Music experts decode journey of Hindi film songs’ evolution

Nagpur: How did Hindi film songs evolve from the beginning until present? A session hosted by ex-dean of FTII Samar Nakhate and music expert Sushrut Vaidya aimed to decode this journey at Kavi Kulguru Kalidas Auditorium of Persistent Systems Ltd, IT Park on Sunday. Titled 'Music and Indian Cinema', the workshop organized by Orange City Cultural Foundation focused on ethnomusicology — the study of music in its cultural context.
"Songs are not only a vital part of Indian cinema, they're also embedded in our conscience. We play songs to celebrate different occasions in our life. Even if we are sad, we think of sad songs," quipped Nakhate.

He added, "Despite such deep relation with music, songs are not seen as a serious art form."

The session attempted to trace the evolution of Hindi film songs from 1931 to present, and was divided into parts.

Part one discussed how earlier songs were made for the people and by the people. Vaidya made people listen to one of the earliest song 'Dilli tere qille par' from the movie 1857, which was instrumental in portraying India as a common heritage shared by both Hindu and Muslim communities.

"Sufi mystics, Akbar also made efforts to make people realize the commonality of their culture. However, cinema was the first serious art form created together by ordinary people from both communities," Vaidya said. He then followed it up with the process of Indianization of foreign songs.

"In Indian cinema, songs begin where words end. It is understood by the audience that songs are used to convey emotions, or rasa bhaav," he said, adding that it was opposed to Stanislavski's system of method acting. Vaidya then explained the structure of a song, enumerating its four parts — form, melody, rhythm and orchestration. The first recorded piece of music, belonging to 1902 and sung by Gauhar Jaan, was then played to the audience.

Part two of the lecture focused on studio era, from 1931 to 1939 where studios were seen as structures for creating structural products. Discussing giants in Indian music such as Rai Chand Boral Bhishma, Pankaj Mullick and Timir Baran, Nakhate and Vaidya played music clips of various landmark movies of the era.

Part three had the speakers talk about the giants who created Indian music, such as Naushad and C Ramachandra. Lastly, post-independence phase was discussed. The audience was given examples through audio clips of various movies. Film director Dr Jabbar Patel was present.