In today’s world of remix culture, the pure essence of soulful music, non-synthetic sound has been lost in oblivion. BIG Music is bringing back the eternal melodies, magical compositions seamlessly weaved in filmmaker Amol Palekar’s latest creation ‘SAMAANTAR’, a BIG Pictures production that is all set to release on September 4, 2009. The music for this Marathi magnum opus starring AMOL PALEKAR and SHARMILA TAGORE was released amid much fanfare at Cinemax Versova on Wednesday, August 12, 2009.

Present at the music launch of Samaantar was the film’s entire star cast and crew– Amol Palekar, Samir Dharmadhikari, Aishwarya Narkar, Radhika Apte, Sandip Mehta, Rishi Deshpande, Makarand Deshpande, Vandana Gupte, story, screenplay and dialogue writer Sandhya Gokhale, lyricist Kishore Kada aka Saumitra, music director Anand Modak. The film is about two parallel lives crossing each other in the twilight of life.

Anand Modak has composed the music of Samaantar, while Kishore Kadam– both of whom were present at the music launch, has penned the soulful lyrics for the songs. Shankar Mahadevan and Shreya Ghoshal, who have lent their mesmerizing voices to the songs of the film, performed at the music launch of Samaantar.

Samaanatar presents an intense story through alluring characters of Keshav and Shama. Keshav’s melancholy amidst his busy surroundings is well carved by Palekar, who is acting after his last film Khamosh directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Thirty years after his Ankahee, Palekar has directed and acted in his own film. Legendary Sharmila Tagore who is acting in a Marathi film for the first time depicts Shama’s silent poise through marvelous performance. The two prolific actors have come together after their Bengali super hit film ‘Mother’ in late 70s.

For Amol Palekar, the music done by Anand Modak is completely in sync with the texture of the film. “Anand has capably conveyed the various emotions and changing rhythms of the script through his compositions. Anand’s strength is in his melodies rooted in classical as well as folk music,” he said.

Kishore Kadam who is immensely popular as “Saumitra” among the younger generations has penned the lyrics for all the songs in ‘Samaantar’. “These songs are based on the diverse modes of relationships. Amolda and Snadhyaji briefed me very clearly about the demands of the situations and emotions. That made my task easier as a lyricist.” Kadam explained.

Sandhya Gokhale who brilliantly inscribed music in the earlier screenplays written by her for films like Paheli, Thaang, or conceived Dhrupad music in Anaahat is very excited with the winning score of Samaantar. “This music which synthesizes sensitive poetry and unforgettable tunes will be etched in our mind forever,” added the writer who is also trained in Hindustani classical music.

“Nuste Nuste”, a song sung by Shankar Mahadevan and Shreya Ghoshal in Samaantar, exudes hope while traversing through loneliness. This melodious song shot stunningly on scenic locations will surely hypnotize the audience for years to come. “Kay Jahale, tula manaa re…” is yet another song that will move the audience, touching their heart. The two talented singers brightened the music launch evening by singing these soulful songs.

Anand Modak, who has composed the music for Samaantar, said, “Many non-Marathi singers like Hemant Kumar, Manna De, Mahendra Kapoor had lent their voices to Marathi film music. I am grateful to Amolji who offered me brilliant singers like Shankar and Shreya. Their accent is as Marathi as it could be!”

“Navika Re hati tujhya…” brings out the authentic fragrance of a majhi (boatman’s) song that was immortalized by the late S.D. Burman. “I have experimented with the majhi rhythm and tune which suited the situation-taking place on the banks of river Ganges. Sudesh Bhosale has superbly brought out the pathos of the boatman’s yearning,” added Modak.

While hoping that the audience will patronize this fresh music richly, Mahesh Ramanathan, COO of BIG Pictures said, “We are proud to unveil a stupendous gift in the form of audio CD of Samaantar to eclectic music lovers.”

-Sampurn Media

Ooh la la la… Do you have music in you– was an opportunity that both excited and challenged the ‘Best of the next’ Tamil and Telugu bands. It beckoned every musician who aimed to make it big and enthrall one and all… And out they came, performed and conquered.

Championed by The Mozart of Madras himself, Oscar winner, A.R.Rahman, Ooh La La La, a nationwide band talent hunt, aimed at bringing out the hidden talent of musicians worldwide and gave them a platform to perform.

Breaking free of the clutter, the bands were tested for ‘originality’, ‘ability to perform live’, ‘skills to develop and produce new sounds and melodies’ qualities that really distinguish the best from the rest. Ooh La La La soon caught the fancy of all Sun TV Prime time viewers having been implemented as ground event in fourteen cities.

