(Clockwise from top left) Rupam Islam sang a rock-based track in Chalo Let’s Go; Anjan Dutt and Neel Dutt have experimented with the lyrics in The Bong Connection and Chalo Let’s Go; A still from Chalo Let’s Go, a travelogue with unconventional music; Pix by Debasish Mitra

With his funky dreadlocks and punk-style headbanging, Rupam Islam, rock fiend and musician par excellence, isn’t the first name that comes to mind when you think of the usually soppy soundtracks of Bengali cinema. Yet, in the opening sequence of Chalo Let’s Go, a film by Anjan Dutt that released earlier this year, it’s Islam who croons the track Come cross the line that’s set to groovy rock beats.

If you’d like to try another chord, how about tuning in to music band 21 Grams headed by Raja Narayan Deb and Sanjoy Das which has revved up the score of Rituparno Ghosh’s yet-to-be-released bilingual film Sunglass using jazz tunes sung by Usha Uthup.

Or watch out for Bengali contemporary music band Chandrabindoo which is belting out songs for the film Box Number 1313 with innovative musical instruments. At one point they even add a new twist to the tune by replicating the strains of the shehnai with noises made with their tongues. “The idea is to be different,” says Upal, one of the band’s vocalists.

Bengali films and contemporary rock musicians? An unlikely mix surely? But that’s the mix that has come together to transform Bengali film music in a clutch of hot-off-the production floor films. The contemporary musicians are penning out-of-the box lyrics and using innovative musical instruments and playback singers to get the movie crowds swinging to a new beat.

Bengali band Chandrabindoo is scoring the music for Box Number 1313

The fact is that the entire music package delivered by the Bengali film industry is going in for a facelift. Film albums from Tollywood were once a database for great talent and the hits they churned out in the ’60s were chartbusters from the word go.

“But things started going downhill throughout the ’80s and totally slumped in the ’90s. The scenario looked bad especially because people were trying to ape Bollywood mindlessly. It’s only now that film music is looking up,” says Raja of 21 Grams.

The combination’s clearly working. Just tune in to ringtones of mobile phones all around you. The mobile ringtones from the movie I Love You, produced by Sree Venkatesh Films have notched up approximately 8,00,000 downloads.

The break with the recent past is particularly visible in the work of 21 Grams, the music band behind films like Khela, Dosar, Shob Choritro Kalponik and Sunglass. In Dosar, a film about a straying husband and his wife for instance, the group has turned musical convention on its head.

Shantanu Moitra is making a debut as a music director in the Bengal film world in Antaheen;Pix by Pabitra Das, (Above) Rahul Bose in a moment from the movie; Pix by Amit Datta

For instance, in an accident scene where the mangled remains of the husband’s car are shown, a bagpipe provides the background score (it replicates shehnai sounds). “Rituda (Rituparno Ghosh) didn’t want the usual sad note associated with an accident. The accident heralded a new beginning in the film and was a celebration of life. Hence the shehnai-like sound was used,” says Raja of 21 Grams.

Throughout the movie, Western musical instruments like the piano, bagpipe and guitar can be heard. The group also used unusual musical accompaniments like the dotara and the dubki, in the film Shob Choritro Kalponik with Bipasha Basu and Prosenjit in the lead. In the movie, the fusion effect is carried one note higher when the traditional sounds of the Bengali percussion instrument dhaak punctuated with violins, violas and cellos.

In many films the music plays a prominent role. Take an upcoming release Sunglass starring Konkona Sen Sharma and Tota Roychowdhury. One track Shabdhan is played while Konkona goes through a crowded stretch of the Gariahat market with everyone from the tram conductor to the street vendor breaking into a song.

“The premise of this film is unique. Konkona’s character has a pair of magical sunglasses which makes her aware of other people’s thoughts. Hence we have tried to be creative about the music as well,” says Raja.

Creativity is also the watchword for Neel Dutt, who as music director for Chalo Let’s Go has made Rupam Islam dish out an energetic opening number that introduces the three protagonists of the film, who play one-time Bangla rock musicians. “The wave of change in Bengali film music is inspiring,” says Islam.

A song from Bor Ashbe Ekhuni, that had Bengali rhymes in its lyrics; (Above) Indraadip Dasgupta has used non- musical sounds in one of the movie’s songs

Neel has been singing a different tune even when he was a greenhorn in the Bengali film industry. His first film The Bong Connection rocked the boat of many a music buff with a ‘re- rendition’ of Pagla hawa, a popular Tagore song.

Neel introduced electronica rhythms in the lively Pagla hawa number. The picturisation of the song had actress Raima Sen doing a peppy Western jig. “Art is essentially a populist media and is not something that’s kept in a cupboard. Even a Tagore song has to be reinterpreted to prevent it from getting stagnant,” says Neel. “In fact after the release of The Bong Connection, lots of DJs called me up saying that they were playing Pagla hawa at various discs across the city,” he adds.

