Vishal Bhardwaj - the tune of my heart..

We all know he's an accomplished director, but Vishal Bhardwaj has always impressed me with his compositions. Especially when composing for his own films, he's stellar in creating haunting tunes that beautifully accompany the visuals, the atmosphere, the suspense of the film, providing a delicious extra layer to the characters.

Naina from Omkara is definitely one of those songs. The picturization is pitch-perfect, setting up the love story between the two main characters in flashback. The way the song underscores everything, and while every song on the soundtrack is worth listening to (Beedi is another huge favourite of mine), this one is just all that more special to me for whatever reason.



Rone do from Maqbool is sung by Bhardwaj's wife Rekha. It's very much the same kind of haunting, beautiful tune that Naina is. (Also similar is the titular song from Kaminey, which is just gorgeous.)

But now for something a little different...



Socho kya karogi from Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega, is not from a Bhardwaj-direction, but dates earlier to his career's beginnings as a composer. It's just a wonderful, funky little tune, and the picturization where Saif Ali Khan and Sonali Bendre imagine what they would do if they had money (a large part of this comedy film centers around three guys trying to get some money). It's not typical Bhardwaj, but it's a show of his variety. He can compose incredible Indian-style rock songs (Beedi, Dhan Te Nan and Oh Mama will attest to this) but then he can also do goofy little tunes like this one.

As much as I anticipate new films from this guy, I equally anticipate his soundtracks..

Aaj Mausam Bada...

Sometime last year, the weirdest thing happened.. Out of nowhere, I woke up with this song in my head. It's from a film I've not even seen (Loafer), starring Dharmendra and Mumtaz, but I had heard it on one of those Western Bollywood song compilation albums I had bought back in the day (this one, where the first two CD's are really good but the third one, covering more modern Hindi tunes, is not really to my liking).

I don't even remember listening to it that much.. But out of nowhere, it popped into my head and I was obsessed, listening to it over and over again during one day, two days.

All things considered, I should probably watch Loafer now.. But sometimes a great song is just a great song, and it works completely independently of the film. So give this one a listen, and hopefully Mohammed Rafi's vocals will worm their way into your subconscious as well!

30 Days of Film: Day 9.

9. A movie with the best soundtrack

This was far from being an easy pick, but there's just something about how obsessed I was with this soundtrack, how its rustic sound makes it infinitely listenable and it's got everything from haunting beautiful tunes (Naina) to danceable, rocking songs (Namak, Beedi) and beautiful ballads (Jag Ja). It's just perfection, and the combination of the film and the soundtrack works well. Long live Vishal Bhardwaj.

Ek main aur ek tu hai.. Random thoughts about hiphop.

This post is just some thoughts inspired by Switty Tera Pyar Chaida, a promotional video for Delhi Belly, and Filmi Girl's brief thoughts on it that inspired debate in the comments of this post, as well as Twitter debate that touched on the same topic (I don't know how to link to this so I won't).


I think when it comes to the intersection of hiphop and Bollywood, there are numerous points to consider.

1) Globalness of goth genres. It's clear that these two would not intersect if it were not for the global popularity of hiphop, or the popularity of Bollywood films outside India. But the fact that they are global, brings up a question that problematizes the 'globalness' of them. So we understand hiphop and Bollywood as "things" or as "genres"?

If we classify them as "things", then they can be more clearly defined and located. Hiphop music and culture becomes something that stemmed from the experiences of black Americans in the late 1970's and onwards. It's not just a genre of music with certain characteristics - it's a thing with a certain, definite history. Bollywood as "a thing" would be mainstream Hindi films produced in Bombay/Mumbai.

As genres, I think the boundaries somewhat disappear. A musical dance number in an American sitcom can be considered in the "Bollywood genre", despite it not being in Hindi or produced in Mumbai. Yet there's something "Bollywoodish" about it, so it can be understood to fit the genre. Hiphop as a "thing" isn't produced by two Indian guys, with the son of India's biggest film star providing the vocals, but as a genre, it can accommodate a hiphop song like "Right Here Right Now" from the 2005 film Bluffmaster.

I think it's good to keep in mind both hiphop and Bollywood as 'things', because those I feel like are their "truest nature". It's where the genres stemmed from, and it's where you can still find a lot of variation (so it's not as if its a very purist view). But at the same time, you have to consider the global aspect.

2) Mockery. What's the parody of "Switty", regardless of how funny or poignant it is, aimed at? I would argue the same as those defending it in the FG post - at the endless appropriation of hiphop as a genre by Bollywood film makers because of the idea that hiphop is glamorous, current and cool. But of course, what they really ape is only some aspects of hiphop as a genre - the musical style and the materialistic flair of the music videos (not to mention the objectification of women). So there's bling, cars and girls, not well-crafted lyrical output about the racism of the police or such issues.

