Music without borders

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">From </span><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Tata Young''s </span><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">toe-tapping number in Dhoom, to </span><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Shaan''s </span><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">collaboration with a Danish boy band, music is indeed crossing all boundaries, says </span><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Piali Banerjee</span><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">.</span><br /><br />Hindi film music seems all set to shed its last bit of pride and prejudice about language.It is ready to prove that our desi heroes can serenade just as eloquently in English, Hinglish or Pinglish and caper around trees just as energetically to western music.<br /><br />So, whether it''s our Sunidhi Chauhan singing <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dhoom machale </span>or the heavily accented, international voice of Tata Young crooning <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dhoom dhoom </span>come and light my fire, Indian audiences are dancing to their tunes all the same. And local young songsters like Shaan are warbling with UK chart-toppers like the boy band Blue.<br /><br />It started off rather simply. "The film <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dhoom </span>had only four songs, so we needed more numbers to fill the album," says Pritam Chakraborty, music director of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dhoom</span>. "Instead of the usual practice of getting a male version of the title song, director Aditya Chopra decided to have an international rendition in English. The experiment really paid off."<br /><br />Sometimes, the decision is more businesslike, like the blend between UK and Danish boy bands and Indian singers in Mahesh Manjrekar''s Rakht. "Shaan is the hottest young singer in the Indian music scenario today, while the boy band Blue is No 1 on the UK charts. So the target audience of both is similar and a collaboration between the two was bound to work," says Shamir Tandon, CEO, Virgin Records.<br /><br />Balaji Telefilms'' next venture <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kya Cool Hain Hum </span>is next on the bandwagon. Jay Sean''s UK chart-topper, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">One Night</span>, has been ‘fitted in'' with some Hindi and Punjabi lyrics, renamed <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dil mera </span>and re-recorded by UK pop stars Jay Sean, Rishi Rich, Jughead and Veronica, for the film.<br /><br />The enthusiasm isn''t one-sided. If Shaan and Chauhan are eager to enter the international arena, Young and Blue are as excited about penetrating the Indian market. "The Indian market doesn''t just refer to India, but to the huge diaspora across the world," says Tandon.<br /><br />Little wonder that Tata Young is keen to repeat her Indian experience and American pop star Beyonce Knowles has gone on record to say, "Indian films are so colourful. Given a chance, I''d love to do an Indian film."<br /><br />Usually, the international artistes are paid only through royalty as the collaborations are seen as promotional opportunities rather than paid assignments (you-give-us-your-talent-we-open-up-a-new-market-for-you). <br /><br />Our music directors gain from this too. Chakraborty tells the story of a friend who was humming <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dhoom machale </span>to himself in a tube train in Japan, when a local passenger turned around and said, "Why are you singing our song?" "Tata Young is a very big star in south-east Asia, so they consider the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Dhoom</span> song as ‘theirs''," he laughs. "Isn''t that a perfect example of world music?"</div> </div>