TV Review: Coke Studio@MTV

Harshdeep Kaur on ‘Coke Studio@MTV’.

Soon after MTV announced that they would be launching an Indian version of Pakistani TV show Coke Studio, there was talk about how the channel would take the franchise, which showcases Sufi and folk music, and Bollywood-ise it. This fear was not illogical for a few reasons. For one thing, the only music that MTV India seems to air these days—when it’s not airing reality shows—is in the form of promotional clips for new and upcoming Hindi films. For another thing, the Indian version of Coke Studio is produced by the television division of Red Chillies Entertainment, a company partly owned by actor Shah Rukh Khan. Last but not least, the music director of the show is Lesle Lewis, who apart from being one-half of the Indi-pop duo Colonial Cousins, is best known for remixing a number of R. D. Burman hits in the 1990s.

Based on the first episode, which aired on Friday, June 17, the answer to the question, “Has Coke Studio been Bollywood-ised?” is a resounding “Yes, but only partly”. Each of the seven performances that comprised the first episode featured a playback singer. However, the vocalists didn’t sing Hindi film tracks but Sufi and Indian folk songs. Well, technically. Shaan and Sunidhi Chauhan sang tunes that were made popular by Bollywood, though they will probably be familiar only to the parents of present-day MTV viewers rather than the viewers themselves. Shaan crooned the Bhatiali (a Bengali folk form sung by boatmen) ballad, “Oh Majhi Re”, which formed the source material for the song of the same name featured in the 1975 Hindi film Khushboo; Sunidhi Chauhan delivered a version of Assamese folk track, “Bichua”, previously used and heard in the 1958 Hindi film Madhumati.

The rest of the performances attempted to give traditional tunes a contemporary touch, a number of them medleys that blended folk music from different parts of the country. Playback singer Tochi Raina duetted with Mathangi Rajasekhar for “Yaar Basainda”, a hybrid of Punjabi Sufi and Carnatic classical; Shankar Mahadevan teamed up with Khagen Gogoi for a combined performance of Assamese love ballad “Tip Top” and Koli song “Me Dolkar”; Kailash Kher jammed with Chinnaponnu for “Vethalai”, a mix of Tamil folk and “Hindi Sufiana”.

If you don’t recognise some of those names, you won’t learn much about them if you watch Coke Studio. The show comprises a series of studio performances, where the only accompanying information is a short paragraph about each song that flashes on screen before it’s aired. Unlike the Pakistani version, there are no subtitles explaining the meaning of what you’re hearing, even though you hear a variety of languages from Bengali to Assamese to Punjabi. Even more puzzling is the lack of any sort of introduction of the folk singers we see. If the idea is to put the spotlight on their talent, albeit with the aid of Bollywood singers, then telling us a little bit about them seems like a no-brainer. For instance, we would have loved to know more about Chinnaponnu, who totally rocked her duet with Kher, and transcended the somewhat sombre and over-produced feel that ran through all the other performances.

We also don’t get why the camera never stays at any point for more than a few seconds during a performance. If it isn’t moving to focus lovingly on the large Coke Studio logo on the set, it zooms into one of the instruments (not the people playing them but the instruments themselves; only sitar player Ravi Chary got a few minutes of face time during his solo on “Yaar Basainda”). And what’s with the multi-coloured lights that flashed during performances? A disclaimer that ran before the episode safeguarded the channel from the opinions aired on the programme, which seemed kind of unnecessary because there’s only singing, and no talking. Instead, maybe they should have warned epilepsy patients against watching the show.

However, we have to commend MTV for taking a risk on a project like Coke Studio, which, at the end of the day, is a show that uses Bollywood singers, but tells them not to sing Bollywood songs. Given the notoriously short attention spans of today’s viewers, it’s also remarkable that each performance clocks an average of eight minutes. Finally, the best thing about Coke Studio is that it introduces (or in certain cases, reintroduces) forms of music to a new audience that might just like what it hears. Even if it at times, it sounds a little too slick for its own good.

Coke Studio@MTV airs on Fridays at 7pm.