The budding Bands performed with soul and gusto while Rahman and other judges, all lead musicians were mesmerized. Conventions were challenged when all the six finalist bands, Zinx, Oxygen, V3, Agam, Madras Tunes and Shrishti were crowned the winners for Tamil and all three finalist bands, Catharsis, Band of Boys and Audio League were crowned the winners for Telugu. Thus, the show did what Saregama and Rahman do best, make History!

Part of the spoils is an album by Saregama, which has tracks performed by all the winners! It’s been recorded at A.M. Studios (of Jai ho fame) and is all set to be launched on, 7th August 2009.

This date is also the 1st anniversary of A.R. Rahman’s school of music, KM Conservatory, initiated with his vision to take Indian musicians and singers to a global level. Thus aptly on this date, A.R. Rahman and Saregama, (erstwhile HMV India), are initiating a project aimed at generating a ‘Need for Learning’ among Children. Across the world, Education has the emerged as the single biggest weapon to combat poverty. Our endeavor is to create a Love for Learning among Kids as young as toddlers. The project, titled “Sing Along Rhymes with A.R.Rahman, comprises of a volume of Nursery Rhymes, a special song on the them “Learning is Fun”. The music is composed by KM Conservatory, Music Supervised by A.R.Rahman, and Produced by Saregama India Limited.

-Sampurn Media

The Oscar winning sound designer Resool Pukkuty, who won hearts of millions for his work in the Oscar winning movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, is now back with his first Indian movie after Slumdog’s Success. The movie titled ‘Pazhassi Raja’ will be released in 5 different languages including Hindi and English. The movie features stalwarts like Mammoothy, Sarath Kumar and many others. The story is by M T Vasudevan, and music is graced by the great Illayaraja.

The movie, Pazhassi Raja dates back to 1797 and is about a King who probably is one of the first ones to ignite the light of freedom movement in our country, even before the revolt of 1857. Interestingly, the movie will be Resool’s first movie in his mother tongue- Malayalam for which he is designing the sound. He was so impressed with the movie that he decided to be a part of the movie at any cost even while the movie was at its postproduction stage He says, “I got Pazhassi Raja when the shooting of the movie was complete. And like most movies in the south, Pazhassi raja was shot entirely without music. It came as a challenge to create music for a movie that doesn’t belong to this era.”

Understanding the grandeur of this epic, Resool decided to recreate the sound of the 18th century era using all natural elements. “It is a period film and we live in the contemporary world. It was difficult to recreate every detail of the sound for scenes from the battlefields and for the footsteps of the Brahmins who didn’t wear leather footwear. So I took a team of 200 men to the actual locations of the movie and recreated the sounds,” says Resool.

39-year-old Resul Pookutty is an Academy Award and BAFTA Award winning Indian film sound designer, sound engineer and sound editor and mixer. He won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for the film Slumdog Millionaire. A 1995 graduate from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, he has previously worked in some of the most high profile Indian films such as ‘Black’, Saawariya’, ‘Gandhi, my father’ and ‘Ghajini’.

-Sampurn Media

Trust Ajay Devgan to surprise us with the most unusual antics!

If you thought that making the most expensive Bollywood song and performing a somersault in a car for his upcoming film ‘All The Best’ was crazy enough, here’s some more news… The producer- actor launched the music of the film at Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak temple on Friday!

The entire team of the film, including Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, and Mugdha Godse along with Director Rohit Shetty visited the temple on Friday morning to launch the music of the film. Giving them company were music director Pritam and Krishan Kumar representing T-Series (as head honcho Bhushan Kumar was not in town).

Bollywood stars, producers and directors visiting temples at the time of a film’s release in not a new phenomena, but a producer actually releasing the music of his film at a temple was something unheard of in Bollywood so far!

Interestingly, Ajay Devgan picked up Fardeen from his Juhu residence and went straight to Sanjay Dutt’s place at Bandra, where Bipasha and Mugdha were already present. The team then left together from Sanjay’s place for the temple at Prabhadevi; a clear sign of the camaraderie amongst the cast members.

The promos of ‘All The Best’ are already high on the popularity charts with their fresh and colorful illustrations and music director Pritam has created some rocking numbers for this comic caper; including 5 songs and 2 remixes packed in the audio CD.

Produced by Ajay Devgan Films and directed by Rohit Shetty, ‘All The Best– Fun Begins’ is a rib-tickling comedy resulting from mistaken identities and hilarious goof-ups.

Starring Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu and Mugdha Godse, this Diwali Dhamaka packs in some breath-taking locales, extravagant sets and a carnival of colors!

