Not much scope for music if your film is being made for OTT: Roopkumar Rathod
Singer and composer Roopkumar Rathod will be conferred with the prestigious Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Puraskar this year for his contribution in the music industry, along with noted composer AR Rehman. In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Roopkumar Rathod speaks about receiving this honour, late Lata Mangeshkar, and the current scenario of music in India.
Speaking about getting an honour for his work, Rathod says, “I still can’t believe that I am receiving this award, it is a big award, to tell you the truth. I am speechless. This year, Amitabh Bachchan, AR Rehman, Ashok Saraf, and Padmini Kolhapure are receiving this award with me. All of them have made immense contributions to the industry. I am happy that in my 45-year long career, I am being honoured with this award. I am feeling great to share it with AR Rehman, who is a big artist. In Hindustani sangeet, nobody is bigger than the Mangeshkar family – be it is Asha Tai, Lata Didi, Hridaynath ji, their work is like history as they have made such huge contributions to the industry. Awards are like acknowledgement for any artist. I started working professionally at the age of 20, so after all these years when you receive such an award, you feel that all your hard work has paid off.”
Remembering late Lata Mangeshkar, Rathod says, “Didi used to love me a lot. A month before she passed away, she called me and asked me if I liked mutton. I replied yes. She said that she was preparing mutton and that she made very good coriander mutton. I expressed my concerns as the kitchen was quite far from her room, and she hardly ventured out of her room in those days. But she said that she had set up a small kitchen in her room near her bed so that she could cook occasionally. She even asked me if I was allergic to ghee as she used a lot of ghee in her cooking. I joked that even if you give us poison, we will take it as prasad. That was the deep love that she had for us. Whenever we used to meet, she would regale us for hours with stories of the good old days.”
Continuing further, Rathod reveals that Lata Mangeshkar used to like telling jokes and adds, “We used to have a session of jokes for nearly two hours. In fact, other people had to come and tell me ‘Roop ji, please come out of the room now, Didi’s quota of jokes for the day are over as she is not keeping well’! But she would keep cracking jokes. She was like a child , very innocent.”
Meanwhile, sharing his views on the current music scene in the industry, Rathod laments, “I feel it is an era of fast food, people do not have time. For example, when we used to make tea, we would follow the process of boiling it properly on the stove and that used to taste very well. Now, people get tea instantly by pushing just one button. People don’t have patience these days. Today, these reality shows make the artists so popular in one year. On the other hand, we have spent 40 years achieving what we have achieved, whereas they try to achieve that in four months. What you see is what you get, but it creates an obstacle for them. The more the diamond is cut, the more it will shine; it is nature’s law that whoever goes up has to come down one day. The singing reality shows are having 13-14 seasons, but has anyone thought where the winners of the previous seasons, who used to be stars then, are today? Because they did not see any struggle or way of learning. They do change their hairstyle, costumes and learn to dance, work on their physique, but what about singing?”
He stresses that “Music is something you need to learn your whole life. There is no shortcut for it. Even today we learn from ustad ji and listen to good artists.”
Rathod further says, “If your film is being made for the OTT, then there is not much scope for music. If the film earns Rs 100 crore, then they think it is good, but the passion which everyone had in the earlier days, where the shayar would sit with the director and discuss the character at length, is missing today. Earlier, everyone would pay attention to such minute details as, if the character spoke in a certain diction, then it would be reflected in the lyrics as well. Take for example, the song “Nain ladh jaihen toh manwa ma kasak hoibe kari” (‘Ram aur Shyam’), it has that flavour of the language.”
At the same time, he maintains that, “I am not saying all songs are bad, there are so many songs being created today but their life line is short. If the film is out of the theatre, then people forget about the song. If you trust someone for composing music, then you don’t have insecurity. In ‘1942 - A Love Story’, Vidhu Vinod Chopra trusted Pancham da (RD Burman), it was not his good phase, but it was not a downfall of his talent. Pancham da created such music that it has remained with us forever.”