Can you say that Vishal Bharadwaj is inspired by R D Burman’s compositions?
No, he is inspired by music alone. We have all accepted Rahman because he came up with a new style and we all know that his is very different from others. Similarly, Vishal Bharadwaj is different. He has a great knowledge of music. When we talk about the ’60s and the ’70s, there were only a handful of singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Kishore Kumar, and Mohammad Rafi. However, there were lots of good songs, unlike today, even though we have many more singers. I don’t think there was any kind of a monopoly in the ’60s and ’70s. Nobody can sing like Lataji. She is one in a million. However, lesser number of films were released during those days, therefore composers could concentrate on the quality of music. The singers were also repeated, as producers didn’t want to take any risk, with new singers. Do film producers take that risk now? No, not really. These days, a lot goes into making a composition work. That is why I am very busy even though there is less work. We have the ta
