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Music mantra
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Ismail Darbar tells Anuj Kumar about changing trends in the music industry
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Photo: Shanker Chakravarty
After a break Ismail Darbar
Work or no work, Ismail Darbar continues to speak his heart out. “Had I got the platform that the youngsters are getting through reality shows, I would have arrived in life early,” says Ismail, who spent some two decades playing violin fo
r different music composers before getting an opportunity with Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. He agrees that there is a hierarchy in music industry as well. “When I used to point out something, the composers used to say he doesn’t know what it means to be a music composer but I had to wait as there was no opportunity.” However, Ismail doesn’t want to romanticise his struggle. “I have seen bad times, but it doesn’t mean those who haven’t are not talented or struggled. Both Aamir and Hrithik come from film families but both have worked hard to reach where they are.”
Ismail was in Delhi recently as the chief guest at the annual presentation of Birju Maharaj Parampara. “Seeing these children perform, I felt the country’s cultural future is in safe hands.” On the near absence of the giants of classical music and dance from the popular entertainment, Ismail says for them to come you need people like Sanjay (Leela Bhansali) and me, who understand both the worlds. “Maharaji was there in Devdas.” For those who don’t know Birju Maharaj choreographed “Kahe Ched Mujhe” in Devdas.
Time consuming
Ismail says all kind of music is working in the industry at this moment. “On one hand audiences have liked Jodhaa Akbar and Saawariya and on the other they are appreciating Welcome. Composing music is like running a showroom. Here producers and directors are like consumers. They come and shop the kind of music they like not what the composer wants to sell. If they demand packaged music lifted from different sources so be it. For people like me find the situation difficult because we believe in originality which takes time.”
Taking a dig at fellow composers who have come from advertising background, Ismail says, “They have the experience of quickly composing jingles where they used to get Rs.50,000 for a jingle. Suddenly they are being paid in lakhs for a song, so they get tempted to lift tunes.”
He has also been criticised for lifting “Nimbuda Nimbuda” from a folk song. “Good somebody raised this point. First ‘Nimbuda Nimbuda’ is a 150-year-old folk song from Rajasthan which got a global appeal because of the film. Today the folk singers in Rajasthan sing it with a different pride. Then we didn’t copy the song. I composed the antara, the way I wanted to. What is happening these days is note-to-note copy.”
Ismail was on a long break after Kisna. Now he is returning with Saeed Mirza’s Sawdhan Meri Jaan. “He is returning after 12 years, so there is a lot of pride at stake. The film is about life in Mumbai, I am composing the music accordingly.” Fulfilling his promise, Ismail has given Amanat Ali, the talent singer from Pakistan who did well in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge, a chance to do playback in the film. “People have got bored of Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam. Roz Roz biryani achchi nahin lagti.” As usual Ismail’s examples come from daily life.
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
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Kochi
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Visakhapatnam
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