Exclusive interview: Amitabh Bhattacharya on Bollywood music in the last decade

Amitabh Bhattacharya’s 2009-chartbuster, ‘Emotional Atyachar’ had brought in a completely new wave to lyric writing in Bollywood, over a decade ago.
With songs like ‘Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin’, ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, ‘Balam Pichkari’, ‘Zehnaseeb’, ‘Manja’, ‘Namo Namo’, ‘Gerua’, ‘Kalank’ and others, he went on to create a permanent place in the hearts of true-blue Bollywood music lovers.
His frill-free, colloquial and creative style of lyric writing has been a constant, and also been the not-so-secret, secret of his success.
In a popular TV show, the composer had revealed that he’d written ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ featuring Ranbir Kapoor, sitting in the backseat of Pritam’s car, while they both were on the way to Karan Johar’s house for the song meeting.
Earlier this year, Amitabh bagged the Lyricist Of The Decade for ‘Channa Mereya’ and Song of the Decade for Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin (Agneepath) and spoke to Bombay Times about the music industry…
“ This decade has been great when it comes to music. Good music and experimental music has been happening not only in films but also in the independent music scene. These are really good times for artistes. There are so many platforms and mediums and ways in which you can take your music out and reach a larger section of the audience. I’m really happy. This is a good time for music artists, and I look forward to more and more fun,” he says.
While he is happy about the current state he also acknowledges that Bollywood music is not at its very best. If one looks at one’s own playlists on the various music apps, the pattern is unmistakable. Most of us have been listening to decades old songs for a very long time.
Amitabh believes that it surely is a challenging time for people in the music industry. “Music that works on a large and an accepted level is interesting. And as musicians we look at that music technically, thinking whether this music has a certain thing going on, and what is it that makes it work so well. There is so much music and so much produced music all around, and to cut through that and make a mark, and to make your songs work is very exciting and challenging and I’m really enjoying it.”
The pandemic changed everything and affected the music industry too in a big way. “In the last one year, the one thing that I constantly felt when life totally went into a slumber, was that, how much the life that we are used to, really matters to us. The entertainment industry, big-screen cinema, music, concerts and performances are all a part of it and so I think we learnt the value of it once more. We are the lucky chosen ones, we musicians, who are here to entertain people. So let’s make good music, music that lasts and originals that stay and withstand the test of time,” he signs off.