The return of Bollywood musicals

As many as five major filmmakers are making grand musicals where the characters won’t just sing and dance in the traditional Bollywood mould they will also break the current rule of endorsing 4-5 songs in a motion picture. Here’s looking at the five musical spectacles of 2015

Bajirao Mastani: Nine songs in all, many of them semi-classical numbers all inspired by the singing of the director’s idol Lata Mangeshkar. Sanjay Leela Bhansali who directs the historical has also composed the songs, as he had done for Guzaarish and Goliyon Ki Raaslila Ram-Leela. Some songs for Bajirao Mastani were composed ten years ago when SLB first decided to make the film. Says SLB, “It was a big challenge to compose music for a historical. The songs had to convey the mood and texture of the era and yet I needed the sound to connect with today’s generation. Not an easy task.” As always SLB will introduce new singing and writing talent through the songs.

Mirziya: 400 hours of recorded music for this one. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s tale of mythical love will feature wall-to-wall songs. Yes, you heard right. Shankar-Ehsaan Loy’s music will be used to convey the emotions between the lovers. Says Mehra, “We’ve recorded 400 hours of music. We’ve been recording since before the release of my last film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. My association with Gulzar saab who has written the lyrics and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is almost telepathic. It’s like I have a dream. And these other artistes come and become part of that dream and give new interpretations and dimensions to my dream.” The last time legendary lovers conversed in song and poetry was when poet Kaifi Azmi and music composer Madan Mohan got together for Chetan Anand’s Heer Ranjha.

Jagga Jasoos: Anurag Basu’s homage to the old-world cinema of conversational soundtracks. Remember songs like Mannu, tera kya hoga in Chalti Ka Naam Gadi and Achcha toh hum chalte hain in Aan Milo Sajna Basu wanted his lead pair Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif to celebrate their love affair by singing about everyday affairs. The musical pieces composed by Pritam are designed like a Broadway musical. Yup, there is a song for every occasion here. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo: When Sooraj Barjatya wrote the script, he also wrote the songs in them. When he narrated the screenplay to Salman Khan he also described the song situations. The film harks back to the traditional values of Barjatya’s Hum Saath Saath Hain and Vivah. The filmmaker wanted his favourite composer Ram Laxman to do the music. Salman recommended his favourite Himesh Reshammiya who has composed nine songs for this ode to the spirit of family values. Bajrangi Bhaijaan: Another full-on musical for Salman Khan, this time featuring the music of A.R. Rahman. Director Kabir Khan who has another release Phantom in 2015, says, “Phantom has no lip-sync songs. I didn’t see Saif and Katrina singing in Phantom. But I saw Salman and Kareena doing a lot of singing in Bajrangi Bhaijaan.” This is the first time that Rahman is composing music for a Salman starrer.