Altering tunes: It’s time for music documentaries to get into the highlight

“The growth of music documentaries is necessary right now. Music is a very unappreciated art form. People respect music, but the highlight always goes to the actor, and music takes a mild backseat, even though music is the first thing that starts the process of any film. When it comes to music documentaries which talk about the life of a musician, or a concert film, they covers the hardships to be a musician and to be in the music industry,” says singer Benny Dayal, including, “There is a lot of thought process which goes into making music. Now, with the streaming scene and numbers, it has become a very competitive scenario, so it is really necessary that we speak about the life of musicians and the hard work they put into bringing different and diverse tunes.””.

After the latest rise in reputation of music biopics resembling Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody, the main focus has shifted to music documentaries. The narrative can be present process a change as they’re now not restricted to only concert events and life tales. In addition they throw mild on the trimmings of being a celeb, and generally seize the album manufacturing course of.

Be it J-Hope within the Field, which is about his journey as a solo artist, or an inside glimpse of Ed Sheeran’s life with Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All, or Taylor Swift opening up about her battle with media scrutiny with Miss Americana, or Selena Gomez: My Thoughts & Me giving us a revealing portrait of Selena Gomez and her wrestle. That’s not it, there are documentaries on concert events as effectively resembling Homecoming: A Movie by Beyoncé, which is an in-depth have a look at her celebrated 2018 Coachella efficiency.

Shut house, in India, Shut Up Sona was one such challenge, and not too long ago, a documentary based mostly on the lifetime of singer-composer Yo Yo Honey Singh was introduced.

Opening up in regards to the rising pattern, Shut Up Sona director Deepti Gupta shares, “The coming of music documentaries in India is very important in India because of the way music business has become”.

“The big labels are not supporting the artists the way they used to. Earlier, we used to have certain channels to play music, which have just disappeared… With the change in the nature of business, there is no access to stories of an artist, and the internal making process. The glimpse into the music is very important, and it is a positive trend. Also, because we are a music driven nation, with a good independent music scene despite the presence of Bollywood. These documentaries also give a chance to explore different angles, like Shut Up Sona was a piece on female artists.There is Prateek Kuhad, Sona Mohapatra, RajaKumari — all these people stand for something different. Music documentaries as a genre is something we look forward to,” she provides.

Explaining it additional, producer Guneet Monga Kapoor, who’s backing Honey Singh challenge, says, “Music is becoming more and more independent and it’s popularity is gaining massive inroads… This wave has given us iconic personalities from the music industry who transcend the space of being singers to being public figures who are adored and loved immensely. For us, Honey Singh is one such persona whose life has been written about in so many aspects, but I feel this story needs to be layered and told in a way to have a better, deep dive understanding”.

Nonetheless, not each story has the potential to work. “Documentaries are getting a lot of traction in the world, and Honey Singh is a fascinating personality with lots of ups and downs. That aspect makes the story interesting, his journey from being a superstar to an underdog,” says director Mozez Singh.

Singer Lizaa Malik, then again, feels one ought to neglect the authenticity of the story. “Our part of the world is super late to gain popularity. The most important thing the makers must keep in mind is that in the race of being commercially successful, we must not tamper with the facts and turn it into fiction… If we are making a documentary then we must keep the essence alive,” she ends.