Looking at Ajay Devgan’s passion towards his films, we are sure that all the gods will be smiling down on him!

-Sampurn Media

Plug in your ear-phones, as there’s real cool music coming your way! BIG Music brings you the soundtrack from David Dhawan’s latest offering Do Knot Disturb, a film that brings back the duo that always makes you laugh out loud- Jodi No. 1, David Dhawan and Govinda. Adding to the entire experience is Nadeem-Shravan’s music. Do Knot Disturb set to release worldwide on October 2, is a co-production between BIG Pictures and Vashu Bhagnani’s Puja Films.

Do Knot Disturb’s music was launched yesterday on 25 August 2009. Govinda, David Dhawan, the film’s producer Vashu Bhagnani, music director Shravan from Nadeem-Shravan duo, lyricist Sameer and singers Neeraj Shridhar and Anushka Manchanda were present on this occasion. Actors Riteish Deshmukh and Lara Dutta joined via videoconference from London, which was the event’s highlight.

Music director duo Nadeem-Shravan has created the music album of Do Knot Disturb. Retro, bhangra, rap….you’ll find something for every mood here! The key songs ‘Mere Naal’ and ‘Bebo’ capture two distinctive moods. ‘Mere Naal’ has a distinctive Punjabi tadka, with its infectious bhangra beats. This song is high on energy, with a strong hook and has all the makings of a chartbuster. K.K., Jigar Saraiya, Shreya Ghoshal and Nitika Kanwar pump up the tempo with their enthusiastic renditions. The track is shot on Lara, Govinda and Ritesh with lavish backdrops.

‘Bebo’ has vocals by Neeraj Shridhar and Anushka Manchanda who add verve and attitude to this song. Picturised on Lara Dutta and Ritesh Deshmukh in the locales of Dubai, the song has a super cool, youthful feel.

“Do Knot Disturb’s music is sure to be a hit with today’s youth. The numbers are so danceable, you just can’t stop!” says David Dhawan. Vashu Bhagnani, the producer of the film says “Nadeem-Shravan have created superlative music in this film. It will go down very well with our audience.” While music director Shravan says, “Do Knot Disturb’s music has something for everybody. The six songs encapsulate different moods and as always, have a variety of melodies.

” Other than these, there’s also ‘Zulfaen Khol Khal Ke’, a naughty and flirty number sung by Sonu Nigam and Anuradha Sriram; ‘Don’t Ever Leave Me’, a foot-tapping and breezy song by Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal, the eminently hummable ‘Beautiful Woman’ by Neeraj Shridhar and Sowmya Raoh and the peppy and pulsating title song ‘Do Knot Disturb’ by T. K. Karthik and Anushka Manchanda.

"The music of Do Knot Disturb is sure to be a rage in the party circuit. It’s toe-tapping and catchy,” says Kulmeet Makkar, CEO, BIG Music. While Sunir Kheterpal, COO, BIG Pictures notes, "Films directed by David Dhawan have always had vastly popular music and Do Knot Disturb highlights it yet again. The music will grow on audiences and listeners, as we move towards the film’s release."

In another innovation, this is the first time a music company in India has launched a major Bollywood blockbuster’s music on a SD (Secure Digital) card, that enables listeners to load and store this in their mobile phones and MP3 players. And in addition to Audio CDs and cassettes, audiences can also download the music content from Do Knot Disturb onto their mobiles.

Viju Shah, Tauseef Akhtar, Amzad Nadeem Sachin and Jigar have arranged the music on the album. All songs have been mixed and mastered by Eric Pillai of Future Sound of Bombay.

Starring Govinda, Riteish Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Sushmita Sen, Sohail Khan and Ranvir Sheorey Do Knot Disturb is an absolute tickle fest.

-Sampurn Media

Welcome, to a world of cinematic lushness, orchestral delights, global voices, rhythms, vintage synthesizers and electronic bleeps. This is Bombay Dub Orchestra– the remarkable debut album “3 Cities” from the U.K.-based duo of Garry Hughes and Andrew T. Mackay. This debut album “3 Cities” is launched by one of the largest music archive in India- Saregama.

Bombay Dub Orchestra is music that will stroke the senses and enamor the soul, with its uniquely brilliant crossover of orchestral arrangements, modern, lush beats and synthesizers and a heavy slant to the music of India. The name "Bombay Dub Orchestra" conjures up visions of the garish pop of Bollywood’s song-and-dance numbers, or the reverb-drenched, proto-psychedelic sounds of Jamaican dub, this music creates and sustains a very different mood.

