MUMBAI: “Music can make or break a movie,” said Jab We Met director Imtiaz Ali as he spoke about his love and passion for music at the MixRadio Music Connects (MRMC) today. He went on to disclose that the most fun part for him while directing a movie was when he was involved in making the music.
Speaking specifically about his love for Bollywood music and songs, Ali reckons that in an Indian movie movies were incomplete without music as was energy here. “In Highway, I started with one song in mind and ended up having nine songs in the movie.” He revealed. His latest flick Tamasha also has eight songs tracks in the movie.
He informed that in India, music recording started in 1902 and the music library today consists of around 1.2 million songs, which is more than in several countries of the world.
According to Ali, the shelf life of music is more than that of movies. Providing an example, he said “Even today we listen to songs from the 1950s and 1960s, playing on radio at times, we may not remember the movie or the actors, directors, but we always remember songs.”
He went on to speak about the phenomenon of movie directors and producers launching music titles before a movie. He felt that if the music was well received, half the battle was won as movies are remembered through their songs.
Ali, known for his special connect with young audiences, said that the connect comes when the content flows from the heart. “Anything pure and true has more chances of success and therefore Rockstar connected with the youth. They youth doesn’t want to be spoon fed or told what to do and therefore, Sadda Haq, which was a tough song to understand lyrically, but with a strong message stood out and was the most popular songs in the movie.”
Before joining movies Ali worked for two TV shows and worked on their respective music with Pritam and then ventured into producing films. His mantra for making movies was “Imagination going beyond the real vision” he said.
Starting with Socha Naa Tha, the director rose to fame with Jab We Met. His movies Love Aaj Kal and Rockstar were both critically acclaimed as well as commercial hits at the box office. He is currently working on his latest project Tamasha starring Bollywood stars Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor.
