Bollywood

History and character

“Filmi” is the music of Indian film songs, produced mainly by the Hindi-language industry of Mumbai (Bombay, hence “Bollywood”), but also by the Tamil (Kollywood), Telugu (Tollywood), Malayalam, Bengali and Punjabi cinemas. Since the first Indian sound film, Alam Ara (1931), the song has been the heart of popular cinema: a commercial film traditionally contains 5 to 10, “picturized” with dance numbers, and the film's success depends largely on the soundtrack, which comes out before the film and dominates radio and charts. The songs are recorded by playback singers and lip-synced by the actors: K. L. Saigal among the first, then the legendary voices of Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Geeta Dutt.

The music directors (composers) define the eras: in the 1940s–60s Naushad, S. D. Burman, Shankar–Jaikishan, Madan Mohan, O. P. Nayyar, Roshan, Salil Chowdhury (melodies rooted in Hindustani classical music and folk, string orchestras, mandolins, accordions); in the 1960s–80s R. D. Burman (jazz, rock, Latin, funk and disco influences; Dum Maaro Dum, 1971) and Laxmikant–Pyarelal, Kalyanji–Anandji, Bappi Lahiri (disco: Disco Dancer, 1982); from the 1990s A. R. Rahman (Roja, 1992, produced in his studio Panchathan Record Inn in Chennai, with a digital, layered sound; Dil Se.., Taal, Lagaan; the Oscar for The Millionaire/Slumdog Millionaire in 2009 with Jai Ho), Jatin–Lalit, Nadeem–Shravan, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Vishal–Shekhar, Pritam, Amit Trivedi; modern voices such as Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Arijit Singh.

The aesthetic combines: raga and tala of Indian classical music, regional folk (Punjabi, Rajasthani, Bengali), ghazal and qawwali (Urdu and Sufi tradition), Western orchestration (from “Hollywood-style” strings to jazz, from rock to synth-pop, from EDM to hip hop). The result is a form of melodic pop with extreme singability, Indian vocal ornamentation and arrangements full of instrumental interludes.

Scales and keys

Filmi melody thinks in raga, but the arrangement often uses Western harmony. Here are the most-used scales, with the Western equivalent (Bhatkhande's thaats) and sargam nomenclature (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni; komal = lowered, tivra = raised). Roman numerals in minor are relative to natural minor.

Bilaval (= major) and Kalyan / Yaman (= Lydian)

• Bilaval: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 — on C: C D E F G A B. Chords: I ii iii IV V vi vii°.
• Yaman (thaat Kalyan): Ma tivra = #4 — on C: C D E F# G A B. Characteristic note: #4 (F#), an evening raga, romantic and devotional; many love melodies of the golden age are inspired by Yaman.
• Use: romantic ballads, devotional songs.

Khamaj (= Mixolydian)

• Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha komal Ni = 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 — on D: D E F# G A B C. Chords: I ii iii° IV v vi bVII.
• Characteristic note: b7 (often alternating with the natural 7 in the ascent): lightness, flirtatiousness; raga of thumri and light songs.

Kafi (= Dorian) and Pahadi

• Kafi: komal Ga and komal Ni = 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 — on D: D E F G A B C. Chords (relative to natural minor): i ii III IV v #vi° VII.
• Pahadi (mountain raga, pentatonic-folk): many romantic and nostalgic melodies.
• Use: folk and romantic songs, qawwali (Kafi is much used in Sufi music).

Asavari / Bhairavi (= Aeolian / Phrygian)

• Asavari: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 (Aeolian). Bhairavi: all notes komal = 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 (Phrygian) — on E: E F G A B C D.
• Characteristic note: b2 (Re komal) of Bhairavi: tenderness, melancholy, devotion; traditionally the raga that closes a concert.
• Chords (relative to natural minor): Bhairavi i bII III iv v° VI vii.
• Use: sad songs, farewells, bhajan.

Bhairav (= double harmonic)

• Komal Re and komal Dha = 1 b2 3 4 5 b6 7 — on C: C Db E F G Ab B. Characteristic note: two augmented seconds; a dawn raga, solemn and devotional.

Pentatonic scales (Bhupali, Durga, Malkauns)

• Bhupali: 1 2 3 5 6 (major pentatonic) — C D E G A. Durga: 1 2 4 5 6 — C D F G A. Malkauns: 1 b3 4 b6 b7 — C Eb F Ab Bb (dark, nocturnal pentatonic).

