Although composers, singers and music lovers concede that old Oriya film songs had great appeal, they refuse to accept that the quality of film music has deteriorated over the years. Some of the tracks music directors working in the regional film industries have composed in the recent past have garnered widespread attention and acclaim
‘Smruti eka rupa janha’, ‘Chumki seta panire budiba naiti’, ‘Mu je eka pagala bhanra’ and many more old Oriya songs are undoubtedly some of the numbers that are the most memorable and still hummed by music lovers. A majority of music lovers in the state said they loved the old Oriya film songs. However, many of them were clueless when asked which recent Oriya movie has made an impression on film buffs. They were of the view that the quality of Oriya film songs has fallen drastically over the years and rightly opined that earlier the scope for listening to music produced in other parts of the world was far limited compared to the present. Sunday POST chatted with music directors and singers, both old and new, on the changing dynamics of film music.
Old is gold
Md Mushir is the music director of all-time hit Oriya film song, ‘Hrudayara ei sunyataku’ from the film ‘Samar Salim Saiman’. Besides, he has composed songs for films including ‘Aparichita’, ‘Saharibagha’, ‘Bada Bhauja’, ‘Ei Akhi Aama Sakhi’, ‘Sanskara’, ‘Basanti Apa’, ‘Hisab Kariba Kalia’ and ‘Maa Mate Shakti De’. Asked about how he views the genre of Oriya film music, he said: “Directors and producers are responsible for this. Earlier, composers had abundant time. These days, composers need to tailor the songs as per instructions of the director and producer. And in many cases the instruction is to follow a certain song of a different language. Thus, although composers today have the same level of talent like those in the past, their compositions are restricted by nature.”
So is it because there was no time constraint in old Oriya films that the music produced was of superior quality? “Earlier, we were asked to deduce inspiration from other songs. But we used to produce songs that were so appealing that directors had no reason to refuse to use them. Compositions like ‘Sathire Mu Je Janena Kaha Bata’, ‘Emiti Rati Se Je Abhula Smruti’ or ‘Smruti Eka Rupa Janha’ are great. If a director gets such songs why would he ask for a copy-paste one instead?” asks the composer.
What is the secret behind the increasing popularity of Hindi film music over Oriya film music? According to the music director, “Today, most people in the Oriya film industry don’t know much about music. But audience is the best judge. They wisely differentiate between good and bad. Like many people do not know about Sufi music but it is trending in the Hindi film industry.”
“Earlier, the directors were experienced and experimented with the script. These days, anyone can become a film director even without the desired qualifications. Even a choreographer or a make-up artiste can become a director. In my case, though I had the talent, I never attempted to direct a film. I am a successful music director and that is enough for me,” Mushir added.
Differentiating between film music and other genres of music, the music director explained: “Film music is a different field altogether. It is completely different from other genres of music. Today, musicians in the film industry come from pala, daskathia or nataka (drama) backgrounds. How can they compose good songs for a film?”
Pining for perfection
Asked about the quality of current Oriya film music, renowned singer Subas Dash said: “Earlier, we interacted for around a month with the director, producer, music director and some friends of the producer and all the singers used to be present during the recordings. Every day this ‘sitting’ took place and songs were allotted to the singers according to the quality of their voice. Once a line was composed, the singer used to sing it after which all present used to check whether it needed alteration. In this way the song slowly attained perfection. The other point is that since the song was given enough time to come out in its final shape, and the flaws were taken care of at each point, the final product was excellent. But now the music director gets the composition recorded in tracks. Later, the singer is called to lend his voice. He learns the song on the spot and sings it extempore. Therefore, the song lacks feel and tune. Yesteryear singers like Balakrushna Das, Pranab Patnaik, Sikandar Alam had great mastery. Even though the singers had no formal training, they had great musical capability. But these days trained people are very few.”
Himanshu Guru
