'Pritam, Shankar, suddenly became active in a corporate Bollywood'

If you've been grooving to the gyrations of Jalebi Bai, you have Anand Raj Anand to thank. The music composer, is back after a five-year hiatus, with Double Dhamaal. He tells us why the arrival of 'jingle' making musicians forced him to lie low

Double Dhamaal is being seen as your comeback film. Your music in Kaante, Musafir and Welcome was successful, but of late your songs have not been popular. Double Dhamaal is my comeback, and now I will make music that has my old magic. Double Dhamaal songs such as 'Oye Oye', 'Jalebi Bai', 'Chal kudiye' and 'Dil de do dil' are all big hits. I have come back after five years. I was rediscovering my talent and recreating myself. Also, some other music directors were doing well; and when that time comes, you have to sit quietly till you can return with a big bang.

A still from the film Double Dhamaal that released on Friday

Why the dip in your career?
The corporate culture came into the film industry; and with that came the advertising world, and a new breed of directors with whom I was not close to at that time. Also, many new music directors came in -- Pritam, Vishal-Shekhar, Salim-Sulaiman and Shankar who are all from the corporate culture and had worked on advertising jingles. They suddenly became active in Bollywood because they shared a comfort zone with the new directors. I also realised that the group of directors with whom I was working were themselves struggling; so I kept quiet and adapted to the newu00a0system. Now, I am ready. Five years is nothing; time passes. During this time, I have composed around 2,000 songs; and now there is no looking back.

How did you bag Double Dhamaal?
I had a very good connection with Indra Kumar. My songs in his film Masti were big hits. When he made Pyaare Mohan and other films with others, I was a bit upset. I stopped chasing him when I heard he was working with Pritam. Later, however, he called me. I gave him four songs and in one hour's time our film was locked.

From Kaante's 'Maahiveu00a0... mohobbatan sachiya re' to Double Dhamaal's 'Chal kudiye,' your songs often have a Punjabi inflection.
It works because it's the beat of our soil. When I did Kaante, no music director could avoid this kind of music. We have to compose music according to the body language of the character; I cannot make a rock number for Sanjay Dutt. Nowadays, everyone wants a Punjabi touch to their songs -- Aamir Khan says 'Switty tera pyaar chahida', Shah Rukh did 'Main toh hoon pagal munda tu hai meri soni kudi.'u00a0

Jalebi Bai is the item number in Double Dhamaal. Have item numbers become de rigueur in Hindi films today?
A song which attracts the maximum eyeballs is called an item number. Such songs should be called attractive numbers instead. Item is a derogatory word.

Remixes too are another trend. In Double Dhamaal you have remixed Oye Oye.
50 per cent of the battle is won in a re-mixed number, because the song is already popular. But composers shouldn't destroy the identity of the original song. I have remixed Oye Oye but I have given it a new start instead of using the old mukhda.

Do you think music directors are treated well in the industry?
Bollywood films' success work because of music. If a film doesn't have a good song then the work of an actor is wasted because people don't want to watch that film. The industry should rank music directors at a very important position.

Bollywood News Service