And that set the ball rolling for a host of creative improvisations in his next ventures including Chalo Let’s Go and BBD. If he played with New Age elements like lounge and electronica rhythms and fused it with conventional Bengali folk music genres like bhatiali in The Bong Connection, he also got singer Tania to hum the hymn Amazing Grace in Chalo Let’s Go. “Tania has an R&B feel to her voice and that worked for the hymn,” says Neel.

In the same movie Neel has fused the lines from one of the most popular tracks in Bengali cinema — Ei path jodi na shesh hoy — with his original number. “The old track is synonymous with journey in the Bengali moviegoer’s mind and since Chalo is also a travelogue of sorts, it jelled well with the film’s song,” points out Neel.

The Bengali film industry is also reaching out to other behind-the-scenes stars to ensure top quality music for its latest productions. Bollywood-based music director Shantanu Moitra who has delivered phenomenal hits like Lage Raho Munnabhai and Parineeta has composed the songs for Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s forthcoming film Antaheen with veteran screen divas like Aparna Sen and Sharmila Tagore.

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“I have always felt that Bengal is the market now. The right kind of films is being made and one is inclined to be a part of such projects,” says Moitra.

The ace music director has also done away with the mukhra and antara, (the traditional divisions of a film song), in some of his compositions for Antaheen. He has even tried to replicate the A-grade Bollywood production quality.

Also drumming up an interesting beat is Indraadip Dasgupta, music director for the film Bor Ashbe Ekhuni. He has used innovative guitar lines for a song shot at night with actress Koel Mallick. It’s a blues-based track that tries to capture the silence of the night. Dasgupta has also used a non-musical sound like a motor grinding away in the film’s title track in a subtle manner to add a new character and depth. “I have improvised at every level,” he says.

Amidst such heavily orchestrated songs that characterise Bor Ashbe Ekhuni, Dasgupta has one-off exceptions too. A slow version of the track Saiyya has just an acoustic guitar and flute as musical accompaniments. “An unplugged instrument imparts the song with a new dimension. The song simply survives on the singing calibre of the vocalist,” he says.

A still from the film Shob Choritro Kalponik; (Above) Music band 21 Grams has used string instruments like the dotara and the dubki in the film; Pix by Subhendu Chaki

With new music, unconventional and thought-provoking lyrics have also made a grand entry into Tollywood film music. Anindya and Chandril of Chandrabindoo have used contemporary images and modern poetry in the lyrics of Antaheen. “Lyrics with evocative imagery like ‘Shada kaalo kichu dorakata daag perocchey roddur’ are not the staple of commercial cinema. We have transported lyrics used in music bands into films,” says Anindya.

Rangan Chakravarty, director and lyricist of the film Bor Ashbe Ekhuni, has used certain Bengali rhymes for children as lyrics in the title track of the film. Interesting folklore and proverbs associated with a Bengali marriage have been used with a comic twist in the number Dol dol doluni, also a popular rhyme in this movie.

Also, the language of Bengali film lyrics has now become highly flexible with Hindi and English words being used frequently. The song Majhi re in The Bong Connection for which Neel and his father Anjan Dutt wrote the lyrics had a smattering of English and Bengali words while the track Chupi chupi raat from Chalo Let’s Go had both Bengali and Hindi lyrics.

Raja of 21 Grams also feels that words should express the mood of a film situation and should not be confined by the restrictions of language. In the movie Khela, in which they’ve scored the music one number Ek je achey Raja has Hindi lyrics.

The band 21 Grams is also using unconventional playback singers for their films. Even established singers like Nachiketa who has been used by 21 Grams for the track Palacchey in Khela is not associated with regular playback singing.

Even Indraadip Dasgupta has used new singers. “New voices add a note of freshness to the film,” he says. He has had singers like Radhika and Sohom lending their voices to his compositions.

Most of these New Age music directors are feverish multi-taskers who are also tying up with mobile service providers to promote their tracks. There are even contests with mobile subscribers winning lunch dates with the lead pair of the movie.

Airtel has flagged off the ringtone race with Khela Meet, a contest held for subscribers on Ghosh’s eponymous film, starring Prosenjit, Manisha Koirala, Raima Sen and Akashneel Dutta Mukherjee. The contest winners had Sen and Dutta Mukherjee for company at lunch in Marrakesh, Cinnamon Lounge and Restaurant on the day the movie was released.

There’s no denying that the film music industry in Bengali is overhauling itself in a big way. And everyone has ambitious plans to draw the once-dwindling community of Tollywood cinegoers back to the multiplex. In the process, moviemakers and music directors are hoping to push up album sales as well. And as Shantanu Moitra puts it: “One day I want a Bengali film song composed by me to be aired on Channel V or MTV.”