Gone are the days when party numbers and over-the-top romantic songs ruled the music charts, slowly but surely with the advent of OTT another sub-genre in music is finally getting its due credit. I’m talking about original soundtracks (OSTs) played either as opening credits of the show or during the pivotal scenes as background music.
The popularity of OSTs in India is mainly due to hit series such as ‘Sacred Games’ (Netflix), ‘Little Things’ (Netflix), ‘Made in Heaven’ (Amazon Prime), ‘Four More Shots Please’ (Amazon Prime) and ‘Laakhon Mein Ek’ (Amazon Prime) among others that brought previously unknown artists like DIVINE, Prateek Kuhad, Dub Sharma and Vibha Sharaf into the limelight.
These shows used tracks to enhance the scene’s emotional impact on viewers at key places and associated them with the protagonist’s journey making the audience feel the high and the lows of the storyline with music. It’s no secret that music has always played a major role in many films since time immemorial to not only convey the emotionality of the scene but also provide respite to viewers in between the 120-150 minute duration of the film.
Traditionally commercial Bollywood songs are lip synced by the main leads or accompanied by a choreographed dance number that serve no purpose to the film other than “entertainment value”. These item numbers and party anthems are a quick PR strategy to get audiences to watch films and just increase BO revenue.
Since OTTs have no such obligation, they are free to make short and crisp content that only uses music as a scene enhancer and not distraction. TV shows have a higher recall value due to the popularized theme songs played in episodes which can remind one of their poignant narratives.
This is not to say that Indian TV shows playing on cable didn’t use songs or tracks for this purpose but they only stuck to popular Bollywood tracks as background whereas OTTs have started a trend of OSTs that is much more unique and effective.
Internationally this trend has been seen for years with shows such as ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Friends’, ‘This Is Us’, ‘The Office’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ among others which have iconic theme songs and OSTs that created a humongous pop culture impact on the world as well as made the use of music more profound.
One thing is clear, digital content has wielded songs to be more than a superficial place holder and made music an indispensable part of the entertainment experience as a whole and in the process given visibility to upcoming talent and distinguished itself to be a comprehensive choice.
After all doesn’t music unite people from diverse backgrounds and multi-cultures to evoke deep rooted emotions and convey a distinct sentiment that aptly juxtaposes the protagonist’s journey with their own?
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