How a raga is used in a filmi song

The scale is not “applied”: you use the characteristic phrases (pakad), the most important note (vadi), the ascending and descending movements, the ornaments (meend = glissando, gamak = oscillation, murki = fast turn, kan = grace note). Often the song is “based on” a raga, but the music director bends it to the needs of the pop melody and harmony.

How to choose

Yaman/Kalyan for love and the evening, Khamaj for the flirtatious, Kafi and Pahadi for the folk and romantic, Bhairavi for farewell and devotion, Bhairav for the sacred, pentatonic scales for folk and “universal” melodies.

Harmony

Melody + drone + Western harmony

• In Indian classical music there is no harmony: there is a drone (tanpura on Sa and Pa) and the raga melody. Filmi adds Western chords, but the melody stays modal: that is why the harmony is often simple and “pedal-centric.”
• Typical chords: I–IV–V and i–VII–VI (folk), i–iv–v (minor without leading tone), pop progressions (I–V–vi–IV) in productions since the 1990s, suspended and open chords with pads and strings.
• Tonic pedal (Sa) held by strings, synths or tanpura under chord changes: it respects the logic of the raga.
• Orchestral countermelodies (the “fills” of strings, flute, sitar or mandolin between vocal phrases) more important than the harmony itself.
• R. D. Burman: jazz and Latin harmonies (sevenths, ninths, secondary dominants), walking bass, funk guitar chords.
• A. R. Rahman: layered harmonies, sudden key modulations, open and suspended chords, a mix of Carnatic ragas and pop/electronic harmonies.

Harmonic rhythm

Slow (one chord per bar or a pedal) in ballads, quicker in dance tracks; the instrumental sections (interludes) often have richer harmony than the verses.

Voicing

Strings in octaves on the countermelody; pads and piano with open chords; arpeggiated acoustic guitar in ballads of the 1990s–2000s; synth pads and piano in modern pop.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

The tala of filmi

• Keherwa (8 beats, 4+4): theka Dha Ge Na Ti | Na Ka Dhi Na; the most-used rhythm in filmi and folk songs, felt as a 4/4 with a light swing.
• Dadra (6 beats, 3+3): Dha Dhi Na | Dha Ti Na; the filmi “6/8” of romantic songs and ghazals.
• Rupak (7 beats, 3+2+2), Teentaal (16, 4+4+4+4) in classically inflected songs, Jhaptaal (10, 2+3+2+3).
• Bhangra chaal and dhol in Punjabi songs; garba and dandiya (dances of Gujarat in 6/8 or fast 4/4) for festive scenes; qawwali with hand claps and acceleration.
• Feel: the subdivisions are often slightly swung (dholak and tabla “bounce”); modern dance tracks are straight with Indian percussion over a four-on-the-floor kick.
• Rubato: introductions and alap sections with no tempo, then the tala enters.

Drums

The filmi rhythm section

• Tabla (high dayan + low bayan): theka of the tala, fills (tukra, tihai = a phrase repeated three times that lands on the first beat, the “sam”), dialogue with the voice.
• Dholak (two-headed hand drum): the “folk” rhythm of keherwa and dadra, very present in wedding and party songs.
• Dhol (with sticks), naal, khol, mridangam (south), ghatam, kanjira, chimta, daf, hand claps.
• Drum set and drum machine from the 1970s (R. D. Burman with funk drums; 1980s drum machines and Simmons; Rahman with programming and sampling from the 1990s).

How they think

• The sam (first beat of the cycle) is the point of arrival: tihai, fills and vocal accents converge there.
• The khali (“empty” beat, on the fifth of keherwa) is the middle of the cycle, played lighter (without the bayan bass).
• Verse (antara): simple, constant pattern; chorus (mukhda): full, with dholak and hand claps; interludes: fills, percussion changes, tihai.
• In dance tracks: four-on-the-floor kick or reggaeton/afro patterns under a dholak in keherwa; clap on 2 and 4.

Choice of sounds

Recorded tabla and dholak (or samples with real articulations), tuned to the key (the tabla dayan is tuned to Sa); electronic basses tuned with the bayan.

Typical mistakes

Using a generic untuned tabla loop; ignoring sam and khali; quantizing the dholak (it loses its swing); electronic hand claps in place of real ones in a qawwali.

