Milliblog has always been a champion of the composers, more than singers, lyricists and any other creative artists associated with music. You know this already – have said so in many occasions. It’s not as if others are not important – they all have a role to play, but without the composers, they do not come together to form music. The singer cannot exist at all, while the lyricist is mildly lucky in that he/she can allow the verses to live without music, as just verses or poetry.
To some extent, I have been told that I bet on Amit Trivedi long before his debut in Aamir. It just happened that I really liked his music in a pop album and felt that he could revive the pop scene in India. But he of course chose the more lucrative film music and the rest is an on-going history… in the making.
I’m not into predictions, generally, but let me phrase this differently – if I were to make a film in a particular language, which new composer would I choose, to compose the music? I’d classify new composer as someone who started his composing career in the last 3-4 years. Here is the list.
1. Ghibran (Tamil)
Ghibran has been identified, by some commenters on Milliblog, as the Amit Trivedi of Tamil film music – not because his musical style is similar, but because of the number of 200 worders he has got on this site!
The music too, actually, is beautifully layered, something that peaks and comes out wonderfully in his most recent soundtrack, Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah. That he is doing the music for Kamal Hassan’s sequel to Vishwaroopam and the Ramesh Aravind directed Uthama Villain (again, starring Kamal Hassan) – after just 5 films – says something about his ascent.
Considering Vishwaroopam had a Hindi version too (with a Hindi soundtrack), there are chances that the sequel could get itself a Hindi version soundtrack too and it may be something instrumental in Ghibran’s Hindi debut. I’m pinning a lot of hope on this young composer.
An introduction to Ghibran
2. Sunny Sanour (Telugu)
Sunny Sanour is actually Sunny M.R and there is an interesting, funny story behind the name change!
Sunny is a former associate of Sandeep Chowta and has also worked closely with Pritam. I rated his Swamy Ra Ra as the best Telugu soundtrack of 2013 – deservedly so, in my opinion. Sunny’s sound is mighty fresh, as also his choice of singers – Arijit is a close friend of his and his find, Harshika Gudi, in his second film, Uyyala Jampala are good examples.
Given Sunny’s Sandeep Chowta and Pritam connections (Sunny was the music producer for Yeh Jawaani Hai Diwani), I expect him to get into Hindi films soon, depending on his luck and the kind of opportunities he gets in Telugu. Let’s see!
An introduction to Sunny
3. Santhosh Narayanan (Tamil, Telugu and Kannada)
Santhosh is one of those new composers who has the most uniquely identifiable sound. That may well be his nemesis too, but given his fairly early run, it is working to his benefit now. There are signatures so unique to Santhosh that it seems amazing that there is a composer who is sticking to such styles – his trademark violins and guitars are so easy to recognize!
His recent entry into Telugu is welcome too – he leaves a stamp in his Telugu debut, Billa Ranga too! Santhosh is also credited with the background score for the Kannada film, Lucia, incidentally. I do not know if the planned Hindi remake of Pizza (by Bejoy Nambiar) has music by Santhosh or not, but if it does, that is a good entry for him in Hindi. Given Bejoy’s penchant for working with multiple composers, chances are that Santhosh may possibly do one or more tracks in Hindi too.
An introduction to Santhosh
4. Shaan Rahman (Malayalam and Kannada)
Shaan’s start with the 2008 pop album Coffee @ MG Road was a decent effort, but it was his film with Vineeth Srinivasan, Malarvaadi Arts Club (besides his actual debut in Ee Pattanathil Bootham) that he showcased his talents mighty impressively! His follow-up in Thattathin Marayathu was equally inventive, while his Kannada debut, Nam Duniya Nam Style and latest soundtrack from Malayalam, Thira, have proved that the man is here to stay. Then there are those one off songs like Manjuthirum raavinulil, from Hotel California and Karaliloru from Kuteem Kolum that extend his musical prowess even beyond his buddy Vineeth Srinivasan’s able combination!
In my view, Shaan is primed to expand beyond the languages he is doing now – specifically Tamil and Telugu, to prove his capability. Those industries are bigger and more competitive, but Shaan, at least in my opinion, has what it takes.
