The 'rap'ture of music

noteworthy

In the past decade, Bollywood films have become synonymous with foot-tapping party numbers and scintillating item songs. The latest party anthem on the block is ‘Kala Chashma’ from Katrina Kaif and Sidharth Malhotra starrer Baar Baar Dekho.

The song originally came out in 2000, and was composed and sung by Prem Hardeep and Amar Arshi respectively. While the old ‘Kala Chashma’ was a Punjabi composition, the modern version has catchy rap, tuned vocals and disco beats.

If you can’t stop humming the rap section from the song, blame music producer and singer Indeep Bakshi for it. Indeep reveals the real story behind the song, “I had initially composed the rap section for Sunny Leone’s new movie Tina And Lolo. But after a few days, it came out in ‘Kala Chashma’, and they didn’t even credit me for it! After some talks with the music company, everything was set right within 15 minutes. And the rest is history.” Sung by rapper Badshah, singers Neha Kakkar and Amar Arshi, ‘Kala Chashma’ is becoming the most happening wedding song of the year. Within 24 hours of its release, the song had gotten more than 4.3 million views on Youtube.

For someone whose career kick-started with the hit track of ‘Saturday Saturday’, Indeep must have surely figured out the secret to success by now. “There is no secret to success. You never know what might work and what won’t. Take ‘Saturday Saturday’ for instance. I used to tease my friend with the lyrics in the song. But look at what it went on to do. There’s no telling what will happen next. But one thing remains constant: the quality of your music. If your song is good, it will be loved,” explains Indeep.

Judging by the recent films, Bollywood seems to be obsessed with Punjabi hits. Right from ‘Mundeya Tu Bach ke Rahi’ to ‘High Heels’ and ‘Angreji Beat’, Punjabi singles seem to be the flavour of the day. According to Indeep, this is because Punjabi hits are high on energy and easy to relate to. “Films don’t have Punjabi songs, they have ‘funjabi’ songs instead. While the original essence remains the same, some new rap portions and fresh vocals are added to make the number appealing to the current crowd. Also, most of these songs don’t give filmmakers any copyright troubles.”

Does brand matter when it comes to music? Indeep says, “In case of Bollywood, brand matters because independent artistes cannot afford to spend so much money on the promotion of their songs. Bollywood has a wider reach. The key lies in promotion today.”

For the uninitiated, rap might just seem like a few rhyming lyrics put together with funky beats, and blended till a song comes out. But Indeep says there’s much more to it. “There’s no formula for rap. To pen a rap song, we have to create a virtual situation and get into it ourselves and then start writing. Sometimes, it takes five minutes, and there are times when even a month isn’t enough.”

Indeep’s time is either spent in his gym or at his studio and he says his mind is consciously thinking about music, which can be extremely annoying at times. Influenced by international music from the R&B genre, Indeep feels we have evolved as listeners. “Just look at the kind of music we used to listen to in the 1990s and the music we listen to now. They are worlds apart,” he exclaims.