, the film asks. As it turns out, everything. After a summer of uneven grossers, the Hindi film industry is celebrating an unlikely hit -, a three-hour-long squeaky clean musical, populated by permanently smiling large families, a precocious pomeranian, a sliver of a story and 14 songs.The movie, which prompted sniggers in the trade pre-release, is the biggest hit in the 81-year history of Indian cinema.has grossed between Rs 6 crore and Rs 7 crore in 10 weeks and refuses to run out of steam. The tenth week collections in theatres across India are over 90 per cent.

At Bombay's Liberty theatre alone, the collections are expected to touch Rs 1 crore, when not even 10 films a year cross the Rs 1 crore mark in an entire circuit. Even at a conservative estimate, the movie is expected to make between Rs 30 crore and Rs 35 crore, with a viewership matching Sholay's. Says Film Information Editor Komal Nahta: "It's nothing short of a picnic."



'Didi tera devar deewana', (retail audio sales over Rs 11.7 crore) one of the 14 songs from the Rs 3 crore-budget Hum Aapke Hain Koun, has topped the charts on Superhit Muqabla, BPL Oye! and Philips Top 10 all summer, helping the film achieve unprecedented billings and setting the box office on fire.



So what's the magic? Songs, songs and more songs - amongst them the current hit, Didi tera devar deewana. It topped the charts on Philips Top 10, BPL Oye! and Superhit Muqabla - even before the film was released. HMV has already sold 30 lakh tapes and expects to double that figure in the near future.



Didi tera devar deewana is not the only song attracting attention. This year, tunes such as Mast mast, Jaadu teri nazar, Chura ke dil mera and Ek ladki ko dekha have set the cash registers ringing madly.

The songs - blaring from TV sets, radios and tape recorders in homes, cars, buses, restaurants and discos - have become national anthems, a throwback to the good old days of Hindi movies, now consigned to sepia-toned nostalgia.

Shammi Kapoor swivelling to Yahoo has been replaced by Saif Ali Khan doing an Ole ole. Helen's Chun chun chu is now Tabu's Ruk ruk ruk. For an industry reeling under body blows delivered by cable, satellite, bomb blasts, riots, the rearrest of Sanjay Dutt and the plague, music is the number one hero

Today, much of the action in Bollywood is centred around the Rs 300-crore Hindi music industry. The market, which boomed in 1990 withhas grown 25 per cent annually, attracting more players.

The movers and shakers of the music world are busier today than their celluloid counterparts. Anu Malik, currently the number one composer, has 35 films in hand and declares he hasn't slept since January.

Diva Alka Yagnik, with two Filmfare Awards and one National Award, is recording three songs a day, six days a week and refusing fresh recording offers. Music director A.R. Rahman, who scored the music for Roja, Gentleman and now Subhash Ghai's Shikhar, can afford to be selective about which offers to accept. Lyricist Sameer is working on 100 films at any given moment. Choreographer Saroj Khan, who gives cinematic expression to the music, is shooting every day of the month.



The signs are everywhere. Venus Records, on top of the film music industry with a market share of 18 per cent, is building its own state-of-the-art recording studio, costing over Rs 1 crore, and it will not be rented out. Reason: Venus, which releases 100-odd tapes a year, has enough in-house activity to keep it buzzing round the clock.





While music companies are not mushrooming and collapsing at the rate they were two years ago, the new names on the block - Venus, Tips, Time and Weston - have consolidated their positions. HMV and T-Series are holding steady and still others-Lara, Red Cat and Royal- are making inroads.

Cut-throat competition, with two releases a week, has shortened the shelf life of audio products. But for a hit, the sky is still the limit. The mast mast music from Mohra has already sold over 60 lakh tapes. The odds of hitting the music bull's-eye may be slim, but they are better than the 20:80 hit to flop ratio that Hindi movie producers work against.

In fact, the larger music companies can recover investments on flop film music by selling it in combination with the hits. Producers who have divined that music is a better gamble are jumping onto the bandwagon.

Salim Akhtar of Aftaab Pictures has S-Series and K.C. Bokadia has started the BMB Music Company. Zee TV is launching the Zee music company in November and producer Pahlaj Nihalani is said to be toying with the idea. So is Mohra director Rajiv Rai. He says:' 'The idea is to grow towards prosperity and prosperity is in music."



Alisha's 'Ruk ruk ruk' in Vijaypath (budget about Rs 3.5 crore), with Tabu jigging with clowns, cops and pujaris, was another chartbuster. Cassette sales have grossed about Rs 10 crore.



