking for the script to check how much scope I will have — This is no actor getting choosy about roles after drawing flak for meaningless screen outings. Composer Pritam has learnt this the hard way after years in the trade. He has set another rule to give the nod to any project. "I am not taking small films, even if they are by big banners," says the man whose first hit was the song Sharara sharara from Yash Raj Films's Jimmy Sheirgill-Uday Chopra-starrer Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai. That was when he was part of the Jeet-Pritam duo. Since then, he has hit big time after going solo in Dhoom. "I would have been finished if Dhoom did not happen at that time," Pritam admits. The Calcutta boy says too many songs of his have been wasted in inconsequential movies. "Bolo na tum zara in Fight Club, for instance, would have been a huge hit in a romantic film. Films like Fun2sh (on travelling in time) and Agnipankh (on the air force) also did not support songs," he rues. Other missed chances include Kya Love Story Hai and Hattrick. Now the Dhoom macha le man is "desperately seeking" romantic films. Two films that he highlights are Jab We Met and Life in a...Metro. "Before these films, my showreel had no romantic music. The music of Metro may have been dark rock but its core was romantic." The problem with action or comedy, he points out, is that "all four songs have to be item numbers". But for a romantic film like Jab We Met, "against one dance track Mauja hi Mauja, I could produce variety like the romantic Yeh ishq hai or Tumse hi." The support of the storyline is vital to the success of a song. Hare Krishna Hare Ram from Bhool Bhulaiyaa may have rocked Puja immersion processions but ask the composer and he thinks the song could have been as big as Dhoom macha le had it been in the movie instead of at the end. "It has created such an impact that they have now inserted it in the film after the second week of release. The same had happened to my title song for Garam Masala," he laughs, dangling the keys of a Honda Civic that T-Series handed him on Tuesday for the magic that Hare Krishna has spelt for album sales. Pritam's Bengali antecedents sometimes come to odd use in Mumbai. "Priyan sir (director Priyadarshan) reacts so well to music that on hearing Mere dhol na sun, he suggested that we put in a couple of lines in Bengali (the film's ghost Manjulika is a Bengali). I thought of the Uttam-Suchitra duet Aami je tomar, tumi je amar (the actual words are Tumi je amar, ogo tumi je amar)." That is what Akshay Kumar mouths in disgust — Ami je tomar, chhin chhin chhin, tumi je tomar — taking the mistake in lyrics a level further. On the face-off between the two Diwali releases, Pritam votes for the music of Saawariya. "Among Bhansali's movies Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam's music was brilliant. But Saawariya is better than Devdas. Any composer would be proud of Jab se tere naina. Of course, at the end it will depend on how the movie fares. Om Shanti Om has the Shah Rukh Khan advantage." After the clutch of releases in 2007, Pritam is now looking forward to Race, an Abbas-Mastan suspense film, while working on Aziz Mirza's Kismat Connection (working title) and Anees Bazmi's Singh is Kingg. "The music market will become open now. I have stopped signing films, so has Himesh (Reshammiya). Vishal-Sekhar or Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy do not take on too many films at a time and A.R. Rahman people can't afford." So look out for the new star in the recording room. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071122/asp/entertainment/stor y_8576191.asp |
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