Music deciding factor

Does the music in a film decide its Box Office fate? TOI finds out...
Music enriches our daily life, weaving emotions into our thoughts, activities and memories. And when it comes to the silver screen, the audio release not only creates a buzz for the movie but is said to play a crucial role in sealing its BO fate.
On the importance of music in a film, actor Ram Charan Tej says, “A good score just changes the market equation of a film.I have always been an ardent fan of Harris Jayraj and have been following his work from movies like ‘Vasu’ and ‘Gharshana’. It has been a pleasure working with him for ‘Orange’ as he has given six melodious songs and I’m sure the songs will be instrumental in the film’s success.”
While, the sales of a music album depends on its instant connect with the listener, the sales of a filmi album is influenced by the movie and usually sees a rise if the film is a success. Umesh Gupta, chairman of an audio company says, ‘NTR Jr’s ‘Brindavanam’ had hit music and the sales increased as they completed their triple platinum disc function and now ‘Orange’ is selling like hot cakes. The success of music will ensure a good start to the film but the film’s success also contributes to the repeat listener sales. Hope our upcoming releases ‘Nagavalli’ and ‘Ragada’ too have a similar market.”
Thaman S, the new rage in T-town who had kick-started his career with blockbuster ‘Kick’ and recently scored success with ‘Brindavanam’ has a whole array of films in the pipeline with Nagarjuna’s ‘Ragada’, Raviteja’s ‘Mirapakaya’ and ‘Veera’ and Mahesh Babu’s ‘Dookudu’. He comments, “The music of any movie contributes to more than 50 per cent of the film’s success and if the story can pull it off, the movie will be a sure hit. As we already know, the big stars command huge openings irrespective of music but coupled with good music they can do wonders at the box office. But now the scenario is a little different where irrespective of the star status, if the music is unique, it adds colour to the movie and affects its openings in a positive way.”
However, contrary to this notion, movies like ‘Adhurs’ and ‘Jhummandi Naadam’ had hit music but the content of the movies put a brake to their run at the music stands. A movie like ‘Mahesh Khaleja’ was written off partly due to its music and partly due to the content the movie had to deliver. Also, ‘Komaram Puli’ and ‘Arya 2’ had an excellent run at the music stands for a long time but the films opened to mixed responses.
On the other hand films like ‘Rakta Charitra’ and ‘Sarkar’ that have no glossy songs are a rarity but “the background music does play a major role as it adds to the impact of the visual,” says filmmaker Suryadevara Vinod summing up the power of audio effects in a visual medium.
Follow us on Twitter for more stories