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 Tyagaraja, known for his extensive contributions toCarnatic music | ||||||
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Filmi (lit. 'of films') music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed forIndian cinema. In cinema,music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed byplayback singers and the genre represents 72% of the music sales market in India.[1]
Filmi music tends to have appeal across India, Nepal, Pakistan and overseas, especially among theIndian diaspora. Songs are often in different languages depending on the target audience, for example in Hindi or Tamil. Playback singers are usually more noted for their ability to sing rather than their charisma as performers. Filmi playback singers' level of success and appeal is tied to their involvement with film soundtracks of cinema releases with the highest box office ratings.
At the "Filmi Melody: Song and Dance in Indian Cinema" archive presentation atUCLA, filmi was praised as a generally more fitting term for the tradition than "Bombay melody", "suggesting that the exuberant music and melodrama so closely identified with the Hindi commercial cinema produced in Bombay (Mumbai) is truly pan-Indian."[2]
In the earliest years of Indian cinema, filmi music was generally Indian (classical Carnatic, Hindustani, and village folk) in inspiration; over the years, Western elements have increased significantly.[citation needed] However, film soundtracks continue to be very diverse, sometimes fusing genres or reverting to entirely classical music. Examples of this can be found throughout the history of filmi music.
R. C. Boral, Harishchandra Bali,Pankaj Mullick, Anil Biswas,Naushad Ali,Khwaja Khurshid Anwar andS. Rajeswara Rao were noteworthy music directors of the 1940s. Rao, who scored the 1948 TamilChandralekha, the first all-India hit, continued music directing in Chennai until the 1980s. The 1950s and 1960s, included music composers likeShankar Jaikishan,S. D. Burman,O. P. Nayyar,Madan Mohan,Hemant Kumar,C. Ramchandra,Roshan,Vasant Desai,Kalyanji–Anandji[3] andKhayyam in Hindi film music.K. V. Mahadevan, Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy,Laxmikant–Pyarelal,G. Devarajan,V. Dakshinamoorthy andM. S. Viswanathan were active music directors for more than 35 years from the 1950s.
As Indian cinema segued into the 1960s and 1970s, pop artists likeR. D. Burman,Bappi Lahiri and duos likeNadeem–Shravan andJatin–Lalit gave filmi a stronger western flavor with composersIlaiyaraaja andRaveendran who rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s in Tamil film music.
Major musical forces in the 1990s and 2000s have includedA. R. Rahman,Nadeem–Shravan,Pritam,Himesh Reshammiya,Harris Jayaraj,Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy,Vishal–Shekhar,Vidyasagar,Ramesh Narayan,M. Jayachandran,Yuvan Shankar Raja,Deepak Dev,Johnson,Anu Malik,Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,Salim–Sulaiman,Devi Sri Prasad etc. A. R. Rahman, who was described byTime magazine as "India's most prominent movie songwriter",[4] is widely accepted to be the most internationally recognized Indian musician.
A playback singer is a singer who pre-records songs for use in films. The singer records the song and the actors or actresseslip-sync the song in front of the cameras, a form of singing that is characteristic of the Indian subcontinent. The songs of a film, the quality of the music and its music director (composer), lyricist and singer have often determined the success of a film. Film soundtracks are sometimes released before the film itself, resulting in a disparity between the soundtrack and the songs appearing in the film.
Kundan Lal Saigal was one of the earliest playback singers in the Indian music industry.[citation needed] Notable playback singers includeKishore Kumar,Lata Mangeshkar,Asha Bhosle,Mohammed Rafi,Mukesh,Manna Dey,Hemant Kumar,Talat Mahmood,Mahendra Kapoor,S. P. Balasubrahmanyam,K. J. Yesudas,S. Janaki,P. Susheela,K. S. Chithra,MG Sreekumar,Udit Narayan,Amit Kumar,Alka Yagnik,Sujatha,Hemlata (singer),Kumar Sanu,Armaan Malik,Sonu Nigam,Shaan,KK,Shreya Ghoshal,Arijit Singh,Mohit Chauhan,Javed Ali,Neha Kakkar,Priyadarshini and many others.
In the 1950s and 1960s, lyricists likeShailendra,Hasrat Jaipuri,Sahir Ludhianvi,Raja Mehdi Ali Khan,Rajendra Krishan,Majrooh Sultanpuri,Bharat Vyas,Shakeel Badayuni,Qamar Jalalabadi,Anand Bakshi,Jan Nisar Akhtar andS. H. Bihari wrote lyrics of many classic filmi songs. Lyrics tended towards the literary and drew heavily on contemporaryUrdu andHindi poetry. The south has seen poets likeKannadasan,Vairamuthu andVaali rise to prominence, inTamil poetry and literature alongsideVayalar Ramavarma,P. Bhaskaran,O. N. V. Kurup in theMalayalam music industry.[citation needed]
Nowadays, some famous lyricists areRashmi Virag,Kunaal Vermaa,Manoj Muntashir,Rakesh Kumar,Irshad Kamil,Sayeed Quadri,Armaan Malik etc.
