Vishal-Shekhar are today’s successful muswere paid off when they won Filfare R D Burman Award for New Music Talent for the movie “Jhankar Beats”. They usually combine techno music with Indian sounds.

Vishal Dadlani is also the vocalist of Mumabi-based electronic band “Pentagram”, and even was a VJ at one point of time for Channel V.

Vishal’s band was voted “Artist of the Month” by MTV. They also won the Channel V Award for “Best Live Band”.ic director duo in Bollywood industry. They have made their presence felt strongly in the industry by giving super hit music for movies like Salam Namaste, Dus, Bluffmaster, Golman and many more. Espacially they have made a special place in the hearts of the youth with their lively youthful music scores.

Their efforts

As Music Director they composed music for following movies: -

Ta Ra Rum Pum (April 27, 2007)
Cash (film) (April 2007)
Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd. (February 2, 2007)
De Taali (2007)
Happy Birthday(December 2007)
I See You (2006)
Golmaal (2006 film) (2006)
Tathastu (2006)
Taxi Number 9211 (2006)
Zinda (2006)
Bluffmaster (2005)
Ek Ajnabee (2005)
Salaam Namaste (2005)
Dus (2005)
Shabd (2005)
Musafir (2004)
Stop! (2004)
Shukriya (2004)
Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao (2004)
Shaadi Ka Laddoo (2004)
Krishna Cottage (2004)
Rudraksh (2004)
Plan (2004)
Jhankaar Beats (2003)
Supari (2003)
Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (1999)

As Lyricist:-

I See You (2006)
Golmaal (2006 film) (2006)
Taxi Number 9211 (2006)
Zinda (2006)
Bluffmaster (2005)
Ek Ajnabee (2005)
Home Delivery (2005)
My Brother Nikhil (2005)
Karam (2005)
Shabd (2005)
Stop! (2004)
Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao(2004)
Shaadi Ka Laddoo (2004)
Jhankaar Beats (2003)
Supari (2003)
Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (1999)

Background Music Composer: -

I See You (2006)
Taxi Number 9211 (2006)
Bluffmaster (2005)
Home Delivery (2005)

Playback Singer: -

Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007)
I See You (2006)
Dhoom 2 (2006)
Golmaal (2006 film) (2006)
Taxi Number 9211 (2006)
Bluffmaster (2005)
Ek Ajnabee (2005)
Home Delivery (2005)
Karam (2005)
Shabd (2005)
Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao (2004)
Krishna Cottage (2004)
Jhankaar Beats (2003)
Supari (2003)

Indian rock's all good

An Indian rock band singing in English has managed to nail the balance between traditional rock music, song-writing and a new range of sounds

 
ROCK SOLID Pentagram's new album has carved for itself a pride of place on Indian music charts

The idea behind the title of Pentagram's latest album, It's Ok, It's All Good, says guitarist Randolph Correia, was to put out a peaceful, "chill-out" message. "We wanted to say that it's all good, that the scene isn't dying or anything..."

And certainly, if the country's response to the first video from the album and to the album itself is anything to go by, for Pentagram, it really is all good. After all, within the first few weeks of the album's release, it has carved for itself a pride of place on Indian music charts, a feat that's usually unheard of for an Indian rock band singing in English. Glance through reviews of the album, and you find that this success is often attributed to the fact that It's Ok, It's All Good pushes the boundaries of the band's sound, without losing sight of the core identity of the band.

"We've been basically trying to define how rock music in 2006 (when the album was originally due to release), in the 21st century should sound like, and I think it's a good definition. I think we've really nailed the balance between traditional rock music and song-writing and a new range of sounds," says Randolph.

Industry watchers would of course attribute some of the success to the innovative campaign surrounding the first video, "Voice". Built on the concept of a user-generated video, the video has been assembled from a collection of videos sent in by fans as part of a promotion by Nokia and VH1. The response to the competition was rather significant, with the band receiving 991 entries, according to Vishal Dadlani, the band's vocalist and one half of the music-composer duo, Vishal -Shekhar. And the song itself has acquired an iconic status with rock music fans in the country. "There hasn't been a single show where fans didn't know every line of the song," says Vishal.

"At a recent show in Delhi, I only sang the first line and the crowd completed the rest. You hear about these things, and when it happens to you it's just beautiful. Like Sting says, it feels like walking on the moon." And with the success of the video, the band has also now begun to concentrate more seriously on conversing with its fans, and listening more to their voice.

