“Times Of Music”, a show that honours film composers of India, released its tenth episode last weekend. This episode deviated from the show’s regular format, inviting a film composer and rock band to do a tribute to yesteryear’s legendary composer S.D. Burman. It also commemorates another composer who was honoured with the National Award thrice in his lifetime; host and composer Vishal Dadlani said it best, “Here is one man who did not get his due, the one who always went against the tide, Jaidev Sahab”.   

Agnee as a rock band is a believer in evolution of music and as they were to present S.D Burman’s song “Roop Tera Mastana”, guitar player Koco admits, “Although it was exciting for me to revisit the songs, I was also on the edge about how much we could really mess with such iconic tunes”. It must be said that the show offers enough room for the respective musicians to express their ideas in the most organic ways possible. It must be reiterated that in the context of Indian music shows, this is usually never seen or experienced. Agnee vocalist Mohan says, “What is very special about this particular show is that we were recording everything live. It was nice that despite it being a TV shoot, we were able to perform live as a band and the effort felt genuine and not pre-programmed or miming a track’.

Amit Trivedi comes across as rather emotional in this episode as he talks about discovering composer Jaidev’s work on the movie ‘Hum Dono’ which he admits mistaking as S.D. Burman’s compositions. He further reveals about digging deeper with his team to choose ‘Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam’, a song that really moved him. His rendition is a brilliant take on it. 

File Picture: Jaidev and Lata Mangeshkar

Both Agnee and Amit Trivedi contribute to the songs with their individual characteristic sounds. Mohan describes the beginning of their interpretation of ‘Roop Tera Mastana’ as sounding nothing like the original and complete new addition of their take on the film situation of the song. Dadlani agrees, “That to me was the highlight of the song, the way that introduction flows into the original main part”. Amit Trivedi collaborates with his lyricist friend Ozil Dalal for additional lyrics building a new section thus adding a lucent feature to create a very moving rendition for the live audience. The composer could't stop his tears from rolling down right after the performance owing to the powerful lyric and composition of the song.

‘Times Of Music’ keeps an eye on the present as it carefully weaves in social messaging while focusing on the idea of music being at the core of it. Discussing the relevance of the song chosen by Amit, Dadlani acknowledges the presence of Ravindra Singh Rautela, D.I.G CRPF who declares that there is no divide based on religion, caste, region or language in any of the military forces across navy, air force, army or even the CRPF. 

There are certain realisations that work beautifully as take-aways from the show, all participants collectively agreeing especially about Jaidev. Dadlani introduces him as a composer who didn’t get his due as Amit Trivdei corroborates further; "Not too many people know about Jaidev Sahab's works". However, the essential realisation is about the eternal quality of a song like ‘Allah Tero Naam Ishwar Tero Naam’. Trivedi explains, “This song was relevant 60 years ago and is as relevant today becoming the actual need of the hour”. Dadlani further elucidates about the song's ability to transcend into mass consciousness as it inspires a very basic, raw and profound human emotion. “One always feels that he or she already knows this song even if they listen to it for the first time”, he reiterates. 

‘Times Of Music’ feels like a platform that is free of all the baggage of a music show. It creates a warm and genuine world that keeps it real for all musicians. It also offers a great opportunity for many prodigious talents in music to come together backing these mammoth collaborations. Bassist Rushad Mistry, drummer Darshan Doshi, singer/vocal conductor Rajiv Sundaresan, guitarist Rhythm Shaw, keyboardist Jarvis Menezes and Raja Deb contribute immensely as part of an impressive line-up of musicians that serve as the backing bands for the composers.

Watch Episode 10 on MX Player.