Songs for Everyone

There are no creative rules anymore. Anything can become a superhit. There is a variety of styles and the successes are wide ranging - from the synthesised qawwali, Mast mast, to Rahman's percussion-heavy rhythms of Roja and now, Roop suhana lagta hai from Gentleman, to the vintage R.D. Burman tunes of 1942: A Love Story. Indianised rap is also storming the charts - witness Amma dekh and Ruk ruk ruk. Last year, it was folk with Ila Arun's Choli kepeechhe kya hai that took the wind out of Baba Sehgal's sails.



Suddenly, anyone with a song to sing, from Shweta Shetty to Alisha, went on air with a video, taking a shot at fame. Many even made it. Sehgal did songs for Hindi films such as Miss 420, and Alisha for Khuddar.

Music composers have begun to mine the explosive sounds of techno and combine them with trendy reggae and hot salsa. Everyone hopes one of the eclectic compounds will click and corner a chunk of the Rs 720-crore domestic music market. According to the Indian Phonographic Industry, this figure will rise by another 180 per cent over the next six years.

And many who couldn't make it in the Hindi music industry, or didn't want to - such as Sharon Prabhakar - have taken to live shows, popular in smaller places, while others have begun to try a kind of masala mix where anything goes.And often very far. fm radio, rising in popularity, is a good indicator. Says Radiostar's Jiten Hemdev: "Film music is our mainstay." Radiostar recently replaced its ghazal show hosted by Talat Aziz with - guess what? - a film music show and now pumps out five contemporary Hindi music shows a week."Hindi film music is not seen as middle class anymore," says Mehmood Curmally, director of Bombay's Rhythm House, one of the largest music stores in the country. Curmally thinks film music has managed to find a niche even at snooty parties because the inevitable has happened: satellite TV has placed it on a par with music from over the world. Impresario Sabbas Joseph, whose company, Wizcraft, specialises in party management, says:

"Today, our deejay doesn't do a party without a stack of the latest film hits.'' This demand has generated an entire business in illegal cds that are popularly labelled either Superhit Muqabla or Philips Top 10 and retail for between Rs 300 and Rs 400 each. Nationwide sales of the two titles are estimated at Rs 1 lakh a week.



At tony pubs and discos, film music has become critical in keeping hysteria at peak levels. Amrish Arora, who has helped set up many of the country's best pubs, thinks the time for a Bollywood-based nightspot has come. "Film music has an edge," he says. "A year ago, I wouldn't have played it in my car. But now I can't seem to stop playing 1942."



Alka Yagnik records about 500 songs a year Channel V's wacky request and commands Rs 15,000 per song, while show, Mangta Hai, is rising other singers average Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. fast in the ratings charts.



The 'edge' has really come from shows like Superhit Muqabla on DD and BPL Oye! on Channel V, with trendy veejays and stylish presentation far surpassing the pedestrian formats of Chhaya Geet and Chitrahaar.

For the first week of September, IMRB's ratings for Superhit Muqabla (45.9 per cent) in Bombay, Delhi and Madras were higher than those for shows like Ajnabi (42.2 per cent), Chandrakanta (38.6 per cent) and Naya Nukkad (34.6 per cent).



Profits for a Song

Music spells money now. In the mid-'80s, Hindi music was a little less than a Rs 100-crore market, monopolised by HMV and, to a lesser extent, Music India. Tapes priced at Rs 35 or more were bought only by the well-heeled few. Film producers, concentrating on Amitabh Bachchan-inspired action, tended to sideline music altogether.

A Rs 1-lakh royalty payment from a music company was an occasion for the producer to throw a party. Venus bought its first film, Jaan Ki Baazi, for Rs 50,000 in 1985. Recalls Ratan Jain of Venus: "The overall quality of music was not very good. You could buy a very good banner for Rs 1.5 lakh."

"There is A bit of bending towards music companies. For me the major plus point is good SongS." Akshay Kumar Actor



And then, fruit-juiceman-turned-music moghul Gulshan Kumar walked in. He lowered die price of tapes to less man Rs 25 and hiked audio payments to several lakh. In 1990, he released the breakthrough album, Aashiqui.

An estimated two crore tapes of the film were sold, with T-Series producing 80,000 to 90,000 units a day. Says composer Nadeem of the now-famous Nadeem-Shravan duo: "Aashiqui is the letter A in music." The duo now occupies the fourth position on the sales charts, ranked after Anu Malik and Anand-Milind

Today, the audio rights of A-class banners such as Rajshris' and RK's fetch the equivalent of, or more than, one major film territory. Market sources say an astonishing amount of money is changing hands.

