| Current Entertainment Stories | | |
| M BHARAT KUMAR | Fri, 24 Jul, 2009,03:32 PM | | . | How many times while watching movies in theatres have you had people walking out of the hall for a smoke or refreshments whenever a song dance routine came up?
| | . | Does this mean that songs and dances are passe? Don’t we want them in our movies anymore? Well, the diktats of the market will eventually determine what course Tamil movies will take. For starters, we just have a debate.
The past few years have seen acclaimed film personalities like Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam opining that films can stand on their own, that songs can be done away with. Even while claiming that they have been compelled to add them on for commercial reasons, they feel that the songs are, if anything, just interruptions which break the flow of the story.
This is just one view. There is another section which claims that it is the songs that make a complete entertainer. Without songs a film would look unfinished, lack-lustre, they say.
Recently, Kamal Haasan had commented that songs are nothing but brakes on the story’s course. Sources have it that his forthcoming film Unnaipol Oruvan has just a couple of theme numbers playing in the background.
‘Hollywood films manage to narrate engrossing tales in just two hours because there are no distractions in the form of songs and dances. As a scriptwriter, I personally feel that movies can be made without songs. In our country, however, it is the songs that bring audience to the theatres even when enough avenues of entertainment are available,’ says Kamal.
Not the one to shy away from experimenting, Kamal had earlier made Kuruthipunal ( directed by P C Sreeram) without a single song. Endorsing Kamal’s view Mani Ratnam, who has worked with great composers like Ilayaraja and A R Rahman, recently said, ‘they (songs) halt the progress of a film. If they are part of the screenplay, I don’t mind accommodating them. Positioning of songs has always been a problem for me.’
Mani Ratnam had initially contemplated his Ayudha Ezhuthu sans songs. But then for commercial reasons he had to shoot half-a-dozen songs (set to tunes by Rahman). Interestingly, these very songs went on to top the charts later.
Even veteran cinematographer - director Balu Mahendra has now and then been saying that films can do without songs. ‘I am bad at picturising song sequences,’ the veteran had claimed recently.
Obviously the opposition to this view comes from the makers of the songs- the music directors. For music composer Bharadwaj, songs symbolise the culture of the land. ‘Don’t compare our movies with ones that are made in Hollywood.
The culture, style of narration and taste of audience are completely different here. We grew up on music. What’s wrong if songs are included? Many a time, it is the songs which give even a drab movie its identity,’ he says.
‘It is the duty of a filmmaker to get good tunes and also picturise them in interesting ways. Once that is done you can keep the audience glued to the seats even when a song comes up. Also, audio is big business.
There is money to be made with downloads, caller tunes et al. Why do away with this gold mine? Music is part and parcel of our culture. From birth to death, there is music in everything,’ says Bharadwaj.
Echoing his view is music director D Imman. According to him, ‘the difference between a hit film and a super hit movie are its songs. If all the songs in a movie become hits, obviously the movie has a decent run at the box office. Music is an integral part of a movie.’
Moses, the owner of an audio company says, ‘in today’s world driven by technology, we are already facing troubles in the form of pirated CDs. Yet there sincere lovers of music who come to buy original CDs of Tamil
film songs. I can’t imagine a movie without songs. Don’t forget, world class musicians like M S Viswanathan, Ilayaraja, S P Balasubramaniam, P Suseela or A R Rahman are products of this very film music culture.’ |
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