'Pathaan' songs worked; your remixes will backfire

Music makes or mars a film Filmmakers all over have lived by this belief and rightly so In the old days music mostly meant melody Depending on the theme and situation there would be a club song a marriage song a bhajan a picnic song a sad song a patriotic song and so on Bhajans are extinct now and patriotic songs have only recently resurfaced thanks to the nationalistic fervour in the airAlso ReadKesaris Ve maahi song crosses 200 million viewsFilm music the melody the situational songs from the bhajan to the cabaret bid their adieu with the start of the new century What was the last memorable bhajan you heard Cant recall What was the last patriotic song you heard Probably just one Teri mitti from the film Kesari And melody in general There is nothing such as melody in film music anymore SadMusic makers as well as filmmakers seemed to lose that sense of creativity as the new century dawned They probably thought that songs in the films were meant to be just fillers in compliance with the old traditions of filmmaking The songs were assumed to just help promote a film not the films narrationSong promotion slots were created first on All India Radio From 8 to 830 am the time was marked for promoting film songs At a price of course Rs 3000 for a threeminute playtime That certainly helped promote the music of new filmsEventually promoting songs through the video medium had become the norm and some TV channels designed slots only to air the songs of forthcoming films It was ironic that these songs provided the eyeballs and TRPs to channels and still producers had to pay themAlso ReadPathaan Trailer Shah Rukh Khan Deepika Padukonestarrer is high on style and actionThankfully now the songs are uploaded on portals such as YouTube for free mostly by music companies and they get paid according to the number of viewsFilmmakers started shooting songs that would be appreciated on these sponsored song slots which they believed made a film popular and bring in the initial audienceOne film stood out and was quite peculiar Ramgopal Verma made a songless film Bhoot After the film was complete he thought he needed to shoot a song to promote the film on television So he went ahead and shot not one but six songs burdening the budget senselessly So much for creative geniusThe best of directors fail to use imagination Bhoot designed to be a songless film could have been promoted in other ways BR Chopra made two songless films under his banner Kanoon 1960 and Ittefaq 1969 in an era when music played a vital part in popularising films Both were not only big hits but are now rated as cult filmsIn those days popular music helped a film get attention and music records were released well in advance A film may have the best musical score but if the music wasnt given enough time to grow it affected the films prospectsKarz was one film I remember which had outstanding music but the tracks release was delayed leaving no time between the films release The film did not get the deserved response initially but its music remains popularThe one thing proved what film music meant and that was the popular radio programme aired on Radio Ceylon every Wednesday between 8 and 9 pm It was compered by the inimitable Amin Sayani Indias own All India Radio AIR did not have a commercial service then When this programme was broadcast people were glued to their radio sets They speculated about the song that would make it to the number one position that weekThat was the power of film music and melody Radio sets blared out film songs at high decibel levels all over from the neighbours house to the paanbeedi shop or chaiwala tapri Many rickshaws had music systems installed and there were people who preferred to hire only these rickshaws which did not care about sound pollution till the cops came down hard on themNow nobody plays music the way it was played Of course there was a phase when sons of the nouveau riche loved loud music blaring out in their fast cars But then came a device like Walkman and playing music became personal That is how it has been ever since Now it is smartphonesBut the channels of listening to music were changing fast The compact cassettes had put veneer records out of use Then the digital era followed music moved to CDs and soon online Music companies do not print discs now not even a symbolic fewRevenues are generated from ringtones which were a big source earlier and now from online portals such as YouTube and others And considering the millions of hits each song gets one can assume that music companies are minting more revenue than ever before the quality of music notwithstandingThat leads me to the music of the recently released film Pathaan visavis a couple of the forthcoming films The Pathaan songs Besharam rang and Jhume jo Pathaan could not have become even moderately popular if released only as audio tracks The songs with their visuals did wondersThey created a certain amount of controversy as well as a buzz which it helped the film get a big publicity boost and assured it a certain number of opening day footfalls With other factors at work the film went on to claim various box office records So now a films music counts more on choreography than the melodyWhat the Pathaan songs on YouTube also did was get a couple of other filmmakers whose films were to follow to engage in some course correction One film Shehzada delayed its release by a week to rework its music The other film Selfiee has also released its song on YouTubeThe makers of both films released songs that had nothing original about them The Shehzada song which was expected to help the films promotion is nothing but a remixed version of the song Character dheela from the Salman Khan film Ready It has not helped the film in any way looking at the opening response to itAnd Akshay Kumars Selfiee came up with another remix Main khiladi tu anari from his 1994 film of the same nameOld wine in new bottle It does not sellZeemultiplex deadlock Zee was schedule to release its new Punjabi film Gol Gappe on Friday February 17 But the multiplex management from the Punjab circuit posed a lastminute hurdle just two days before the films release It was not a hurdle really but a concern that the cinemas had The exhibitors in Punjab had cause to worry because if the producers did not get the expected response from the cinemas initially they would go on to release the film on the OTT platform within a couple of weeksThe exhibitors contend that knowing that the film would be available soon on OTT audiences dont turn up at the cinemas at all What the exhibitors in Punjab want is an undertaking from Zee that they would not release the film on OTT for at least eight weeks from its theatrical release so as to give the cinemas enough time to enjoy an open run Looks like a fair demand After all films are primarily made to be screened in cinema theatresUnfortunately no compromise was reached The film has been released everywhere except in the three national multiplex chains PVR Inox and Cinepolis all three refused to release the film