Binaca Geetmala,Ameen Sayani's popularHindi language radio show beforesatellite television took over in India sometime in the 1990s, gave weekly popularity ratings of Hindi film songs (akin to theBillboard Hot 100 list of songs). It ran in various incarnations from 1952 to 1993, and annual lists of the most popular songs were played at year-end. The list was compiled on the basis of record sales inIndia.[5] Currently, Hindi filmi songs are sold on tape and CD compilations, played as promos and in programs on various television channels and radio stations, with different popularity ratings claiming different songs as being on the top. In an annual exercise, a net-based effortRMIM Puraskaar lists all important Hindi film songs of the year, in addition to awarding songs for various categories.
Because popular music directors score a great many films over the course of a year, accusations of plagiarizing abound. For example, one production number inDil (1990) is based onCarl Perkins'Blue Suede Shoes, sung withHindi lyrics. Of late the Indian film industry has been gaining visibility outside India, and the legal risks of plagiarism have been gaining importance. Some producers have actually paid for the musical rights to popular Western songs, as inKal Ho Naa Ho's (2003) song, "Oh, Pretty Woman". Plagiarism has also existed within India, with several music directors in Bombay cinema lifting tunes from other "regional" industries.
There have also been accusations of plagiarism against foreigner musicians borrowing from Hindi filmi songs. For example, "Don't Phunk with My Heart" byThe Black Eyed Peas was largely based on two 1970s filmi songs: "Ye Mera Dil Yaar Ka Diwana" fromDon (1978) and "Ae Naujawan Hai Sab Kuchh Yahan" fromApradh (1972).[6] Both songs were originally composed byKalyanji Anandji and sung byAsha Bhosle.[7] Another example is "Addictive" sung byTruth Hurts, which is lifted fromLata Mangeshkar's "Thoda Resham Lagta Hai" fromJyoti (1981). This led to the copyright holders of the original song filing a lawsuit againstDJ Quik andDr. Dre, the producers of "Addictive".[8] Filmi music composed byA. R. Rahman (who would later win twoAcademy Awards for theSlumdog Millionaire soundtrack) has frequently been sampled by musicians elsewhere in the world, including theSingaporean artistKelly Poon, theUzbek artist Iroda Dilroz, the French rap groupLa Caution, the American artistCiara, and theGerman bandLöwenherz,[9] among others.
Filmi is also making exerting influence beyond the usualDesi audiences, with many Western music stores today carrying Indian music compilations. As early as 1978, thesynthpop pioneersHaruomi Hosono andRyuichi Sakamoto of theYellow Magic Orchestra produced anelectronic albumCochin Moon based on anexperimentalfusion between electronic music and Bollywood-inspired Indian music.[10] Later in 1988,Devo's hit song "Disco Dancer" was inspired by the song "I am a Disco Dancer" from the Bollywood filmDisco Dancer (1982).[11]
Baz Luhrmann showcases the song "Chamma Chamma" fromChina Gate (1998) in his 2001 movieMoulin Rouge. Another 2001 filmGhost World featuredMohammed Rafi's song "Jaan Pehechan Ho" from the 1965 filmGumnaam. The 2002 song "Addictive", sung by Truth Hurts and produced byDJ Quik andDr. Dre, was lifted fromLata Mangeshkar's "Thoda Resham Lagta Hai" fromJyoti (1981).[8]The Black Eyed Peas'Grammy Award winning 2005 song "Don't Phunk with My Heart" was inspired by two 1970s Bollywood songs: "Ye Mera Dil Yaar Ka Diwana" fromDon (1978) and "Ae Naujawan Hai Sab Kuchh Yahan" fromApradh (1972).[6] Both songs were originally composed byKalyanji Anandji, sung byAsha Bhosle, and featured the dancerHelen.[7] The songs "Mera Man Tera Pyasa" from the movieGambler (1971) performed byMohammed Rafi, "Tere Sang Pyar Main" from the movieNagin (1976) performed byLata Mangeshkar, and "Wada Na Tod" also by Lata Mangeshkar from the movieDil Tujhko Diya (1987) were featured inEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Scores fromChennai Tamil films have appeared in productions such asLord of War (2005) andThe Accidental Husband (2008).Ilaiyaraaja won the Gold Remi Award for Best Music Score jointly with film composerM. S. Viswanathan at the WorldFest-Houston Film Festival for the Tamil filmVishwa Thulasi (2005).[12]
A. R. Rahman rose to fame from theKollywood film industry to become one of the most popular international music directors and has had a musicalBombay Dreams, playing in London and New York, and scored several projects outside India. He has won two Academy awards and two Grammy awards, even numerous international awards and accolades. The song "Chaiyya Chaiyya", originally composed by A. R. Rahman forDil Se.. (1998), has also been well received around the world, making several top 10 world music lists and has even been featured in several American movies. The song was in both the opening scene and credits ofSpike Lee'sInside Man. Rahman's earliersoundtrack forRoja (1991) was included inTime's 10 Best Soundtracks of all time in 2005. He has been regarded as the only composer fromIndia to attain massive popularity and fame in the international arena.[13][14][15] Hindi filmi music has reached an even wider global audience due to the success of theSlumdog Millionaire soundtrack, also composed by Rahman. Singaporean-Indian singerPriyadarshini is regarded as the first Indian playback singer to carry out Ph.D.[16] research in film music and document 100 years of music in Tamil cinema and 90 years in Kannada cinema[16][17][18]
The first domain name ever registered related to filmi music and Indian entertainment media was indiamusic.com. The site further put filmi music on the map. Thereafter followed a flood of Indian and filmi music sites.