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Satya: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack accompanying the 1998 film Satya directed and produced by Ram Gopal Varma and stars J. D. Chakravarthy, Urmila Matondkar and Manoj Bajpayee, alongside Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Shrivastava and Paresh Rawal. The soundtrack featured six songs composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and written by Gulzar and released on 3 April 1998 under the Venus Worldwide Entertainment label. Satya: The Sound, the second album featuring the original score composed by Sandeep Chowta was released on 13 November 1998 to acclaim and being considered as one of the finest film scores.

Background

Vishal Bhardwaj composed the six-song soundtrack with lyrics written by Gulzar; it was their second collaboration after Maachis (1996). Bhardwaj recalled that Varma did not want the songs to make his film "impure" and found it challenging to blend the music with the narrative. Since the film had excessive violence Varma told him that he "wanted to balm it with soothing melodies".

The first song he composed for the film was "Badalon Se". As Varma liked it, he wanted a similar kind of music, which led him to compose "Geela Ghela Pani" and "Goli Maar (Kallu Mama)". Later, he also wanted a dance number to which he composed "Sapne Mein", the track was initially composed for Maachis but later replaced with "Chappa Chappa".

Bhardwaj had written temporary lyrics for "Goli Maar (Kallu Mama)" which goes like: "Gham ke neeche bamb laga ke rum udaa de" (transl. Put a bomb under the grief and blow up the room). While Gulzar complimented the tune, he was unimpressed on the lyrics terming it as "rubbish". He rewrote the lyrics for the song which Varma rejected twice. As he did not want to disappoint Gulzar, Varma insisted on screenwriter Anurag Kashyap to convince Gulzar on using Bhardwaj's lyrics, who adamantly refused it. Varma refused on picturizing the song in Gulzar's lyrics and told Bhardwaj to convince Gulzar. Bhardwaj who did not want to betray Gulzar, insisted him to record the song with Gulzar's version after Manoj Bajpayee and other crew members persuaded him.

Release

Satya: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released by Venus Worldwide Entertainment on 3 April 1998. The film's 23-track background score was released as a separate album, Satya: The Sound, in cassettes on 13 November 1998. It was the first instance in Indian cinema, where the background score was released for commercial purposes and unlike most film scores which include dialogues, the album consisted of instrumental sounds used in the background.

Reception

Bhasker Gupta in his review for AllMusic wrote "Though not a milestone that remained in the public consciousness across many years to follow, it definitely features unconventional music that's both mainstream and imaginative." An article in The Hindu on the art of film scoring mentioned Satya: "Interestingly (and hopefully) Indian films are just making a start with original soundtracks: Sandeep Chowta's background score for Ram Gopal Varma's 'Satya'". According to Rediff.com, Satya "set the standards for background score" and the film's throbbing score "took the audience inside the mind of its characters. Every time a bullet was shot or there were close-ups of actors, one could hear the haunting score, which had a hallucinatory effect on the audience."

Post-release

Bhardwaj named his studio as Satya Studio after the film's release. Chowta won the award for Best Background Score at the 44th Filmfare Awards.

Track listing

References

1. ^ "Satya". Saavn. 3 July 1998. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
2. "Vishal Bhardwaj recalls Satya days; says RGV used to prostrate before Anurag Kashyap: 'Anurag had no filters, would say anything'". The Indian Express. 23 October 2023. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
3. ^ "Vishal Bhardwaj confesses he's often undervalued as a composer: I want to make music for films that aren't mine". Firstpost. 4 July 2020. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
4. "Gulzar had a cutting response when Anurag Kashyap suggested alterations to his lyrics for Satya song; Vishal Bhardwaj refused to 'betray' his idol". The Indian Express. 22 October 2023. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
5. ^ ASC (13 November 1998). "Audioscan". The Tribune. Archived from the original on 7 April 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
6. "Satya: The Sound". Gaana. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
7. Gupta, Bhasker (1998). "Satya Review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
8. Sebastian, Pradeep (10 May 2002). "Music, for the special touch". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 31 March 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2008.
9. Joshi, Tushar (3 February 2004). "A different beat in Hindi cinema". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
10. ^ "Bollywood Blockbusters: The Story Behind Satya". Bollywood Blockbusters. CNN-News18. 13 December 2009.

• 1998 soundtrack albums
• Hindi film soundtracks
• Film scores