Mumbai: Bollywood music composer and singer Amaal Mallik recently opened up about the involvement of actors in the music of films.
During a conversation with Mirchi Plus, Amaal revealed that Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t get much involved in his films’ music, but Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar do.
Amaal also shared that if an actor doesn’t like the music, he can get it removed without intimating the music composer.
Talking about the barriers between a director and a composer, the singer said, “With senior actors, it’s easy because they know what music works on them. Shah Rukh gets less involved in music. He leaves it to the director, vo sirf sunte hain thoda (he just listens briefly). Akshay sir 100% mehnat karte hain apne music par (Akshay sir puts in 100% effort into his music). Salman Khan too. But with Akshay, there’s an understanding to experiment; he isn’t stuck in his era.”
He added, “Newer guys are stuck, they don’t know who to relate with. There’s no particular name, but all new actors. They are in such self-doubt that they are not able to do good work. They are so confused. It’s like sabzi mandi for them – sabse gaane le lo. Sit and listen to them with your management team at night. Vo sab bheed hai, music mein jitni kam deciding bheed ho utna acha hai (That’s all just a crowd; the fewer people deciding in music, the better).”
“If at night, the hero is not finding the composer’s song relevant, agar kisi ne boldiya acha nahi hai (if someone says it’s not good), he can call the label and say ‘remove him’. They take someone else’s song. We sometimes get to know that our song wasn’t taken after the movie’s release.”
Speaking about the hierarchy of musicians, Amaal disclosed, “Music composer yahan par hai. Uske upar label (Above it is the music label). Above that, there’s the producer. They also have four supervisors to give advice. Then the executive producer from the production side tells what kind of songs they want. Hero, heroine, their teams, choreographer, fir film ke director se baat horahi hai (after that, discussions are held with the film’s director).”
“Itna door rakha hai composer ko director se (They’ve kept the composer so far away from the director), there are so many levels between us. Directors are also not able to fight this trail. Beech wale karne hi nahi denge (The middlemen just won’t let it happen). Jab tak aap Pritam da, Rahman sir ke level par nahi ho, toh yahi hota hai (Until you’re at the level of Pritam da or Rahman sir, this is what happens). No one knows whose song will get selected in the film,” he concluded.