In an industry where friendships are fickle and partnerships fragile, a clutch of professionals continue to stick together to repeat their success stories.
Why do you like working with Vidhu Vinod Chopra?” Musician Shantanu Moitra paused briefly before proceeding to answer the question. We had been chatting for over 30 minutes already, on a rainy evening in Bikaner, against the backdrop of a light drizzle. It was 2005 and Moitra, along with Chopra and the cast and crew of Eklavya: The Royal Guard, had come for the location shoot of the film. “Vidhu actually likes it if I can be on the sets and since I work on the background music of films, being on location shoots helps me understand the filming process better,” he had said. “A creative partnership is hard to break,” Moitra added.
Moitra was talking about how he and Chopra shared a common passion (“Vidhu knows his music well”) in wanting to collaborate on projects that would get their creative juices flowing. So, a couple of months ago, when Moitra created the hit musical score for the mega blockbuster 3 Idiots, one knew that the duo had another winner on their hands. And the comfort level continues to grow, what with Moitra also doubling up as the location consultant for the shoot of 3 Idiots (he had advised Chopra to shoot in Pangong Lake).
In an industry where friendships snap, partnerships are enormously fragile, and egos invariably need constant massage, a clutch of professionals manage to not only stick together but also repeat their success stories time and again. There have been some notable alliances in the past too, including those of music director RD Burman and lyricist Gulzar who created haunting music together. Director/producer Manmohan Desai and actor Amitabh Bachchan gave India some of its best commercial films ever. Down south, it’s hard to imagine Mani Ratnam’s film without A R Rahman’s music. Of course, Bollywood has continued to remain dominated by the Prithviraj Kapoor khaandan, where one Kapoor after the other has, over the years, continued to make films with/for their sons and brothers. Why, there are talks of first cousins Ranbir Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor reviving the RK banner.
Bollywood is also the place where famous and prolific pairings have broken up. Salim-Javed, Lata Mangeshkar-Mohammad Rafi, (they refused to sing duets for nearly three years), Lata-SD Burman (she didn’t sing for him for 14 years), Karan Johar and Jatin-Lalit (the break-up happened at the time of Kabhi Khushi, Kabhi Gham, when Johar roped in Sandesh Shandilya for a couple of songs in the film), are some of the better-known alliances that failed for one reason or the other.
Which is why, the story of break-ups in Bollywood is far more common than enduring partnerships. And that’s a reason why ongoing collaborations, year-after-year, continue to attract our attention. “I think it’s a lot to do with the sort of vibe you share with people in the industry,” feels music director Ehsaan Noorani, who, along with his partners Shankar Mahadevan and Loy Mendonsa has been making music for Karan Johar’s films since 2003. “It’s important to have similar sense of aesthetics but what’s most important is that we get along well as people. As individuals, we relate to one another and that always helps in creativity and successful projects,” adds Noorani. Over the years, the trio has built so much goodwill in the business, that many producers and directors have rarely thought of replacing them. Take director/producer/actor Farhan Akhtar. Way back in the late 90s, he, along with his sister Zoya, had directed the music video of Shankar Mahadevan’s non-film music album Breathless. Later, he signed them up for his debut film Dil Chahta Hai (2001). Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy worked with Akhtar on his subsequent projects, including Lakshya (2003), Don: The Chase Begins Again (2006), Rock On (2008), Karthik Calling Karthik (to be released this year). ”Our partnership has grown over the years.Since I am into music myself, I always thought that I could relate with their sound,” says Akhtar. Interestingly, Zoya had them as music directors for her debut film Luck By Chance (2009) and, not surprisingly, the trio is creating music for her second film too.
But what makes these partnerships so critical? “You have to be ready to adopt and adapt to the other person’s quirks and once that is done, and you’re comfortable, there’s no reason why such alliances shouldn’t continue,” feels Abhay Deol who worked on the storyboard of Anurag Kashyap’s film, Black Friday and was roped in for his film Dev.D. Take the relatively new collaboration of director Anurag Kashyap with music director Amit Trivedi, for instance. Trivedi was recommended by singer Shilpa Rao to Kashyap who was looking for a new music director for his film Dev.D. Today, Trivedi and Kashyap have struck a chord and are working on projects like Chillar Party, Udaan and Bombay Velvet.
Director and actor Rajat Kapoor, who along with actors Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey has routinely given us enjoyable films (Bheja Fry, Mixed Doubles, Mithya), says, “I make low-budget films and for that I need like-minded people to help me in executing my vision. That’s the reason we've stuck together. They also understand me at a personal level and that helps.”
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Music director/director/producer Vishal Bharadwaj agrees that it’s important to be able to share your creative thoughts. For someone who began his innings as a music director in Gulzar’s directorial venture Maachis (1997), today, it’s tough to imagine Bharadwaj’s haunting melodies without Gulzar’s mesmerising lyrics. “Vishal is an extension of me... a part of me,” says Gulzar. But what’s made them stick together for so many years? “We are extremely open with each other. He considers me his father but he has the freedom to tell me if he doesn’t like something that I’ve written,” adds Gulzar. For those of us who’ve enjoyed the Gulzar-Vishal partnership, it wouldn’t be wrong to call it an extension (of sorts) of what Gulzar shared with music director RD Burman.
Whoever said Bollywood rarely had happy endings?