All types of music should exist in movies: Hariharan

Panaji: The much-loved playback singer Hariharan has said that all types of music should exist in movies.

In an ‘In-Conversation’ session on Music and Movies between the two music maestros - playback singer Padma Hariharan and percussionist Bickram Ghosh, held during the ongoing 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI), here the renowned singer said, “In India, we have music in our lives. Here, breaking into a song is no big deal. That is what India is all about. Hence, movie songs become popular here. We have some great songs which are viewed, even if the movie is not viewed.”

“When there is a marriage of cinema and music, all senses are appealed to. Cinema in India is highly influenced by theatre filled with music and dance. Navarasa has been omnipresent in dance, music and cinema,’’ he said.

Stating that film songs and background scores in the 50s were filled with Indian classical genres, he said music in contemporary films had changed and so had society.

Speaking about the later periods, Hariharan said, “Then came the 70s, when Hindi cinema was hit by a wave of ‘real cinema’ or ‘arthouse cinema’, which had very few songs. Soundscape changed dramatically in the 90s. In this period, every bit of sound became audible, giving a respite to singers. Voice clarity was there in the 60s and 70s, 80s saw a lot of orchestration and in the 90s, voice clarity totally disappeared.”

“In Naushad’s Ganga-Jamuna, he used a lot of folk music. The whole background score and a symphony of the film was based on Lalit and Marwa Ragas. It added depth to the scenes. There was a harmony in that period,” the celebrated playback singer reflected.

Hariharan said, “In Ilayaraja’s Annakali, there was an amazing harmony between Tamil folk music and Carnatic music”.

“In the 70s, South India started loving Bollywood music,” he said.

“I find that use of lip syncing in Indian cinema has come down. The modulatory note in film-songs too is reducing. A lot of scores are produced by electronic music nowadays,” Hariharan added. He also felt, “While certain songs sound beautiful while singing live, the sound after dubbing is different”.

Hariharan said, “Subtleties of music are missing in present times, which is essential for one’s psyche. Shruti aspect of a song goes missing nowadays.” (UNI)