‘The movie failed, so the music failed’

Says composer Amit Trivedi, who believes that Bombay Velvet’s music flopped because the film flopped

Music composer Amit Trivedi (right) had hoped his all-jazz soundtrack for Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet would change the jazz scene in the country, but the album did not get its due credit because of the film’s failure, he says. “The soundtrack suffered because the movie failed. We didn’t expect that the movie will bomb so badly. Even if it’d done average or above-average business, it would’ve helped the music a lot,” he says adding, “That put the music on the backfoot; the music was part of the whole screenplay and the film’s milieu.”

The composer, who has given hits like Iktara, Manjha, and Ishaqzaade among others also believes that the soundtrack of Bombay Velvet would have made people more aware of jazz in the country. “Indian audiences aren’t wellversed with jazz. So it was an experiment, which some liked and some did not. People who understand jazz have liked it but for those who don’t get jazz, the music went above their heads. If the film had worked it would’ve changed the course of jazz scene in the country.”

However, Trivedi thinks he still hasn’t been able to gauge the pulse of the audience. “It’s never easy to gauge the pulse of the audience as every six months, their taste changes, and we have to keep adapting to it. But the crux, the soul of the melody has to be strong. There is no formula,” he says.

If the film had done average business or above average business, then also it would’ve helped the music a lot Amit Trivedi, composer

PHOTO: VIDYA SUBRAMANIAN/HT