It all began some seven years ago when producer Garry Hughes and string arranger-composer Andrew T. Mackay, came to India to record some of that city’s top session players for a project. The goal, according to Hughes and Andrew was simple: “to explore music that no one else had so far done.”

The majority of the music was written in the U.K., in Hughes countryside studio and Mackay’s West London studio. In March 2005, Mackay and Hughes finally returned to Bombay and began putting the final elements of their long-awaited debut album together.

"During that week, we recorded a 28-piece string section (12 violins, 8 violas and 8 cellos) on 10 different tracks. We recorded the orchestra several times to achieve the multilayered arrangements that we had scored." They recorded the best of Bombay’s Indian classical musicians-including leading players of the sitar, sarangi, tabla, bansuri (wooden flute) and some memorable vocal performances.

As Hughes explains, "The great thing about Indian classical music is that it’s all about improvisation. With Western classical musicians, it’s sometimes hard to give them a melody and say, run with it. The vocal on “Feel,” by Rakesh Pandit, a young Bombay-based singer brought in by engineering legend Daman Sood was the best outcome.”

Bombay Dub Orchestra also includes a few pieces that share in the album’s more stark classical mood, but which offer a surprising contrast in sound. "Sonata" is, as the name implies, a piece in more of a Western classical mode, featuring Andrew T. Mackay’s piano. Even more striking is “Remembrance,” a lovely, sparse piano solo.

Hughes recalls, “My home is opposite an old church. Andrew went over one Sunday- it was Remembrance Day and the pastor’s theme was remembering the troops. He said that a lot of those people came from places like India and Africa and it was important to remember this when topics like immigration and racism come up. Andrew came back and wrote this piece.”

-Sampurn Media

Palmtree Production Presents “AAJ BBHI” was recently launch with 2 song recording at Kailasa Studios with Javed Ali, Sadhna Sargam, Monali Thakur and Anupriya (Singers), Rohit Sinha (Music Directors), Piyush Chakravarty (Director), (Producer)- P. D. Garg, (Story, Screen Play and Dialogue)- Jyotidev Roy, (Lyrics)- Azim Shirazi, (DOP)- Ashok Chakravarty

Film’s shoot will commence from September this year and casting is in process.

“Aaj Bbhi” is the story of women power, respect, perseverance and will power. Until rites and rituals, superstitions are deep-rooted in this world; only materialistic development will take place. Human as a whole can’t develop until they exist. One needs to undergo changes with their thoughts, beliefs and inner-strengths.

Why such killings, extortions, rape, brutal killing takes place? Since decades and decades, why women has to suffer? Why have people around suppressed her? Why she has no freedom of speech, lifestyle and in action? A woman fulfills roles of a daughter, lover, sister, wife and mother. Without her world and man both are incomplete. But, then she is not valued for her worth.

Film “Aaj Bbhi” is women-centric and deals with all above-mentioned issues. It is a hard-core subject and revolvers around heart-wrenching truth. Film has romance, love, melodious music and songs and emotions. It is a commercial flick with message for the society.

-Sampurn Media

Recently, Saregama Music Company launched the music album “Best of Poets of the fall”. The band comprises of singer Marko, guitarist Olli and keyboardist Captain. They started out their musical adventure from scratch in 2003. Marko sold everything he had to invest in pursuing the love of his life, music, with his buddies Olli and Captain. He moved into his folks’ basement, when he couldn’t keep a place of his own any longer. The guys then built a little studio of their own in Captain’s living room for the recording and producing sessions, and kept an office in Olli’s beat up old car. The result of the recording sessions was a novel blend of pop, rock, metal and industrial sounds.

The band’s first single was Late Goodbye, written for the acclaimed computer game Max Payne 2. Reaching millions of people through the game, the song went number one in Finland, and earned the guys’ international recognition and the first prize at the G.A.N.G. Awards in 2004.

Their debut album Signs of Life went straight to number one on the Finnish album chart in January 2005, and stayed on the chart for over a year. The next album Carnival of Rust, released in April 2006, also hit the number one spot on its first week, with the debut album still on the official Top40 chart. To date, both albums have sold platinum in Finland. The eight singles (including two radio promos) released from the albums have dominated Finnish radios, with the song Carnival of Rust being the most played Finnish song in 2006. The third album Revolution Roulette was released in March 2008 and took the first place on the album chart breaking the gold record limit in just a couple of weeks after its release.

-Sampurn Media

A magical spell was cast on the people who were present at J.W Marriot on Monday evening where the cast and crew of Eros International’s upcoming family entertainer ‘Aladin’ directed by Sujoy Ghosh, came together to launch the music of this eagerly awaited film.

