Merchant Records gives Salim-Sulaiman a chance to have everything from song creation to song distribution in their hands. They delivered the super-hit Kaal Dhamaal. The ability to compose and produce the entire music for a film gave them the ability to “know exactly what a song needs”, Sulaiman Merchant observed.įor instance, with Kaal (2005), director Soham Shah was unable to find a composer who could deliver the kind of “big sound” required for a song in which “Shah Rukh Khan would perform bare-chested and with a six pack,” Sulaiman Merchant said. They have also programmed and arranged songs for other composers.Ī short spell of Hindi pop albums in the late 1990s was followed by popular Bollywood soundtracks in the 2000s. Background music is a prominent aspect of their body of work. Their first project was Sanjay Gupta’s Hameshaa (1997). Salim Merchant, 46, and Sulaiman Merchant, 50, have been composing for Hindi films since 1997. We created these songs and they mean a lot to us.” “We didn’t have to ask Yash Raj Films for permission because we are not using Shah Rukh Khan’s face,” Salim Merchant pointed out. Play Haule Haule, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008). The brothers have expanded their revenue model by launching a fashion line consisting of t-shirts featuring artwork based on some of their most successful film songs such as Shukhranallah ( Kurbaan) and Dance Pe Chance ( Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi). Since Prakash and Relia had made Jogi Re with their daughters, it made sense to release it on Daughter’s Day so as to celebrate the spirit of the occasion, Salim Merchant added. “We had a Gujarati song Jagadambe ready, and Navratri felt like the right time to release it,” he said. Sulaiman Merchant explained that these releases are not gimmicks, but represent intelligent marketing nonetheless. The peppy Party Kar Le featured rap from YouTube celebrity CarryMinati. Prakash and Relia’s Jogi Re was a Daughter’s Day special. Nikhil-Swapnil’s reworking of Jana Gana Mana was an Independence Day special. Jagadambe was out a week before Navratri. Allah Hu is a qawwali, Jab Tum Paas Ho a ballad, Jagadambe a devotional song.īesides tying up with a host of music streamers, the duo smartly timed their releases. The siblings have released their own tunes along with compositions by Vijay Prakash-Tapas Relia and Nikhl-Swapnil. This means “that the intellectual property rights to the song are co-owned by Merchant Records as well as the artists themselves instead of just being owned by the record label”. Our label will give artists not only a platform to express themselves with freedom, but also have them retain the rights to their work.” “People are switching off from Bollywood music because creators are being stopped at the creative level. “These days, producers think songs with lyrical or melodic value will be boring, unless you make them like Aashiqui,” Merchant added. Chief among them is T-Series, whose productions feature template-based albums filled with rehashed Hindi and Punjabi hits, mawkish ballads or a mix of both. “The reason we started our label is that the giant record labels became film producers and began dictating the kind of music to be made,” Salim Merchant told Scroll.in. Play Hum Rahein Ya Na Rahein, Umrao Jaan Ada (2019). For many Covid fatalities, the virus isn’t the sole killer – bacterial infections play a part too.Ukraine is using unexpected guerrilla tactics to take back Crimea from Russia.‘Jahaan Chaar Yaar’ trailer: Four housewives take off on a vacation to Goa.Watch: Masaka Kids Africana’s joyful performance to Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ is a social media hit.BJP’s organisational reshuffle shows that Modi has effectively pushed the RSS to the background.What is keeping Indian women out of the workforce?.The big news: Manish Sisodia says BJP offered to drop cases against him, and nine other top stories.No fuel, no hope: Thousands of Sri Lankans are fleeing the country in mass brain drain.BWF World C’ships, Day 1 blog: Prannoy, Lakshya cruise into 2nd round Srikanth battles through.Zomato withdraws Hrithik Roshan ad after backlash from temple, apologises.Voyager 2 left Earth 45 years ago, but its 5-billion-year legacy is just beginning.A new book examines India’s economic progress from Nehru to Modi.