Bass

• Golden age: double bass or discreet electric bass (tonics and fifths), often absent: the foundation was the drone and the low end of the tabla.
• 1970s–80s: funk and disco electric bass (R. D. Burman, Bappi Lahiri), synth bass in octaves.
• From the 1990s: synth bass and sub (Rahman), Sa pedals, lines that follow the tabla's bayan and the kick; in modern productions 808 and sub in hip hop and Punjabi tracks.
• Notes: tonic and fifth (Sa and Pa), pedals; in pop progressions the roots of the chords.
• Relationship with the percussion: the bass must leave room for the bayan (60–150 Hz) and the dhol; often the bass is filtered above 300 Hz and tuned with the tabla.

Harmonic instruments

• Strings (“Bombay strings”): large sections of violins in unison playing countermelodies, answers to the voice and ornamented unisons (with meend and gamak transferred to the violin); the heart of the 1950s–80s sound.
• Harmonium: chordal and melodic accompaniment (ghazal, qawwali, bhajan).
• Sitar, santoor, sarod, veena: introductions, interludes, fills between lines.
• Mandolin, Hawaiian guitar (slide), accordion, piano, vibraphone in the orchestras of the 1950s–60s.
• Acoustic and electric guitar from the 1960s–70s; synths (DX7 and digital keyboards in the 1980s; pads and arpeggios from the 1990s).
• Voicing: melodic unisons more than chords; open pads and strings; arpeggiated piano and guitar in ballads.

Melody and vocals

• Playback voice as protagonist: clear, bright timbre, wide range (the historic female voices often sing in a high register, a brilliant “head voice”), Indian ornamentation: meend (glissando), murki (rapid turn), khatka, gamak, harkat; tight vibrato; very careful pronunciation (Hindi/Urdu).
• Melodic structure: mukhda (chorus/opening, the hook phrase), antara (verse, often in a higher register), return to the mukhda; free opening alap; taan (fast passages) in classically inflected songs.
• Duets male–female (the dominant form for love songs), group choruses in festive scenes, female choruses in unison and in octaves.
• Instrumental countermelodies between phrases (bansuri flute, shehnai, sitar, violins, sax), which often become hooks themselves.
• Modern effects: reverb and delay on the voices, doubles, Auto-Tune in dance productions (since the 2000s), rap vocals in Punjabi and Hindi.

Instruments

Voice (playback), choir; tabla, dholak, dhol, naal, mridangam, ghatam, kanjira, daf, chimta, hand claps; sitar, sarod, santoor, veena, sarangi, shehnai, bansuri, harmonium, tanpura; orchestral strings (violins, violas, cellos), mandolin, Hawaiian guitar, accordion, piano, vibraphone, winds (sax, trumpet); acoustic and electric guitar, bass; drum machine, synths, samplers, 808.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• DX7 V — 1980s–90s keyboards: FM electric piano, bells, basses and leads that defined the filmi sound of the 1980s and early 1990s; use “plucked” timbres for synthetic sitar and santoor.
• Augmented Strings — “Bombay strings”: Unison string sections for countermelodies; medium attack, glide/legato for the meends, minimal synthetic edge.
• Prophet-5 V — Rahman-style pads and basses: Warm pads and synth basses with slow filter for 1990s–2000s productions in the Rahman style.
• Jup-8 V — Filmi disco and synth-pop: Arpeggios, synth brass and pads for the 1980s disco sound (Bappi Lahiri).
• Farfisa V — 1960s–70s organ: Combo organ for rock-psychedelic and cabaret soundtracks (R. D. Burman, 1970s).
• Augmented Voices — Choirs and textures: Vocal layers for choruses and atmospheric introductions.

Song structure

Typical form of a filmi song

Total length 4–7 minutes (modern versions 3–4).

Arrangement

• Each interlude changes instruments and often style (an orchestra can go from a sitar to a jazz sax to a choir).
• The mukhda always returns with the same strength, the antara rises in register.
• In dance tracks: intro – verse – chorus – instrumental drop (dhol, synth) – rap or verse – final chorus.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

The playback voice above all: clear, present, bright, intelligible in every word; strings and Indian instruments answering from the sides; defined, warm Indian percussion; in modern productions, bass and kick as powerful as international pop. References: A. R. Rahman's productions (spaciousness and depth), Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy and Pritam (modern pop), the 1960s–70s classics for voice/orchestra balance.

