Reel life different from real life?

With Bollywood films being made on music, BT speaks to musicians and their take on films about the music scene.
Bollywood has ventured into all the aspects of human life – personal and professional and they are slowly starting to portray life of a musician in India. Actors these days are trying very hard to get into the skin of the character. Be it Ranbir Kapoor who took guitar classes for months for his latest film Rockstar or Arjun Rampal for Rock On.
“There is a new sense of portrayal -- to learn the instruments they are playing,” says Luke Kenny, musician who was also a part of Rock On. “The authenticity of a job well done, shows when the actor has learned something. Actors know that they cannot fake it anymore,” adds Luke.
Although, there are some technical problems with the way a guitar is held or a riff is played. Folk musician Raghu Dixit, who has also composed music for Mujhse Fraandship Karoge feels that in Bollywood, there has to be more thought put into which instruments are used and when. “There is a lot of liberty taken, when the actor is playing a bass guitar but the background sound is of a lead guitar,” says Raghu. “Or when the actor is playing the solo, the hands are placed on a different note. To get the right posture and to learn the basics takes not more than six months,” he adds.
Musical aspect
Do we expect more than the usual Bollywood songs in films like these?
Bruce Lee Mani, the front man of Thermal And A Quarter, who has been in the music industry for more than a decade calls the music in Rock On as “beer commercial blues”. “The tones are like the blues, it sounds like the blues, but it is the furthest thing from the blues,” he says laughing. “The target audience will enjoy such music,” he adds.
“If there is a metal band portrayed in the film then it has to be different from Sufi Rock and it is also part of the film making process,” says Luke.
A few musicians feel that the music industry could be portrayed in a better way. Nikhil Narendra from Bangalore-based psychedelic outfit The Bicycle Days, feels that “Nothing can change when it comes to commercial films because there are a lot of prerequisites.” Bollywood movies are subjective to every individual, you either like it or you don’t. “Even if it is inaccurate and there is misrepresentation of musicians, film makers have their agenda,” says Bruce Lee Mani, who has been in the music industry for more than a decade. “They have no reason to cheapen the movies the way they do,” he adds.
Getting everything right about a musicians life in a three hour film might get a little difficult. But when it comes to Bollywood, and the life of a musician, “hard work is needed,” says Raghu. Let’s hope that Bollywood portraying musicians have a better tomorrow.