Over the past few days, many people have been talking about Vikramaditya Motwane’s Jubilee, the 10-episode series released in two instalments on Amazon Prime. It’s about the Hindi film industry in the late 1940s and the 1950s, and some of the characters and events symbolise what actually happened. Two highlights are the songs composed by Amit Trivedi and the stunning background music by Alokananda Dasgupta, which has its own personality and colour.
Amit’s music is a tribute to the great composers, and one finds liberal doses of the styles of S.D. Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, C. Ramchandra and O.P. Nayyar. The opening whistle of ‘Dil Jahan Pe Le Chala’ is straight off the Nau Do Gyarah song ‘Hum Hai Rahi Pyaar Ke’, though the rest of the track takes its own course. The children’s chorus on ‘Chandu Naacha’ is reminiscent of ‘Ichak Daana’ (Shree 420), and ‘Babuji Bhole Bhale’ has the naughty fizz of ‘Shola Jo Bhadke’ (Albela). There’s a short Hridaynath Mangeshkar passage from te Marathi song ‘Mee Dolkar’ in ‘Dariyacha Raja’, and ‘Saare Ke Saare Akele’ could well have been part of Pyaasa.
Yet, all this isn’t a blind copy. They are just ‘jhalaks’ or deliberate hangovers that bring out the charm of the music from that era. Kausar Munir’s lyrics go perfectly with the period setting, and singers Sunidhi Chauhan, Vaishali Made, Papon and Mohammed Irfan adapt their delivery styles to sound like they’re part of that era. Check the way Irfan and Vaishali sing ‘Udankhatole’, specially the way they use the word ‘zamaana’. There’s the quintessential mujra-ghazal, with Sunidhi singing ‘Voh Tere Mere Ishq Ka’, and there are the marvellous romantic duets ‘Itni Si Hai Dastaan’ and ‘Itraati Chali’. Each of the 12 songs (‘Dil Jahaan Pe’ is in two versions) has that vintage aura, making it one of the most charming and well-orchestrated soundtracks in a while.
A few observations can be made after listening to Jubilee. One is that Amit’s skills at doing period music are at some other level. We saw that in Bombay Velvet, Lootera and more recently Qala, where the songs ‘Ghodey Pe Sawaar’, ‘Phero Na Najariya’ and ‘Shauq’ impressed not only the older generation, but even youngsters, who used them in social media reels. Secondly, Amit’s track record has received a further boost in the past two years. In 2022, he did nine films, including Badhaai Do, Uunchai and Qala. This year, he’s also done Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, which has only three tracks, including the popular ‘Shubho Shubho’. Thirdly, two of his recent releases – Qala and Jubilee – have been OTT releases. The success of both is an indication that this medium can be used to provide popular music, as long as the content is good and it is marketed adequately.
It's been 15 years since Amit made his debut with Aamir, though the first real taste of success came the following year with Dev D. It was a path-breaking soundtrack every which way, and songs like ‘Emosanal Atyachaar’, ‘Pardesi’ and ‘Payaliya’ became big hits. He did only one song in Wake Up Sid, but ‘Iktara’ sung by Kavita Seth is popular even today. It was at this point, around 2010, that industry-watchers predicted he would be the successor to A.R. Rahman.
Yet, there were ups and downs. There were fabulous soundtracks like Udaan, English Vinglish, Aisha, Kai Po Che!, Lootera, Ishaqzaade, Queen and Bombay Velvet, which was set in the 1960s jazz era in Bollywood. But there was a lot of riff-raff too. There was a phase after 2015 when the overall quality of film music fell, and Amit had only the odd success in films like Udta Punjab, Manmarziyaan, Andhadhun and Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl. He launched his own independent label AT Azaad but after the initial buzz, things have been slow.
Qala gave a fresh fillip to his career, with singers Sireesha Bhagavatula and Shahid Mallya getting admiration. It’s still early to predict how long the charm of Jubilee will last, but there’s no denying its sheer brilliance and nostalgic grandeur. Those watching Jubilee, of course, could be specially advised to check Alokananda’s background score. It’s a class apart.
