Mayamruga, Mayamruga... , Dandapingalu ivaru… and scores of such title tracks from Kannada teleserials are as popular as classics from Kannada films. Ever since Doordarshan’s fictional and non-fictional programmes started making their way into households, a new form of music or title tracks have become an integral part of Indian soap operas. Be it Hindi serials or regional dramas. For instance, the title track of the 90’s Dekh Bhai Dekh is one of the top-rated tele-tracks till date. Kannada soaps such as Mayamruga, Mukta Mukta series, Danda Pindagalu, Naku Thanthi, Garva, Rangoli and many more, including the recent ones such as Puttagowri Maduve, Gangaa, Kinnari have managed to keep the Kannada TV audience hooked onto to their favourite tele-sagas. Bengaluru Chronicle reports on these popular brand tunes.
Versatile composer and singer Vasuki Vaibhav, who scored the music for the critically acclaimed Rama Rama Re, has also composed and sung a few title tracks for Kannada tele-serials, including the latest work of lending his voice to the title track of Star Suvarna’s mega venture Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Vasuki feels that composing or singing for teleserials is far more challenging than feature films.
“It is more challenging as the channels or tele-serial makers approach us with a lot of expectation. They usually urge composers to highlight certain aspects such as the title to become the ‘tag line’. The track represents the serial. The audience immediately visualises the serial with it,” says Vasuki.
He feels that in the past, the content and what serials conveyed was given utmost importance while composing title tracks. “They were penned by actual poets, popular lyricists and many-a-times, even popular works of Sri Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa and other ancient scholars, endowing it with greater meaning. This is why the works of the late and legendary Sri C Ashwath have stood the test of time. His works for all teleserials by Sir TN Seetharam are so popular, people still love to hear those title tracks again and again,” Vasuki says, adding that present serials concentrate on commercial reach.
Greats like Ashwath would listen to the entire script of a serial, and only then compose a track. “These days, after the first few weeks, the teleserial makers themselves do not know the story of their own serials. The present quality of title tracks, when compared to the past, has gone down,” he says. At present, Vasuki is busy composing for features films — Churi Katte and Rishab Shetty’s Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shale, Kasargod, which talks about the plight of Kannada schools in the border areas of the state.
Versatile personality Karthik Sharma, who has composed title tracks for atleast 25 serials, and sung for four to five, is also a noted cinematographer who has worked in several Hindi films. The composer and technician says that the makers of teleserials and channels usually approach a musician for a title track at the last moment.
“Most of the time, they approach us at the last minute. It is challenging as the track should convey the basics of a serial, but unfortunately the two minute track is shortened soon after the serial is a week or two old. In the past, title tracks were more popular than the serial itself, and makers would run it to full length, and the audience would enjoy it. I have been told that the audience these days is familiar with a track and immediately changes the channel if it is run full length,” says Karthik.
He does try to convince the makers and the channels to atleast run such tracks for some time or for background purposes. His popular works are from Triveni Sangama, Kinnari, Padmavathi, Gangaa, Puttagowri Maduve and more.
