Medley of musicians

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Music has always been Bollywood’s lifeline. As Bollywood songs top our playlists it seems the film directors want to make film albums all the more vibrant and exciting by roping in more than one music director. David, The Attacks of 26/11, and I, Me, Aur Main are some of the recent films that had more than one music director adding to the films’ music albums.

“Working with one music direction is absolutely fine if the story requires it. But I believe bringing in different music directors gets a variety of songs. It helps in exploring new talent and an interesting soundtrack always helps the film as well. The trend is gaining popularity in the industry as many film directors are exploring the idea,” says filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar, who roped in four music directors for his film Shaitan.
It seems music composers too have not much to complain about. Music composer Arko Pravo Mukherjee is presently working with different music directors for his upcoming Yaariyan and Hate Story 2. “This is a very popular trend in the West. Each Hollywood album has more than 10 artistes contributing songs. I have so far enjoyed working with other music composers,” he says.
Shootout At Wadala and Rise of the Zombie are some films with more than one music director and artiste contributing to their music albums. However, music composer Ismail Darbar highlights his concern about this growing trend. He says, “This shows director’s lack of trust in a music composer. A music director needs to feel a connection with the film. If you are just contributing a song, neither can you feel the connection nor will you get the full credit for your efforts. And this can be very disappointing for any artiste. After all, no one makes a film with 10 heroes.”
However, Arko doesn’t quite agree to this and adds, “I find this a very interesting idea since it gives upcoming musicians opportunities and a chance to learn from others as well. These days many films try to fit in an item number, a sufi song, romantic song and even a Punjabi number as well. Having more than one music director with an expertise in each genre helps to come up with an exciting music album full of variety.”