Directors pick songs fast food style

Chennai: Music composer Leon James is popular on the ‘fast food menu’ on the buffet that music company DooPaaDoo offers. James, who shot to fame after his track "Vaayaa En Veera" went viral on YouTube, and then got picked up by director Raghava Lawrence for his film ‘Kachana 2’, is now busy churning out more singles that can be picked up by filmmakers, ready to be inserted into movies.Of course, he does ‘made to order’ sound tracks as well.
James is one of the 150 independent composers and 45 lyricists who have signed up with DooPaaDoo, spear-headed by Madhan Karky, who is determined to change the way music is made for Tamil films. He says it makes the process faster, fresher and more affordable.
When film directors approach Karky, also a lyricist, for a tune for their upcoming films, he has two questions for them: Fast food or made to order? Directors can then choose from the DooPaaDoo database, which has more than 1,200 readymade songs for almost every situation. "All the director has to do is pick and pay for the song. It’s a finished product, so they can shoot the song sequence right away," says Karky, who has popular composers such as Yuvan Shankar Raja on board.
What he is basically offering a filmmaker is a musical number, without the whole song and dance of finding a composer, saving him a hefty price that could go up to Rs4 crore and a year-long wait.
Besides being faster, and bringing to the fore new talent, a readymade song is also cost-effective, priced between Rs2.5 lakh and Rs10 lakh, depending on the popularity of the composer.
A hassle-free exercise for filmmakers, it also promotes new talent and sounds. "They played me numbers suited to the situations I specified. I picked what sounded best and this way, my choice was based on the product value and not brand name," says film director K S Adhiyaman who has chosen five songs for his upcoming film ‘Then 88’.
These song libraries are coming in handy for TV channels too. Colors Tamil bought 50 songs for the serial ‘Nagini’, which business head Anup Chandrasekharan says is also their way of promoting independent composers.
Since last year, the idea of creating an assortment of songs, with independent music at the fore, has been creeping into the market. In 2017, director Gautham Vasudev Menon launched Ondraga Originals as a platform for independent non-film music. "The plan is to create a database of songs that can be used in concerts, TV shows or films. That’s why we package the songs with music videos," says Reshma Ghatala, partner at Ondraga Originals, adding that one of their tunes has been licenced by Zee Network for a reality show.
Shahir Muneer, director of digital media firm Divo, says, "I’ve worked with more than 400 artists over the years and until recently, the maximum number of views they could expect was perhaps 20,000 if they were lucky. But Ondraga’s songs "Koova" and "Ulaviravu" have crossed the five million mark on digital platforms."
For composers like Sourav Roy, who has been working his way through the Hindi film industry for eight years, never featuring as the primary composer for any movie, the Tamil music industry now seems promising. "I composed some singles and handed them over to Madhan, and now they’ve been picked up by TV channels like Colors. It definitely offers a big break to independent composers," says Roy.
Background music the new high scorer
Chennai: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… and now down to 0. With films getting tighter, songs seem to be getting harder to squeeze into the frame. Directors say the average number of songs in a film are down to a couple, and the length cut from several stanzas to a ‘one plus chorus’ format.
A decade ago, says film director Pushkar, a producer’s first question would be, how many songs does the film have? "Today, they just want one hit song. Some don’t ask about songs at all," says Pushkar, who made the hit ‘Vikram Vedha’ in 2017. He also adds that directors have been asked by producers and theatre owners to make shorter films no longer than 120 minutes.
Giving an insight into the changing dynamics, founder of the School of Indian Film Music Divakar Subramaniam says, "Film songs are the most popular music genre in Tamil Nadu, so they’re here to stay. But for most movies today, the audio budget is only a part of the publicity budget. That is why producers go for huge audio launches, more for selling satellite rights than for showcasing the music," he adds.
So, if songs are out, what’s in? "It’s the background score," says director Chimbu Devan. "Composers now need to focus on enhancing that. If I have only two hours to tell my story, I cannot waste 30 minutes in song and dance routines," he says.