If you think that the contemporary music in Indian cinema is quite bland and there are not many composers who are using classical music in films as in previous times. Well, probably you are not the only one and the legendary A.R. Rahman shares your opinion.
While doing a promotional interview for his upcoming film ‘Le Musk’ the Oscar winning composer has said, “Definitely, there’s a void, a depth of learning, in using South Indian or North Indian classical music, bringing them in a way that younger people can appreciate.” ‘Le Musk’ is the directorial debut of Rahman and is indeed a very special film for him as well as for fans as well. And there will indeed be some awesome music in the movie. Rahman is coming with some more anticipated films like ‘Thug Life’, ‘Chhava’, ‘Moon Walk’ and more. There are very few music directors like him who use classical music in movies anymore and it is indeed a very sad thing.
He goes on to say, “It requires a lot of mastery in creating a tune in any classical raga. Some movies from Kerala, Maharashtra still have a lot of classical music, there’s a little bit that Mr (Sanjay Leela) Bhansali does, in his own way. You can’t have people singing in Switzerland and just put classical music there.”
With new technologies coming to the music industry, and young composers doing great with popular cinema music, the space for classical is reducing day by day. Few directors would use technology for classical music as Rahman has done so many times. But filmmakers and composers should take note of Rahman’s words and reconsider the direction cinema music is going today, and try to revive the old tradition for aesthetic’s sake.