Last year at the 58th National Awards, when Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Adam won Isaac Thomas Kottukappilly an award for the best background score, it was significant for two reasons. Firstly, the National Awards don?t have a dedicated category to honour composers for background scores and secondly, it makes Kottukappilly the third musician to ever have won an award in the category after Johnson (1995) and Ilaiyaraaja (2010).
While this may be indicative of the fact that Indian film industry underplays the importance of background scores, it also gives hope that this would soon change. Among the films that released last year, the success of Delhi Belly can be attributed as much to its tight screenplay and editing as to its background score. Ram Sampath?s use of the pacey song Bhaag DK Bose every time the lead actors were chased by trouble made the chase sequences impactful. ?A composer can work on the music only once the film is ready. Due to the erratic shoot schedules, we mostly get to work on the music only a week before the release. But the makers of Delhi Belly gave me both the time and space to deliver my best,? points out Sampath, who feels that if the director and composer share the same vision, a movie is enriched. The film, not surprisingly, finds a nomination in the Best Background Score category in the 18th Annual Colors Screen Awards.
In its endeavour to recognise and honour talent from across various departments of filmmaking, Screen Awards have always had a separate category for background score. This year, among those competing with Sampath for the award are Amit Trivedi (No One Killed Jessica), Vishal-Shekhar (RA.One), Ranjit Barot (Shaitan), Roshan Machado (Shor In The City) and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara). Last year, the award was bagged by Wayne Sharpe for Raajneeti.
A look at the nominations reveals that films in the action and thriller genres lend to good background score ? of the aforementioned, all barring ZNMD fall under the category. ?The score for a thriller sets the pace and preempts action,? says Shekhar Ravjiani of Vishal-Shekhar. The duo, which mostly composes songs, made an exception with RA.One because they were allowed to experiment in a market where the sounds in a film are mostly staid.
However, Sandeep Shirodkar, the man behind the score of Dabangg ? the biggest hit in recent times ? feels that the scenario wasn?t always so. ?We do have some remarkable work from ?70s and ?80s, like Sholay and Don. Ram Gopal Varma?s Satya and the Govinda Govinda; chant of Sarkar are equally memorable,? he says. But Shirodkar also concedes that starting late ?80s, the same set of tunes was being used for a corresponding set of emotions in every film until a few years ago. Considered among the top arrangers in Bollywood, he who prefers to work on background music over songs unlike many of his contemporaries who have turned to music composers.
Machado and Barot?s nominations also point to the rising trend of indie musicians taking to background score. American-Indian Karsh Kale collaborated with Delhi-based Midival Punditz to score background music for Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) and Dum Maaro Dum (2011). Imaad Shah of The Pulp Society composed the soundtrack for 404 Error Not Found this year. Barot, considered among the best drummers in India currently, too has composed earlier for Aks, Tashan and Sankat City. His music for Shaitan ? heavy on instrumentals ? kept the pace of the film.
However, scores which stand out also initiate the debate whether background music should be so powerful as to remain with the viewer when he leaves the theatre. Case in point is filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan who is known for use of minimalistic music in his films. Shankar Mahadevan of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy ? who composed the subtle, dreamy score for ZNMD ? feels that ?the background score should also not take away from the visuals?. But Sampath points out that the Spaghetti Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly would not have been iconic without Ennio Morricone?s memorable themes.