By Subhash K Jha

In what could be seen as a radical step ahead for music composers plagued by the presence of outside composers in their albums the Cine Music Association on Thursday evening agreed to take steps to stop producers from bringing in outside composers in a soundtrack.

While in the past such intervention was unheard-of, in recent times the presence of two and three composers in one film soundtrack has become prevalent.

Pritam Chakraborty who attended the meeting said, “I’ve been both the aggrieved and aggrieving party. I’ve found composers being brought into my album without my consent. At the same time I’ve also been unconsciously composing extra songs for movies without knowing I’m impinging on a colleague’s territory. This has to stop. All of us music director have to stop accepting songs for soundtracks when another composer has been officially signed to do the album.”

The historic meeting on Thursday afternoon was attended by composers Pritam, Anu Malik, Vishal Bhardwaj and Sulaiman Merchant.

Wondered Pritam, “Where were the other music directors? The problem is we never have unity within the music ranks. That’s why we can never fight problems like piracy and multiple composers in a soundtrack.”

Elaborating on the menace of several music directors doing one soundtrack Pritam said, “Earlier can you imagine a producer bringing Laxmikant-Pyarelal to do one track in an R D Burman score? Or Naushad Saab allowing Madan Mohan Saab to do a few songs? It’s because we music directors are looking for quick success that such things happen.”

-Sampurn Media