Lead voice

• EQ: high-pass at 80–100 Hz (female voices 100–120); −2 dB at 250–400 Hz; presence +2/+3 dB at 3–5 kHz; air +2 dB at 10–12 kHz; de-esser at 6–8 kHz.
• Compression: two stages (FET 4:1 with 3–5 dB + opto 2:1 with 2–3 dB); the murkis and meends must stay fluid, not “hopping.”
• Space: plate 1.8–2.5 s (pre-delay 40–60 ms) + long hall in ballads; tempo-synced delay (dotted eighth note or quarter note) as throws at the end of phrases.
• Pitch correction: light and slow (glides must not turn into steps); in dance tracks more obvious Auto-Tune as an effect.
• Panning: center; doubles and choirs L/R 40–80.

Strings and melodic instruments

• Strings: high-pass at 150–200 Hz on the violins, −2 dB at 2.5–4 kHz if harsh, hall 2–2.5 s; wide L/R to leave the center to the voice.
• Sitar: high-pass at 120 Hz, keep the jawari at 2–6 kHz, −2 dB at 800 Hz if nasal; panning L or R 30–50.
• Santoor: high-pass at 150 Hz, light compression; wide stereo.
• Bansuri and shehnai: high-pass at 200 Hz; shehnai −2/−3 dB at 2–3 kHz (very penetrating).
• Harmonium: −2 dB at 400–600 Hz, high-pass at 100 Hz.

Tabla and dholak

• Tabla: two mics (dayan at 15–20 cm, bayan at 15–20 cm) or a stereo pair; EQ dayan +1/+2 dB at 3–6 kHz, bayan +2 dB at 70–100 Hz and high-pass at 40 Hz; −2 dB at 300–500 Hz; compression 3:1, attack 10–15 ms.
• Dholak: two mics on the two skins; bass 80–120 Hz, slap 2–4 kHz.
• Dhol: mics at 30–50 cm (very powerful); high-pass at 40 Hz, −3 dB at 400 Hz.
• Panning: tabla center or slightly off to one side, dholak opposite the guitars.

Bass, kick and electronics (modern)

• Synth bass/808: center, high-pass at 25–30 Hz, saturation for harmonics, sidechain from the kick 2–4 dB; leave room for the bayan (complementary EQ at 80–120 Hz).
• Kick: 50–60 Hz and attack at 3–5 kHz; compression and clipper.

Buses and groups

Voice, choirs, strings, Indian melodic instruments, Indian percussion, drums/electronics, bass; reverbs: plate for voice, hall for strings, room for percussion.

Sidechain

Kick → bass and pad; voice → strings and pad (1–2 dB of ducking) in full productions.

Master

• Classics and ballads: −14/−11 LUFS integrated; modern pop/dance: −9/−7 LUFS; true peak −1 dBTP.

Common mistakes

• Voice too compressed and flat (it loses its ornamentation).
• Strings occupying the center and the voice's band.
• Untuned tabla or with muddy lows.
• Electronic bass masking the bayan and the dhol.

Reference tracks for the mix

• A. R. Rahman — Chaiyya Chaiyya (Dil Se.., 1998).
• A. R. Rahman — Kun Faya Kun (Rockstar, 2011).
• R. D. Burman — Dum Maaro Dum (1971).
• Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy — Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003).
• Mithoon — Tum Hi Ho (Aashiqui 2, 2013), for the modern ballad.

Reference listening

• Naushad — Mohe Panghat Pe (Mughal-e-Azam, 1960)
• S. D. Burman — Piya Tose Naina Lage Re (Guide, 1965)
• Shankar–Jaikishan — Awaara Hoon (Awaara, 1951)
• R. D. Burman — Dum Maaro Dum (Hare Rama Hare Krishna, 1971)
• Laxmikant–Pyarelal — Ek Do Teen (Tezaab, 1988)
• Bappi Lahiri — I Am a Disco Dancer (Disco Dancer, 1982)
• A. R. Rahman — Chinna Chinna Aasai (Roja, 1992)
• A. R. Rahman — Chaiyya Chaiyya (Dil Se.., 1998)
• A. R. Rahman — Taal Se Taal Mila (Taal, 1999)
• Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy — Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)
• A. R. Rahman — Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire, 2008)
• A. R. Rahman — Kun Faya Kun (Rockstar, 2011)
• Mithoon — Tum Hi Ho (Aashiqui 2, 2013)