Recognizing The Unsung Heroes Of Hindi Film Music

Recognizing The Unsung Heroes Of Hindi Film Music

It's important to recognize unsung heroes of film making, as no film can be successful without the support of technicians, working behind the camera. One has to acknowledge the unseen effort and hard work that goes behind the screens. None of the films made would be half as successful without the technical teams burning the midnight oil. The team, which includes writers, editors, sound/light engineers, lyricists, musicians and a host of others are behind making a movie, and are/were the backbone of the Indian Film Industry.

“Songs” have always been the mainstay of Hindi cinema or what is popularly known as Bollywood. Even today, when technology and its attendant vice, cacophony, have virtually taken over, music albums of commercial Hindi films continue to sell very well not only at home but abroad where there are large emigre populations from the Indian subcontinent. Singers, lyricists and composers – they are actually known as music directors – continue to be loved and acknowledged by an adoring public, but the people behind the scenes who have made a particular song a huge hit remain unknown. They include various musicians who form the orchestra and arrangers who write down the notations both in the Western and Indian styles, direct the musicians and conduct the orchestra during the recording of the songs.

My friend, an anthropologist by qualification and profession, Dr. Gregory D. Booth from Auckland, New Zealand, who is also an author, has made a splendid effort to bring to the forefront the real, unsung heroes behind the creation of Hindi film songs. He has, through painstaking research, located and talked to old and new musicians, arrangers, sound recordists and other personnel connected with the making and recording of songs. Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios is Booth’s heartfelt and deeply perceptive tribute to the people without whom the recording of film songs in Mumbai would not have been possible. His book records a large chunk of oral history of an art form that the Hindi film song was, and occasionally is even today despite the trying circumstances in which it is made.

I will talk about some of these unsung heroes in a series, in the days to come on my blog.

If you are interested in Hindi Film Music, my suggestion is that you buy and read this thoroughly enjoyable book Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios by Dr. Gregory D. Booth. This book is available at http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Curtain-Making-Mumbais-Studios/dp/0195327640, http://www.flipkart.com/behind-curtain-making-music-mumbai-s-film-studios/p/itmczyt3pz9qgzu6, etc.