Tips reportedly paid Rs 1 crore for Dharmendra's Barsaat and Rs 85 lakh plus royalty for Subhash Ghai's Trimurti. If Tips places 85 lakh copies in the market, it must sell about 76 lakh copies retailed at Rs 2 5 to break even and recover its investments, royalties, manufacturing costs and publicity.

This is a calculated risk. Ghai's last film, Khalnayak, reportedly sold one crore units. Although figures are dangerously approximate, if Trimurti is as big a hit as Khalnayak, it will make Tips a profit of around Rs 50 lakh.

HMV has reportedly paid Rs 50 lakh plus royalty for Pankuj Parashar's Rajkumar and Rs 75 lakh plus royalty for RK's Prem Granth. The expected arrival of the CD-V - technology that will enable the CD to function as a laser disc also - has compelled audio companies to buy video, audio and overseas rights together, thus increasing the stakes. Venus reportedly paid Rs 2.4 crore for Feroz Khan's still-in-development saga, Agnikund.



"First, producers used to listen to the stars. Now the listen to the audio Companies." Saroj Khan Choreographer



While B-class banners fall into the Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh category, and some C-class banners often don't find buyers, bidding wars take place when a top maker goes into the market.

Audio companies bid fiercely for the films of makers such as Ghai, Yash Chopra, the RK banner and Rajshris. Says Ganesh Jain of Venus: "We all need the big banners for the company's izzat." Recently, Tips and Time were in hot combat for Ghai's next project, Shikhar, starring Jackie Shroff and Shah Rukh Khan. Tips eventually won the battle, paying over Rs 2 crore.

The hefty stakes have strained the old rules of the game to breaking point. HMV, with a market share of 14.2 per cent, is now number three behind Venus which has a market share of 18 per cent and Tips which has a 16.6 per cent share.

While Gulshan Kumar claims a mammoth share of 45 per cent, T-Series has, in the past two years, almost completely moved out of the film music scene. Gulshan Kumar now sees the future in a non-film repertoire.

With singer Anuradha Paudwal at his side, he is busy churning out ghazals, bhajans, qawwalis, garbas and devotional songs in every Indian language. He says: "Today, film music is not very satisfactory and I don't want my customers to lose faith in T-Series." Apart from the music, Gulshan Kumar has also entered into television software, producing four music shows for the National Network and DD Metro.



With the easing out of Gulshan Kumar, the other companies have become major players with incredible clout. Venus Records, which made it big with Saajan (estimated sales: one crore) and again with Deewana (estimated sales: 70 to 80 lakh), is said to have an annual turnover of over Rs 20 crore.

Tips, which struck gold with the blockbuster Phool Aur Kaante, releases 25 to 30 film soundtracks a year. In 1993, it had Khalnayak, Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayee and Rang pumping up its bottomline. Weston (turnover: Rs 25 crore for 1993-94), has had hits in Hum Hain Raahi Pyar Ke and Yeh Dillagi. Time Audio, barely a year-and-a-half old, is already playing the big stakes with hits such as Vijaypath. HMV has got lucky with 2942, HAHK and now, Gentleman.



The Shah brothers, of Time Audio, say they never plan a budget for a film but claim they spent an estimated Rs 35 lakh for a single song in the still unreleased Gambler.



The New Music Mafia

But it's not just power in the music industry that has changed hands. The audio world has restructured the power stakes in the film industry. Says Saroj Khan: "First producers used to listen to the stars. Now they listen to the audio companies."

A major but disgruntled composer refers to them as the 'music mafia'. While the music companies insist their role is limited to acquiring rights, many say that in the case of the less than A-banners, music companies are calling the shots. Earlier, when the double-meaning song Daloonga daloonga was all the rage, music companies would ask the producer to include at least one such song.

Promoting favourites is also a habit. Ramesh Taurani of Tips is said to insist on Kumar Sanu and Yagnik for songs that his company has acquired. Venus is sold on Malik. Says composer Viju Shah: "Camps have formed around the companies. They have a lot of power."





Govinda raps with 'Stop that' in Gambler (budget Rs 3 crore). The cassette has grossed Rs 2 crore in two months. Govinda raps with 'Stop that' in Gambler (budget Rs 3 crore). The cassette has grossed Rs 2 crore in two months.

The clout is no longer just audio-related. The majors, apart from HMV, are now into film production. At any given time, each of the four companies has over Rs 3 crore invested in production.

