India's Bollywood is the equivalent of America's Hollywood movie studio system. For the most part, American media has made only passing reference to this part of Indian film production, much less to the industry's musical scores. All that changed in 2008 with the wide, international release of Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire."
Musical Forebearers
Indian cinema in general burst on the scene with the 1984 release of Satyajit Ray's "Ghare-Baire" ("The Home and the World"). In addition to directing the movie, Ray also wrote the screenplay and composed its musical score. This film laid the groundwork for the evolution of a major film production system in India. Glowing reviews by the likes of Roger Ebert focused the attention of American art-house moviegoers on Indian cinema. Shortly before his death, Ray was honored with an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
"Slumdog Millionaire"
Strictly speaking, "Slumdog Millionaire" is a British production. But the movie brought into the popular American and international consciousness the work of many Bollywood professionals, particularly that of musicians and score composers. In fact, Indian director Loveleen Tandan partnered with Boyle on directing duties.
Music
A.R. Rahman, who created the songs and score for "Slumdog Millionaire," is Bollywood's most acclaimed composer. His film music career began in 1992 with the score composition for "Yodha." Rahman is generally regarded as one of the greatest contemporary composers of indigenous musical forms in India, according to a February 5, 2009, review of the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack album on RollingStone.com.
Other Contemporaries
The Bollywood Hungama website charts the popularity of the industry's songs and musical scores. Currently, the "haunting melodies" by Nadeem-Shravan for "Raaz - TMC" are top-rated, according to the Website's music charts. Also, the works of Sandesh Shandilya, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Kailash-Paresh-Naresh, Bappi Lahiri-Bappa Lahiri and Bohemia are highly rated.
International Collaboration
Kylie Minogue plans to perform with Bollywood actor and star Akshay Kumar in a music video to promote the A.R. Rahman-scored movie "Blue." "The media will again go berserk about the whole Bollywood-Hollywood shindig," states the DWS Movie website.
Singer/Actors
According to Bollywood.com, Sonu Nigam, Himesh Reshammiya and Abhijeet Sawant are popular Indian musical artists who have crossed over to the world of acting as lead performers in recent Bollywood productions. Raghav Sachar is preparing to assume an autobiographical role in "Tum Milo To Sahi."
Future Trends
Bollywood musicians continue to seek inroads into Western popular culture. According to Bollywood.com, Hindu academics have appealed to the Grammy Awards to create a category for Kirtan music. Kirtan is an indigenous, musical form in India and is commonly used to score Bollywood productions. Hindu scholar Rajan Zed justified on the website this inclusion because of growing international acclaim for the music.