An introduction to Shaan
5. Vijay Prakash (Kannada)
I’m placing my bet on Vijay Prakash after just one film – his Kannada composing debut in Andar Bahar. Yes, it is early, but I foresee a phenomenal future for the man, if he chooses to focus on his composing career more than his singing career. For the present, it looks like he is firmly rooted in the latter, much like other singer-turned composers like Devan Ekambaram, who confessed that composing takes a lot more time and effort, while singing is much faster and gets the bread faster too, with relatively limited (to composing) effort.
I won’t blame them, though – even the mighty SP Balasubramaniam, who had a stupendous musical score in the Tamil film Sigaram, composed for just a handful of films, never really exploring that side of himself. Karthik too seems to take the composing part slow and steady – his debut in Vasanthabalan’s Aravaan was good and the follow-up in the Telugu film Okkadine was even better. It may be a question of sticking to what one is good at and what offers most opportunities in the short-to-medium term, but I’d love to see if Vijay takes a serious job at composing. The sounds and tunes he produced in his debut definitely indicate a lot of promise!
An introduction to Vijay
6. Prashant Pillai (Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil)
Though Prashant’s debut happened with Rahu (Malayalam), in 2007, it was his score for the Malayalam film City of God (if I ignore the reasonably good Nayakan) that stood out with phenomenal range! He of course followed it up with a varied score in Hindi, Bejoy Nambiar’s Shaitan, along with a host of composers. David, Amen, Nee Ko Njaa Cha… Prashant is definitely on a roll.
That he is actually multi-lingual at a very early stage of his career and that he works with pan-Indian, language-bursting directors like Bejoy Nambiar should help him a lot in moving between industries. He is yet to do a conventional film – most of his films (and as a result, scores) are for films that are mighty different from mainstream, populist work. I don’t know whether he has the patience to do masala flicks with predictably pleasing and catchy music, but I sure would love to hear his interpretation of the same!
An introduction to Prashant
7. Anupam Roy (Bengali)
To start with, the Bengali composer Anupam Roy was not the one who composed ‘Retro Pop Shit’ in Bejoy Nambiar’s (that’s the 3rd Bejoy Nambiar reference in this post!!) Shaitaan – that’s a different Anupam Roy. That cleared, I have to confess that I have listed very less to Anupam’s music – specifically, 2 albums – one his film score in Hemlock Society and two, his debut pop album, Durbine Chokh Rakhbo Na. His 2nd pop album Dwitiyo Purush went above my head, honestly.
But I did feel that the composer was really good in the two pieces of work that I liked him in. I do need to listen to a lot more in Bengali, from him (and from composers like Indradeep Dasgupta, of Hawa Bodol fame), but for now, among other new Bengali composers, Anupam seems most promising to me.
An introduction to Anupam
8. Papon (Assamese and Hindi)
Thanks to Coke Studio at MTV’s Season 3, Papon is a much popular name across India, today. He is a veteran Assamese composer and performer anyway, with his debut happening back in 2005. He also produced one song in the 2nd season of Coke Studio at MTV (in the multi-composer set, the song, Tokari).
I first came across his own (composed) music in his debut pop album (in Hindi), The Story So Far. That is also one of the few Milliblog reviews that I re-reviewed because I thought I hadn’t done justice to it (beyond the positive word I put in for it) in the first round. It was that good!
Papon, as a singer, is pretty good anyway, with fantastic songs under his belt in films like Barfi and Madras Cafe, but it is the composer in him that I’m very keen to see more of.
An introduction to Papon
9. Gulraj Singh (Hindi)
I hear you asking, ‘Gulraj who?’. Gulraj of Ganaraj Adhiraj fame! Gulraj of Tutiya Dil… fame, well, not exactly fame, I agree. But I loved his music in Tutiya Dil, as much as I saw potential in his debut effort, a pop album on Lord Ganesh. I still recall getting a lead from a well known singer (who happened to be a friend of Gulraj; name is not important – so will keep it that way) pinging me and asking me to listen to this new album called Ganaraj Adhiraj, by Gulraj Singh. I heard the name and thought it was a bhajan album and actually told him politely that I don’t listen to bhajan albums. He persisted and said that I’m in for a surprise. I reluctantly started listening to it and I was completely blown away!!
