How Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who completes 25 years in cinema, has made music the mainstay of his narratives
A Sanjay Leela Bhansali film is like a long, layered song. His cinema combines the flourish of a high-pitched nautanki with the nuance of a Broadway musical. From the folksy dholak and the classical sitar to the operatic influence of violin and piano, his musical platter is always vibrant and diverse. At a time when songs are not assimilated into the narrative but remain adsorbed, Bhansali’s films are an exception. Apart from Vishal Bhardwaj, he is perhaps the only filmmaker who can sit behind the console to compose. He follows in the footsteps of the leaders of parallel cinema like Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, who understood the importance of music to convey ideas.
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Inspired by the likes of V. Shantaram, Mehboob Khan, K. Asif, Guru Dutt, and Raj Kapoor, Bhansali knows a melody can convey an emotion much better than dialogue. In Bajirao Mastani, he composed ‘Tujhe yaad kar liya hai aayat ki tarah, tu kayam rahegi rivayati ki tarah’, exemplifying the beauty of the inter-faith love story. Not to forget ‘Aaj ibadat’. Composed in raag Yaman, it once again displays multicultural strains.
Composing film music
A scene from Padmaavat
In Padmavat, he ventures beyond the safe territory to compose ‘Binte di’, a rare celebration of homoerotic imagery. However, one of my favourites is the understated ‘Tera zikr hai’ from Guzaarish. The film was his first official attempt at composing music, earlier he had successfully collaborated with Jatin Lalit (Khamoshi-The Musical), Ismail Darbar (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas) and Monty Sharma (Black and Saawariya). In hindsight, you can see his stamp on the score of each of these films. And you understand why Darbar and Sharma would often say that Bhansali was difficult to work with.
In his interviews, Bhansali has said that it is the music that drives his narrative. Though not technically trained, his music has evolved with every film. Inspired by the Naushad and Madan Mohan kind of music, there was a time when he was swept by the A.R. Rahman wave and it reflected in the scores of Saawariya and Guzaarish. The former continues to live through its music, with songs like ‘Thode badmash’ and ‘Jab se tere naina’ still ruling charts and hearts.
A scene from Saawariya
In Black, Bhansali used more instrumental music, with an emphasis on pauses and silence. There was a moving Prasoon Joshi number, ‘Haan maine chhookar dekha hai’, in the album, but it did not made it to the screen.
Mix of styles
Grounded in the traditional ethos, he is always keen to experiment — be it adapting ‘Albela sajan’ in raag Bhupali in Bajirao Mastani or blending Garba beat and Marathi folk to Western arrangements in Ram-Leela and Bajirao Mastani or the soaked-in-classicism ‘Mohe rang do lal’ in raag Maand and Puriya Dhanashree.
Under his care, the voices of Shreya Ghoshal, Arijit Singh, and Kunal Ganjawala found their reach. One of his unsung collaborators is Shail Hada, who has not only given voice to popular songs like ‘Lahu munh lag gaya’ (Ram-Leela) but has also assisted Bhansali on music albums.
His period dramas draw heavily from the scale and lavishness of K. Asif’s vision. In an interview, Pt. Birju Maharaj, who not only choreographed but also rendered the Kathak bols in ‘Mohe rang do,’ had said the set reminded him of Mughal-e-Azam.
Bhansali is a trained Odissi dancer and, in fact, started his career as a choreographer with another multi-faceted director, Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Referring to this aspect of the filmmaker, Birju Maharaj had said, “Sanjay Leela Bhansali knows the intricate aesthetics of dance. It comes through in the picturisation and choreography of his songs.”
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