Gracing the music launch was Big B himself, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sunil Lulla of Eros International, Director Sujoy Ghosh, Biren Ghose– Executive Director– Eros International, Music directors Vishal-Shekhar and Singers Shaan and Sunidhi Chauhan.

Sanjay Dutt could not make it due to prior commitments, but he addressed the crowds and wished the team good luck through a special AV clip.

Actor Sahil Khan who also stars in the film came to cheer the team.

Albeit the event taking place on the occasion of Dussera, the media turned out in full force to get the glimpse of the star cast who made a joint appearance for the first time. Needless to say, the guests at the launch were yet again impressed by the excellent music score given by the talented duo Vishal-Shekhar, which consisted mostly of peppy numbers. The romantic track “You May Be” in which Riteish serenades Jacqueline also happens to be the personal favorite of the Sujoy, Riteish and Jacqueline.

Big B who plays a genie called ‘Genius’, also said a few words on his experience of working on this movie.

Riteish Deshmukh, known for his wit had the crowd in splits with his one-liners. However on a serious note, he soon shared his experience on working in this movie and full-filling his life-long dream of working with his favourite ‘uncle’ Mr. Bachchan who has been an iconic figure in his life.

Producer Sunil Lulla commented on the occasion, “Aladin is a bold attempt from Eros to tell a classic story in a refreshing style with visual effects and production values that hopefully Indian audiences have never seen before. We have believed in Sujoy’s vision for the film on how he wants to blend fantasy with reality. The characters and simplicity of the storyline should appeal to every age– young children, youth as well as family audiences. Fun, romance, comedy, good versus evil, great music from Vishal Shekhar and an impressive ensemble of cast led by Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh and debutante Jacqueline Fernandez make Aladin a special treat for all”.

Aladin is the story of a young boy and his adventures along with genie and Jasmine played by Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez. The evil Ring master is played by Sanjay Dutt who wants to kill Aladin, and take back the lamp and reclaim his powers as the Ringmaster was once a genie.

The movie is produced by Eros International in association with Sujoy Ghosh’s production company Boundscript.

Hitting the screens on 30th October, the movie has been the talk of the town for quite some time now and has been creating a rippling excitement amongst the audiences.

-Sampurn Media

Bollywood’s most ambitious and promising project, the much-anticipated underwater extravaganza ‘BLUE’ has added another feather to its cap.

For the first time in Bollywood, this underwater action thriller by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd., pioneered by T-series, launched its music on pen drives and memory chips. And to do the honors were none other than Akshay Kumar and Music Maestro A R Rahman who has composed the soundtrack for the film.

Says Rahman, who is thrilled that his latest album is on a memory chip says, “This is fantastic. What one must ensure is that the sound is of the highest quality.” Rahman, who has worked for the first time with Akshay Kumar, expressed his appreciation at such a move. “It’s a great idea for the movie industry and I was very excited when I heard about the digital release of the music. Anything new is exciting for people and this product would excite those, who believe in owning legitimate music. It is also a gate opener for future expansions, because right now the music is going to have MP3 quality and then in future it could have more high quality WAV files like 96 k, 24 bit and people will definitely enjoy probably four times better than a CD quality of music. So this is a great starting point.”

This initiative to release the music of the film on the digital platform first is being seen by the Indian music industry as a major step towards combating piracy and illegal downloads. Adding to this, Bhushan Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, T-Series said, "The digital platform has become a widespread medium to consume entertainment. India too is seeing a rapid growth of mobile phone and internet users. Keeping this in mind, the digital platform is perfect for the music release of a film like Blue which has already been popularized, in India and internationally, for the music compositions of A. R. Rahman including the hit single with Kylie Minogue. Amongst the many benefits of the digital music launch, the most significant one for us as a music label is a big step towards giving consumers legitimate content and curbing piracy of our content."

The promos of ‘BLUE’ have already created waves both in India and internationally and the ‘Chiggy Wiggy’ track featuring international pop star Kylie Minogue is a rage. The digital music release will allow eager Bollywood and Kylie Minogue fans to access the much awaited soundtrack of the film directly on their mobile phones and digital music devices.

Under the visionary direction of debutant Anthony D’Souza, this oceanic spectacle features Bollywood stars like Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan, Rahul Dev and Katrina Kaif. Blue, which has music composed by Academy Award winner A.R. Rahman, would be the first Bollywood film to have its music released simultaneously on the physical and digital platforms.

Releasing this Diwali, ‘BLUE’ captures the fast paced action, above and below the ocean as never seen before in Indian Cinema

-Sampurn Media