His follow-up in the small film, Tutiya Dil proved that Ganaraj Adhiraj is not a one-off story, it was definitely not a fluke. This man (he looks more like a boy, than man!) has talent – he just doesn’t seem to be getting the right opportunities. I really hope he gets the right chances soon to prove his worth and make it big.
An introduction to Gulraj Singh
10. Raghu Dixit (Kannada, Hindi and Tamil)
Raghu is primarily an independent music producer and artist, but it is his composing skills that I’m more interested in. His voice, for me, is an acquired taste, thanks largely to the vibrantly imaginative tunes (created by him) he uses it in. His music in films in Kannada – Psycho, Just Maath Maathalli and Kote – were fantastic; the tunes in the Hindi debut, Mujhse Fraandhsip Karoge… functional.
His albums are a different story altogether. His debut was great (though I was just getting used to his voice, then – the tunes were consistently good!), and his recent sophomore effort – Jag Changa – was smashing, earning a 300 on Milliblog! I’m sure Raghu would like to focus more on his singing/live performances, but I’ll always look forward to his tunes… the ones that he creates, whether he sings them or not.
An introduction to Raghu
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There are a whole new set of composers in Tamil, like K, Sathya, Anirudh (of Kolaveri fame), but while all of them are producing rather interesting work (particularly K and Anirudh), if I were to pick a few to add in a list of 10, it’d be the ones mentioned above.
Then there is Ajay Atul from Marathi, who made their debut back in 2000 – so, hardly new composers… but from a Hindi debut point of view, they are new, and promising, even though that Hindi-level promise remains untapped.
My knowledge of film music in Gujarat is zilch. Punjabi too is a black hole for me, though the language produces a phenomenal amount of music – I do have a soft corner for Jaidev Kumar, the Punjabi composer who I identified as a talent to watch for when I heard Jasbir Jassi’s Dil le gayi kudi Gujarat di, almost a decade ago!
There is an interesting anecdote here worth mentioning. More than a decade ago in the late 90s, I was working in Delhi. One winter evening, me and my colleagues had gone out for dinner. Mid-way, the guy who was driving the car, started playing music and the song was Dil le gaye kudi. One of my other friends asked who the singer was and I told him it was Jasbir Jassi and that the song was composed by Jaidev Kumar. The friend was vehement in denying that Jaidev composed this, for some reason. We argued for a long time and decided to get back to my house post the dinner since I said I can prove it with the cassette of the album that I have. The friend agreed even though his house was far away from mine and just wanted to see his point being proven correct. We landed in my place late in the evening and I got the cassette of Jasbir Jassi’s debut album and showed Jaidev Kumar’s name on it. He accepted defeat and told me that I may be one of the very few people who noticed that fine print… and the point that someone even bothered to look up the name of a composer of the song, when the singer Jasbir Jassi was more famously associated with the song and the 2nd most famously associated person with the song was the model featured in the music video (if I recall right, Aanchal Kumar). I have been tracking his career ever since, off and on.
There is Sandeep Chowta too, but he made his debut in 1996, so not new at all, though a lot untapped in terms of potential. Zubeen Garg is someone a lot of Milliblog readers comment and write to me about. I have heard a few albums from him and found his last pop album (Paakeezah) to be uniformly bad. Rabbi Shergill is another person worth noting – explosive debut, tepid film debut soon after (it was good, however), average 2nd album and a superb 3rd album!
Which other Indian composer do you think is promising? Let me know. I’m looking more at people who have composed for films, than just pop albums (Papon being the exception to this rule in the list above). Why the focus on film music? Because film music defines maximum reach in this country, like it or not – almost like a seal of approval of a large set of population that the composer has arrived. I wish it was not the case and that pop music had that pedestal, but for now, that is not the case.