Singer, composer, writer and director Vishal Bhardwaj, who began his career in cinema as music composer on Gulzar's Maachis (1996), launched his own label, VB Music, yesterday.
The intent, Bhardwaj said while sharing the news on his Facebook wall, is to gift his fans music that is unconventional and free from the restrictions that encumber film music.
If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it.. Bringing your way VB Music, soulfully yours. Stay tuned for more updates VB Music Rekha Bhardwaj
Posted by Vishal Bhardwaj on Thursday, 2 July 2020
Bhardwaj's move is interesting as it comes in the midst of a spat between some veteran singers and T-Series, currently the country's biggest music company.
“I have said this many times before. I became a film director so that I could keep my inner music composer alive," Bhardwaj said in a video clip that he shared on social media. "But films have their own restrictions, in terms of situations, characters, and many more.”
Bhardwaj said he always wanted to bring to the fore songs that do not fit into the conventional narratives of Hindi cinema. He promised to try and share a new song every month via VB Music.
Bhardwaj's latest film as composer was Abhishek Chaubey's Sonchiriya (2019).
Last month, popular singer Sonu Nigam had stunned music fans by declaring that no one should be surprised if some people in the music industry follow the lead of the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput and end their lives.
Nigam said the music industry is a bigger mafia than the movie industry and many singers are unable to get work even though composers and even filmmakers may want to work with them.
Nigam, who has since been involved in a slanging match with T-Series boss Bhushan Kumar's wife Divya Khosla Kumar, has received support from other veteran singers Alisha Chinai, Adnan Sami and Sona Mohapatra and composer Salim Merchant.