Jeet and Koel romance the exotic Alps in 100% Love

It’s a high energy number. Actor Dev, known for his dancing skills, matches steps with Indian and foreign dancers in the title track of his latest film Khokababu. The song marks the Tollywood debut of ace choreographer Caesar Gonsalves of the Bosco Caesar duo that has choreographed Bollywood films like 3 Idiots, Singh is Kinng and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The bill for the Khokababu title track? Rs 80 lakh.

Cut to the upcoming film Macho Mastana, in which a third of its Rs 6-crore budget was spent on the songs. The title track alone cost Rs 75 lakh. Three sets were constructed for the song that also featured Russian dancers who had earlier danced with Shah Rukh Khan in Ra.One.

Or look at another 2012 release, 100% Love, which has Jeet and Koel romancing in snowcapped Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, in the number Ek mutho swapna. In Tumse pyar hai already, they join bikini-clad dancers on the beaches of Bangkok.

Tollywood is hitting all the right notes and spending big on its songs, wooing the audience with exotic locations, catchy lyrics, expensive sets and even item numbers. “On an average, the cost of shooting a song today equals the cost of making a film a few years ago — it’ll set you back by Rs 60 lakh to Rs 70 lakh,” says Mahendra Soni, director, Shree Venkatesh Films that produced 100% Love.

Anyone in the movie industry can tell you why they spend heavily on the songs. Director Raj Chakraborty describes them as “opening batsmen”. In his 2011 hit Shatru, “two and a half” songs shot in Turkey came at a price tag of Rs 60 lakh. “The trailer of a big budget film highlights two things: the songs and action scenes, so we don’t stint on these,” says Ashok Dhanuka of Eskay Movies that produced Shatru and Khokababu.

Dev-starrer, Khokababu, is peppered with three song sequences that were shot in Switzerland and Paris

Dhanuka says that Khokababu’s Rs 80-lakh title song choreographed by Gonsalves is the most expensive ever Bengali film song. Three others shot in Switzerland and Paris cost Rs 60 lakh to Rs 70 lakh. Cumulatively, Rs 1.75 crore of the film’s Rs 5.75 crore budget was spent on its songs.

“The locations need to be more exotic. Earlier we went to places like Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai but for Bhalobasha Bhalobasha we shot in Austria and for 100% Love in Switzerland,” says Ravi Kinagi, the director of 100% Love. He reasons that audiences now expect the top movies to have foreign locations. “Shooting abroad weighs heavy on the pocket but we usually do it for dream-sequence songs,” says actor Jeet, who starred in the film and co-produced it.

And it isn’t just foreign locations but also the setting and dancers which count. In Macho Mastana, the song Bailamo features Mauritian dancers in ethnic costumes while Sara Khan of Bigg Boss fame does the item number Madhubala. “A film’s songs must appeal to both the classes and masses — the audience in multiplexes as well as Midnapore’s movie halls should enjoy them,” says the film’s producer P. P. Tiwari.

The item number in Macho Mastana featuring Sara Khan cost Rs 35 lakh to shoot

As far as the songs themselves are concerned, catchy is the keyword. An increasing number of Bengali films are importing Bollywood playback singers. Mika lent his voice to the title track of the Dev-Koel starrer Paglu, marking his debut in Tollywood, before following it up with Pyaar ka jhatka with Mamta Sharma (who sang Munni badnaam hui in Dabangg) for Khokababu.

Also in Paglu there’s the song Monbebagi by Kunal Ganjawala who started out in Tollywood with Minister Fatakesto in 2007. And there’s Esechi toke niye by Mohit Chauhan who has made his name with Rockstar’s Sadda Haq and Masakali for Delhi-6.

Then, the film Romeo had Ghum ghum oi chokhe by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal. “The audience likes the fact that Bengali films today feature songs by Bollywood playback singers,” says Sujit Mondol, the director of Romeo. The film’s title track was the first Tollywood song to use a Motion Control Camera and cost above Rs 50 lakh.

A Motion Control Camera was used for the first time in a Tollywood film for the title track of Romeo

On the other hand, a lot of musical experimentation is taking place in New Age Cinema, though the songs don’t cost as much as in their mainstream counterparts.

Composed by Rupam Islam and Allen Ao, the music of Bedroom (2012), is a blend of hard rock, semi-classical tunes with electronic beats, and classical instruments such as the flute. Or take the music of another 2012 release, Aparajita Tumi. “The song Bola baron actually has incomplete sentences while Roopkotha has anecdotes,” says director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury.

The film’s music director Shantanu Moitra adds: “The background score is now coming into its own. Earlier the director wouldn’t even be around when it was being recorded, but today, he works with the music director on it.” And that means sweet music for the audiences.