MARK KERMODE’S MOVIE PLAYLIST

THE CRITIC AND SCALA RADIO PRESENTER CHOOSES SCORES HE’S BEEN PLAYING ON HIS WEEKLY SHOW

GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI

Director/writer/producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who helmed the Bafta-nominated Devdas, also shares song-writing credits on the six-track EP from this adventurous Bollywood gem, which has become something of a fixture on my Scala Radio show. Inspired by the book Mafia Queens Of Mumbai, the film features a barnstorming central performance by Alia Bhatt as the woman who escapes a life of sexual slavery to become a powerful advocate for the rights of sex-workers in Mumbai’s red-light district. The subject matter may be tough, but the film has a thrillingly mainstream edge thanks to some typically enthralling dance and musical fantasy sequences. Soundtrack highlights include ‘Jab Saiyaan’, in which Shreya Ghoshal’s vocals intertwine with a harmonium and a sarangi; ‘Dholida’, which has been tipped by Firstpost’s Devansh Sharma to “dominate the dandiya season later this year”; and the gorgeous ‘Muskurahat’, featuring the voice of Arijit Singh, known as ‘The King Of Playback Singing’. Worth noting, too, that among the film’s many dedications is one to the legendary Lata Mangeshkar, whose work we’ve featured many times on Scala.

TED K

Benjamin John Power, aka Blanck Mass, composed my favourite film score of 2020, for the powerful Irish drama Calm With Horses. His latest score is for Ted K, starring Sharlto Copley as the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski. We previewed the main theme. ‘Montana’, on Scala prior to the digital release of the OST — a vinyl release is also on the way. Benjamin told us, “‘Montana’ landed with director Tony Stone almost instantly and paved the sonic identity for the landscape of the score. The opening scene seemed very reminiscent of Sergio Leone with its sense of isolation. From here on in, scoring the complexities of Ted’s mind took many different shapes, but the overriding feeling of isolation and descent never strayed too far.”

ARTHUR RAMBO

French experimental electronic composer Chloé Thévenin’s film projects have included a 2012 live performance of music for the BFI’S restoration of Hitchcock’s silent classic, Blackmail. Her latest feature score is for Laurent Cantet’s Arthur Rambo, which follows the “sharp rise and sudden fall” of a writer in the social-media age. We’ve been playing ‘A La Dérive’, which, to my ear, has echoes of Tangerine Dream’s pulsing music for Sorcerer — another Scala favourite.