SONGS SUNG TRUE: Prosenjit in Autograph Nandana Sen and Indraneil Sengupta in Autograph

Metal head Sam or Sanjib Mekdar, 21, has switched from head-banging to Audioslave, Korn and Lamb of God to humming along with Amake amar moto and Benche thakar gaan from Autograph.

“The romance and angst in these songs hit you as much as a metal number. It makes you realise that music doesn’t always have to be loud and gritty. The compositions are simple and catchy and lyrics like Shob pele noshto jiban talk about us, our beliefs…” says the guitarist for alt-rock band Not Yet Decided.

Riding this wave, Tollywood’s latest hit — starring Prosenjit, Nandana Sen and Indraneil Sengupta — was beating Bollywood not just at the box office these past few weeks but also on the music racks. Autograph has sold around 16,000 copies of its audio CD within a month-and-a-half of its release in a market where hit Bengali film music CDs register an average sale of not more than 3,000 copies.

“Autograph is doing especially well in our mall stores at City Centre II and South City. It’s far ahead of Jhootha Hi Sahi or Guzaarish, at least 60 per cent more,” said Sidharth Pansari of Crossword. Even Munni badnaam hui of Dabangg is struggling to keep pelvic-thrust pace with the melody of the Debojyoti Mishra — and Anupam Roy — score.

Driving a rare trend — Tolly beating Bolly on any count is as rare as Sehwag batting like Dravid — is the FM and iPod-toting audience lured by a whole new sound combining soulful melodies with riveting lyrics.

“I listen to the songs at least three or four times a day. They are very soothing, especially when you come back tired after a day’s work,” said Arnab Bose, 28, an IT quality-assurance specialist.

And what’s a song without a singer? New styles and instruments apart, bringing a different sound sensibility to the tracks of Srijit Mukherji’s debut film are Anupam, Priyam and Anandee alongside favourites like Rupam and Shreya Ghoshal. Shankar Mahadevan adds an offbeat flavour, expanding the film’s reach.

“From Iranian music to Bach, I did extensive homework for Autograph,” said Debojyoti. “It was a very enriching process as I learned and unlearned a lot of things.”

The audience for the sound of Autograph spans “20 to 60 year-olds”, point out music stores. “It’s been on top of the charts in Calcutta ever since its release on September 20 and it’s steadily risen up the charts at our stores in Siliguri and Durgapur,” said Ananya Pandit of Music World.

If Planet M has witnessed “a demand in Jamshedpur too”, Melody, the good ol’ music store at Rashbehari, has managed to sell nearly 150 Autograph audio discs. In contrast, more trendy Tolly soundtracks have struggled to reach double figures.

Music World attributes 80 per cent of its regional audio CD sales to Autograph, which is also driving 40 per cent of overall music CD sales. Ranking second in the top 10 album charts — after Rabindrasangeet — Autograph has witnessed “better moving sales” among all music albums released in the past six months at both Music World and Crossword.

“Normally, we place our second order after 20-25 days of an audio release. Autograph sold out so fast that we had to re-order within 14 days,” said Smita Chakraborty of Planet M. “We’re getting 1,200 requests a day at the stores, over phone and on our website.”

The last Tollywood soundtrack to beat Bollywood on the music racks was Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s Antaheen, which marked Shantanu Moitra’s Bengali film debut as music director.

“Autograph at this stage is on a par with Antaheen sales after the film had released but Antaheen music CDs are still in demand,” said some stores.

“I’m very glad that Autograph’s music is doing so well. I recently bought two CDs. One for myself and another for a friend. In fact, I spent the entire Diwali morning listening to Chol Rastaye, my favourite,” said Roy Chowdhury.

“There was a phase when people’s caller tunes had Jao Pakhi and Pherari Mon from Antaheen and now I get to hear songs from Autograph. It shows how a quality blend of beautiful words and melody can bring back listeners. That’s what had clicked with Antaheen, too. It’s also a great sign that people have bought CDs and not just downloaded.”

Autograph has gone a step forward to tide over slumps in business owing to piracy and illegal downloads with the soundtrack finding space on iTunes and Nokia Ovi stores.

“With Amanush we had started taking steps against some websites putting up our music without authorisation. But given the craze and cross-section appeal of Autograph’s music, this is the first time that we’ve made a Bengali movie soundtrack officially available on iTunes and Nokia Ovi stores,” said Ravi Sharma of Shree Venkatesh Films, producers of the Prosenjit-starrer that is a kind of tribute to Satyajit Ray’s Nayak.

Requests from the overseas audience, especially from the US, are also coming in. “We are confident of reaching out to a wide audience and MP3 and digital downloads is the way to go. When that’s available, no one wants to compromise on the quality,” said Sharma.