Dev D - Sprung Rhythm…!

“It’s the poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech”

Anything but the usual… We all look for something different… Be it work, play or any form of art. I’ve convinced myself that some of my poems that I’ve posted in my poem blog are of sprung rhythm, but how far it appeals to the readers is the question. Talking about art form, how bout sprung rhythm in Indian film music? Some form of music which is different from the usual rhythm. We all fail to realise that the true form of music is the rhythm of natural speech… Thanks to the efforts of our “middle aged hindi film” music directors who were consistent with their rhythm, every song sounded the same. Harmony, chorus and background score of every movie was almost the same. We still seem to enjoy that kind of music. Where was change? Who created the difference? As far as tamil film music is concerned, we see a clear demarcation and uniqueness in their form of music.

1) M.S. Viswanathan – the creator
2) Ilayaraja – the maestro
3) ARR – the revolutionist

However, I haven’t found such individuality in the hindi film industry. What we see in the hindi film music are two slow numbers, one jatka and two remixes of the slow and jatka numbers, which makes one film music album. Nothing actually remains in our rusty minds for a considerable time (of course, the video does!!).

After being terribly perturbed about the “DISTORTED ARRANGEMENT” of the hindi film music, there’s some consolation finally. This time, the kind of music that “DEFINES” sprung rhythm. Thanks AMIT TRIVEDI. Yes.. DEV D is the film. With 18 tracks, every song is absolutely unique. After having watched the film, I realised that not a single song was “singled out”. Not like the usual dream song that would certainly follow after the romantic hug. All the songs blended well with the screenplay. I love to elaborate the excellence of every song in detail, but lets focus on a few:

1) Emotional Attyachar (Brass band version) – The whole country has been humming the verses of the Punjab’s Presley’s… With appropriate stress on words like “Dhuaaaa” and “Tragedeeey”, this is the painfully happy song of love break up. Truly band bajaying…!

2) Emotional Attyachar (Rock version) – portrays pain and distress. Bonny Chakravarthy sings aloud with immense energy. The way the lead guitar starts is amazing.

3) Duniya – Amit Trivedi proves his singing talent as well. Open voice as that of the creator (yes he is!!). Confidence with “Jhee-jhee-jhee” is exciting.

4) Nayan Tarse – Amazing start, with sound of amplifiers and distortion getting plugged, I try to strum the tune on my guitar but a 30 second stretch of the fast beat drum pattern takes me on a rollercoaster ride. Can’t stay on with the acoustic and transform to the flavour of rock. Immense concentration and hard work by Amit.

5) Saali Kushi – The best one of the entire album with “Ayaho… Ayaho” which creates goose bumps. Agony presented well. Best song to listen to when one is terribly depressed.

6) Paayaliya – Very unique and “My god” between the beats are just unthinkable. Shruthi Pathak has been used well. Classical touch in non-contemporary style would be very difficult to imitate.

“Dol yara dol” and “Ek hal chal si” also amazes me. I’m pretty sure, no orchestra or college band could ever dream of performing these numbers. Performing with the MIDI files would certainly spoil the originality of the song. I’ve been tripping on these songs from the time the music was out and I would certainly continue listening to it.

To sum it all.. Amit Trivedi is going to be the “Band Bajaying Baap of Bollywood”.