Venus, the first to test the waters after T-Series, has established its United Seven Banner with two recent hits - Khiladi and Baazigar. Its third film, Main Khiladi, Tu Anari, has not managed to keep pace with the hot pre-release buzz. However, the first two hits served to establish it as an A-league producer.

Today, its films are sold almost as soon as they are announced. It has two films - Mansoor Khan's Akele Hum, Akele Tum and Miss 420 - on the floor and five projects, including an Abbas-Mustan directed, Shah Rukh Khan starrer, Badshah, in the pipeline. Says Box Office publisher Amod Mehra: "In terms of power, Venus can be considered number three after Ghai and Yash Chopra."



The others are not far behind. Time had a modest hit in the action-packedand currently has four films on the floor. Having tasted success, it plans to have 12 projects going by next year.

Weston currently has three films on the floor, and one is in the pipeline. Tips, the lastest to jump into the fray, is financing three films and co-producing one. For the companies, having a finger in the pie offers greater control. Says Taurani: "With outside producers, you don't know what the final product will be. This way we approve the script and are involved in the music."

Which is why companies with their own full time productions are also "presenting", that is, financing and marketing outside films. Presenting can also mean producing in partnership or putting together a film in exchange for audio rights and one territory. Venus will present three others, including Ketan Mehta's Aar Ya Paar starring Jackie Shroff. Weston recently presented Yash Chopra's Yeh Dillagi.



Jumbo Budgets

Films financed by music companies have budgets over Rs 2 crore and A-league cast and crew. Says choreographer Chinni Prakash: "In the next two years, the music companies will take over." The music companies do have a definite edge over the average film producer, especially financial.

The exploding audio industry, which created these powerhouses, provides a back-up. Even if a film doesn't do well, the audio company can recover much of its investment from the music sales. Also, the cash-rich companies can simply afford to spend more.

Time has spent .Rs 15-20 lakh picturising songs for its underproduction Gambler. When a completed Vijaypath did not meet expectations, 40 per cent was reshot, hiking the final budget to Rs 3.5 crore. Says Dhirubhai Shah: "We never plan a budget. Whatever we like, whatever we think of, we do."



Top choreographer Chinni Prakash of 'Mast mast' fame has about 20 films in hand this year and charges Rs 40,000 per sequence.



Promotion is another advantage. Music companies spend lavishly on prerelease promotions, plugging their own productions, which gives them influence with the crew and cast, especially the stars.

Venus and Time are said to have spent Rs 15 lakh plus in promoting their productions. Almost half the new films Akshay Kumar will start next year are with music companies. He says:



"Frankly, there is a bit of bending towards them. For me, the major plus point is good songs." It is almost given that a film by a music company, with its access to the audio industry and financial strength, will have bestseller music. At Time, it's a policy to record 12 songs, keep eight for the audio and include six in the film. Says Tips' Taurani: "If we do record one and find a better one later, we'll reject the first." No mean feat, when recording a song costs Rs 2.5 lakh.





'Mast mast' tapes have fetched Rs 15 crore - ten times Mohra's budget. Musicrights: Rs 40-45 lakhfor Venus. 'Mast mast' tapes have fetched Rs 15 crore - ten times Mohra's budget. Musicrights: Rs 40-45 lakhfor Venus.

Music companies also enjoy the distributors' confidence, a crucial indicator of success in the production sector. In any given year, 20 to40 of the 150 odd films which are on the floor are not completed.

A music company's steady finance, infrastructure and influence ensure that a film will get made within a reasonable time. Says leading Bombay distributor Shyam Shroff, who has distributed all the Venus films: "These are blue chip companies and they are very hot. Everyone wants to work with them."





'Amma dekh': Stuntman budget, Rs 1 crore; audio sales, Rs 8 crore; music rights for Tips, Rs 10-12 lakh. 'Amma dekh': Stuntman budget, Rs 1 crore; audio sales, Rs 8 crore; music rights for Tips, Rs 10-12 lakh.

Not everyone, however, is singing their song. The old guard is looking over its shoulder and wondering where the upstarts have come from. Says a top director: "These people are not creative. They only think they are. Gulshan Kumar tried to make his brother a hero but it didn't work." A veteran film journalist calls them the "new, white-collared". He says: "The tragedy is that a film maker like N. Chandra now has to take creative advice from Ramesh Taurani."

But, the companies are not fretting over their supposed lack of creativity. Says Ratan Jain: "I'm a businessman, but I've always had a fancy for the filmi duniya.'' And those working with them vouch for an intuitive sense of what the gallery wants. Says Akshay Kumar: "Their point of view is the common man's point of view because they've risen from there.

