In November 2007, Anees Bazmee's Welcome kicked in a new trend in Hindi film music. No longer do multi star cast films mean an impressive line-up of stars, they also imply an equally august roster of music composers.

Sunday, Mission Istanbul and Jimmy followed Welcome. Pahlaj Nihalani's Khushboo and Kumar Mangat's Haal E Dil were next, and C Company and EMI were children of the same trend.

The logic is simple - the producer signs two tracks by a well known composer, and approaches lesser known composers to fill in the remaining tracks. Admits Siddharth of the Siddharth-Suhas duo, �Brahm' came our way because the original composer, Pritam had some time constraints and could not complete the compositions. We were then roped in to complete the album.... For Welcome, Himesh Reshammiya was the original choice, but the composer could not dedicate much time to the album. The movie makers then picked up Anand Raj Anand and Sajid-Wajid to compose the remaining tracks.

Shibani Kashyap is a veteran at composing stray tracks in films - �Sajana' for Waisa bhi Hota hai II, Zinda hoon main for Zinda, and Kashmakash for Sunday. Kashyap believes, Assigning more than one composer for an album breaks the monotony of the album. Also, different composers' rope in different artists and different genres, making it an interesting a mixed bag of songs.... But Raghav Sachar who has been party to multi composer films, stresses the arrangement works well for the film producers. At times, the producer just clubs in readymade songs from various composers. Normally, new or small time composers opt for assortment projects. In such cases, the composers are underpaid and fresh composers even pay to squeeze their songs into the film....

Reasons Sajid, Assigning the scores of a single album to many occurs when the director's vision about the music in the movie is not clear....

Says his partner Wajid, It also shows that the makers do not trust the composer's creativity and as a backup, approach others. It adds up to an absence of synchronisation between the songs and the movie....

Ramesh Sippy, CEO of Balaji motion pictures which produced Mission Istanbul says, Bringing in many composers gives opportunities to new directors and in turn, the film gets a good album packed with good songs with individuality.... Balaji Motion Pictures farmed out the music compositions of C Company and EMI to multiple composers like Bappa Lahiri and Anand Raj Anand.

Recently, producer Pehlaj Nihalani faced the music for his film �Khushboo' when he failed to inform the original composer, Adnan Sami, about one track composed by Bappi Lahiri, before a compromise was reached between both parties. Nihalani refers to a clause while signing multi composers. If it is pre-decided that the movie will have multiple composers, there are no hindrances. But in case you add on any technician or composer, you need to get clearance from the original composer. Today, there are no situational songs in a movie, and sometimes item songs are just squeezed in. It is mainly the promotional tracks for which additional composers are roped in because a hit number is needed to promote the movie....

Veteran composer Anu Malek too faced the short end of the stick when Mission Istanbul's director Apoorva Lakhia roped in Mika, Shamir Tandon and Chirantan Bhatt for the remaining tracks, after two tracks had been composed by Malek. As Malek did not have an exclusive contract in place, he did not have a say in the decision, he says.

� Lack of involvement

Getting in multiple composers can reduce composers' involvement with the project, says Anand raj Anand. Entrusting a whole album to a composer motivates him to deliver a commercially successful composition; otherwise composers are only concerned about pushing their individual songs....

Adds Sachar, As the composers record separately according to their preferences, the final output is different in terms of mixing, sound quality and there is no supreme creative control over the album.... Agrees Sajid, None of the composers takes a special interest in the movie and the songs don't go with the feel of the movie....

Although Anand has been a part of multi composer projects, he is not too keen on them. But rejecting a movie in the music industry would mean spoiling relations. So, I usually accept projects that come my way even for one track, ... admits Anand.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh has a different take. Engaging more composers for a film works well as the final product is not stagnated with only one genre of songs. It is also a brilliant idea as there is a sense of competition between the composers to give their best shot to their respective songs. The real challenge is composing a track that would stand out in the album....

� Thanks, but no thanks

The credits often pose a problem. Says Sachar, For my track �Manzar' in Sunday, I didn't get any credit because the title track was composed by Sandeep Chowta and it was assumed that all the remaining tracks were composed by him....

Siddharth Suhas have traveled the same path. Our compositions in movies like Aryan and Jawani Diwani didn't give us any recognition,... says Siddharth. Now, the duo insists that if they are a part of the album, they get the due credit mention on the CDs as well as the film posters....

Sachar has now decided to put his foot down. I have decided to stick to projects where I am the sole composer or get to compose the promotional or title track of the movie which will be hammered for promotions....