"It's incredible to see other people interpret our music, to realise what everyone else gets from our songs. We've only recently started talking to fans on Orkut, but we're really glad whenever someone touches base with us on the Pentagram community," says Vishal. Incredible as the success of the album has been, Vishal points out that the journey with It's Ok, It's All Good has only just begun, as the rest of the year will see a major international touring effort to promote the album. On the cards is an Australian tour around July, followed by a hectic college season here between October and January, and rounded off with a U.S. tour early in 2008, during which time the band also hopes to hit the music festival circuit in a big way.

And for the long haul, says Randolph, the effort is to put out an album each year, as well as encourage the music scene and make it more conducive for other Indian rock bands to find their space. "We're trying to channelise the music, help bands reach their fans by setting up and bettering the infrastructure. We need to help the record label and the band hook up with event organisers, the media, the techie guys that can sell the band on the internet and the t-shirt and merchandise guys. If you can do all that then you have a scene." Some of that work, the band carries out through its associate projects such as the artiste management company Only Much Louder, and the new record label Counter Culture Records. . And Vishal is confident that given time these and other initiatives could help Indian rock music go the whole nine yards. Certainly, Pentagram is already on its way there.

RAKESH MEHAR

Thanks to an alert regular on this blog, we now have the first reaction from Raja Hasan’s mentor Vishal Dadlani on the entire rigging and fixing issue by Zee TV and Saregampa.

In an Orkut scrap conversation, a user Smiti asked Vishal the below:

Hi Vishal ji, When will we see you and Shekhar Ji again on TV?…I was so sad when Raja lost infact I cried a lot , but am so happy that he has got good mentors like you plz send my wishes to Raja as well .

Vishal, using his official Orkut profile, in turn responded with the following one-liner:

Yeah, they cheated, but I still feel like we won!

This is obviously big news, as it comes from a composer duo who have been extremely diplomatic on the show.

Now, why did Vishal really go on to make these comments which he knew would be open to the entire world to view? Is this an info leak that has been meticulously planned?

In all this is the third person from the Saregamapa show who has now spoken out against the fixing by Zee which was managed by Ashish Kaul personally. First, it was Ismail Darbar, whose comments have been well documented. Next, it was Mussarat Abbas himself, who did admit the same in a telephonic conversation to Padma. And Now Vishal himself.

More proof, guys, more proof. Who’s next in line to speak out the truth?

Music composers Vishal-Shekhar to launch their own music label to promote talented musicians

Music directors Vishal and Shekhar are launching their own label. After giving chart-busting music for Om Shanti Om, Vishal-Shekhar will be giving a break to and promoting new talent under their label, Vishal & Shekhar

But Vishal Dadlani makes it clear that they are not aiming to be in the same league as big music companies like T-Series, HMV Sa Re Ga Ma, Venus, Tips etc, “Our music label will be a very small label and we are not aiming to compete with the big guns.

It all started when talented folk and rock musician Raghu Dixit from Bangalore came to meet us asking us to help him. He had the most beautiful voice and we asked him why his music wasn’t out yet? He said the bigger labels were giving him a hard time and he was feeling disillusioned.”

He adds, “We’d been toying with the idea of our own label but when Raghu came to us, we decided to start with him. We really care about good music and young talent and will do what it takes to promote it. There is huge talent out there that is not getting the right break and it’s time remixes took a backseat.”

Big support

Vishal and Shekhar are gearing up to launch the album in a big way. “We will launch the album at a small event at the amphitheatre in Taj Lands End on February 26, where the ambience will suit Raghu and his music. MTV has given us a lot of support and loved the songs. Shah Rukh, Farah, Karan and Priyanka have loved the music and they have given us their support on camera.

I also want to ask Abhishek and Mr Bachchan to hear the songs as they are also my music idols and I value their support. We want to play the songs to as many people as possible and find out their first reaction.”

Soulful

Talking about Raghu’s songs Vishal says, “The first two songs are Hey Bhagwan and Ambar that have rich depth and soul. When he sings, all languages become irrelevant. Raghu has with a very special look, sound and attitude on stage. We have also signed four other artistes.”

Financing is not an issue, Vishal laughs, “We are making lots of money, now it’s high time that we spend it.”