" Venus, at least, also knows when it's good business sense not to get involved. It has yet to see Mansoor Khan's Akele Hum, Akde Tum even though it is nearly 60 per cent complete. Apart from suggesting Malik's name, it has given the highbrow director free rein. Khan says: "They are scared but there is none of the 'ek wet saree gana dal do'."

And even their detractors admit that given the times, one can't live without the audio companies. Today, music creates a market for a film before release and, more than the star cast, it has become responsible for the all important initial collections. Says Prakash: "None of the heroes can bring in a good opening.

Now the music industry and the dance industry provide a hook for the audience.'' Adds Shah Rukh Khan: "Music is the ad campaign for the film." Now it's even being used on film posters - Vijaypath had Ruk ruk, Mohra has Mast mast and the recently released Stuntman has Amma dekh. And music can take a mediocre film further. Mast mast has shoved Mohra, an average potboiler, into a hit.



Nadeem-Shravan have about 15 new films in hand. While at their peak they asked for Rs 20 lakh per film - the highest price ever.



The music industry is creating its own celebrities. Nadeem-Shravan were the first to insist on hoarding space and today, composer mug-shots are liberally plastered over film posters everywhere.

Malik has breathless teenage girls calling him. Yagnik says she gets 50 to 100 letters a day. Nadeem is toying with the idea of becoming a hero and launching his own record company, Simsim Records, which will release his "designer music".



Unfortunately, the glory has become rather short-lived. Singers and composers no longer have the 'institution status' of a Lata Mangeshkar. A constantly turbulent industry is creating and sidelining stars consistently. Nadeem-Shravan, the rage two years ago, are now considered passe despite being ranked fourth in the industry. Malik, struggling earlier, is the new god.



"Camps have now formed around the major music companies. They have a lot of power." Viju shah compose



And he already has Rahman, who has zoomed to the A-league with Subhash Ghai's Shikhar, biting at his heels. The short shelf life has resulted in camp politics and Stardust-worthy backbiting.

Nadeem-Shravan actually held a press conference to declare that Malik was copying their work. Says Nadeem: "He steals my tunes and goes around begging for films." Malik, looking past them, declares: "Rahman is creating ripples but he doesn't excite me enough to copy him."



The audio boom has also jump-started the dance industry. Dance is now a serious business. So much so that 1942 had a separate director of songs, the FTII-trained Sanjay Leela Bhansali who, along with choreographer Farah Khan, created the nostalgia-seeped sequences. It is also an expensive business. Song picturisation, which cost Rs 2-3 lakh five years ago, can now even touch Rs 20-25 lakh.

'Ole ole' helped sell the romance, Yeh Dillagi (budget about Rs 1 crore), with cassette sales worth Rs 11.2 5 crore, 'Ole ole' helped sell the romance, Yeh Dillagi (budget about Rs 1 crore), with cassette sales worth Rs 11.2 5 crore,

Shah Rukh is not a one song star but with 'Yeh kali kali aankhen' under his belt, has a market price of Rs 45 lakh per film. Shah Rukh is not a one song star but with 'Yeh kali kali aankhen' under his belt, has a market price of Rs 45 lakh per film.

Time's Dhirubhai claims to have spent Rs 35 lakh shooting a song for. Says Chinni Prakash, the choreographer: "Today the producer is firing the gun from my shoulder and I'd better hit the bull's-eye or pack my bags and go back to Madras." Indeed, the competition can be killing. Saroj Khan, with five Filmfare Awards on her shelf, considers her choreographer-son Raju, a rival: "Today, the attitude is, kill each other but do a better song'."The pressure comes from all quarters because the post-Bachchan era is the era of the audio-cassette star. One hit song can lay the foundation of a career. Madhuri Dixit came into the limelight withfollowing it up withandSaif is being taken seriously after his swivelling in

Raveena Tandon, earlier considered jinxed, is now the Mast mast girl. Just the sexy walk in Chura ke dil mera has taken Shilpa Sherry's career five steps ahead. Even Shah Rukh Khan, who insists that you need more than songs to become a star, says that with 10 hit songs behind him, he is an "audio-cassette hero".



Perhaps this is the solution Bollywood has been waiting for. For too long, the industry has been hunting for another Bachchan. It hasn't found a reliable name on which to hang its ventures. Until the emergence of new names that have the charisma to floor millions, music may well remain the new hero.

