Feature: Ray music in Wes Anderson film

Pratim D. Gupta
Anu Malik’s Chhamma chhamma was used by Baz Luhrmann in Moulin Rouge. A.R. Rahman’s Chhaiyya chhaiyya was used by Spike Lee in Inside Man. Even Shankar Jaikishen’s Kya mil gaya found its way on to the soundtrack of The Guru. But what Wes Anderson has done for his new film The Darjeeling Limited is sure going to make us a whole lot more proud.
Steely Dan may have openly offered its services for the soundtrack of The Darjeeling Limited but Wes Anderson, the maker of such neo-classics like The Royal Tenenbaums and Bottle Rocket, has gone ahead and used soundtracks from films by Satyajit Ray and Merchant Ivory for the film. This is indeed the first time Ray’s music is being used posthumously by a Hollywood production (Fox Searchlight is backing The Darjeeling Limited).
So, the first trailer of the movie, starring Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, is out on the Net and the promo takes off with the Charulata theme before going off to songs — Strangers and This time tomorrow — by the British band The Kinks.
In his interviews, Anderson has admitted that he has always been a big Ray fan. “My main knowledge of Indian films is Ray’s films.... Ray’s work has been an enormous influence on the movie I am making in Rajasthan,” he said in an interview. “His films have inspired all my other movies, and I should dedicate the movie to him.”
The Darjeeling Limited, in fact, was shot almost entirely in India — mostly in Rajasthan — although it never quite made it to Darjeeling. The film revolves around three American brothers who take a trip together to India after the death of their father and disappearance of their mom. Mayhem ensues when they get kicked off a train.
While the film releases in the US on September 29, The Darjeeling Limited will first open at the New York Film Festival a day before. That’s often been a good omen for an Oscar takeoff with The Queen, Good Night, and Good Luck and Mystic River all kicking off in the same festival. The movie, which stars Irrfan in a cameo, will also participate in the Venice Film Festival.