I don't think Switty's a fantastic parody - it runs the risk of becoming the thing it mocks to the casual viewer, who will just see as another hiphop-inspired Bollywood promotional video and react accordingly. But I also don't think it's saying, "this is how silly hiphop is". To do that, it would just be ignorant, the same way in which some "Bollywood-inspired" things made in the West come off as insulting because even if they come from a place of love, they boil "Bollywood" as a thing or as a genre down to rather shallow "essentials", which can upset those fans of Indian films who find meaning in the lengthy dance numbers or other factors which these "inspired" thing contain.

3) Who gets to perform, and on whose terms? In hiphop, this is a much more pertinent question than it is for Bollywood, but applies to Bollywood as well, to a certain extent. It's obvious that hiphop's roots are not in the materially rich living portrayed in numerous music videos. At the same time, there are middle class rappers, too. I don't think it's my place to really chip in on this debate; while I do think that hiphop has become a global form of expression and I think a lot of respected, ground-breaking MC's have voiced similar opinions, it's really difficult to draw the lines of what 'feels' appropriate and what doesn't. And a whole other issue is just what is good music and what isn't.

Is Imran Khan performing a mockery of hiphop? In this case I feel like I can confidently say no. He is mocking a 'wannabe' who idolises certain aspects of the hiphop "culture", and the fact that most aspects are rather superficial. But what about white people performing Bollywood style dances and sequences?

Well, it might not be completely insulting, but it can be cringeworthy. I've been thinking about the Finnish bhangra-group, for example. Bhangra is global, but in the sense that desi people make it and perform it and dig it in Punjab, London, Toronto, wherever they may be in the world, and the audiences can be composed of various ethnicities. What are pasty Finns doing declaring their own sub-sect of this genre? I am biased, of course, and one of the things that bothers me is that I understand the lyrics to the song, whose title translates "leaders/commanders are invicible", which hardly gives off the vibe of a respectful tribute, but more of a boast. If you're going to borrow the musical stylings of another culture, at least be respectful. Or maybe I'm just easily irritated...

In terms of "Right Here Right Now", which I reference in the title of the post, it has to be said that this song only takes in aspects of hiphop, and while done in love, can be rather goofy in the way that Abhishek lives out his "rapstar" fantasy in the video. But for all its "trying too hard", it comes out as rather sympathetic to me, as does "Switty" in the end, even though it's more the bits of the movie that they show that make me want to see Delhi Belly, not the promotional video as a whole.

Or am I just a Bollywood apologist, easy to find fault in everything else but it? I don't know. I recognise that there are issues surrounding the problems and I do wish that certain Bollywood film makers would also think twice before making the "hiphop style" music videos for promotion of their films.

Until they do, hiphop producers outside India will rake in good money from the global success of their genre.. Has Bollywood gone down that path as well? Will it? That's probably a topic for another post.

Another attempt to push 99 on people.

I uploaded the song that plays during credits of 99, previously discussed here. It's a cool song, has beautiful Sunidhi Chauhan vocals and it's just a fun way to wrap up the movie (no spoilers here!). I don't think I've seen Soha Ali Khan dance to a properly choreographed song before (she might've done some but not in films I've seen her in) and Kunal Khemu can move and even Boman Irani gets down a little. (To make the video quality better, select the 480p version.)

Just give this comedy a chance! It's good fun!

70's week: Music and song picturizations.

Some of the first Bollywood music I ever heard was from the groovy 70's, when my friend gave me Rough Guide To Bollywood, about the only Bollywood music you could find at a Finnish store. Since I was such a newbie at that point, I hadn't heard any of these songs apart from DDLJ's Tujhe Dekha To and embraced this new music. And so I grew to love the classic 70's songs. Dum Maro Dum... Roop Tera Mastana (oh Kishore Kumar in this track!).. Chura Liya Hai Tumne.. Great stuff.

But of course, besides having the luscious vocals of Asha Bhosle, Kishore and Lata, and many great soundtracks composed by my favourite oldie composer R. D. Burman, these great tunes also have context.

The first song of Parvarish has our heroine sisters Neetu and Shabbo pocket wallets and watches from various people, while singing that everything belongs to the public ("Sab janta ka hai"). Shameless, you might think, but curiously both the lyrics and picturization elude to societal issues, like the rations where the government had grain behind locked doors but it didn't trickle down to the people who needed it the most (I may be over-simplifying this due to my shoddy understanding of Indian history - feel free to correct me).

The next song, Jaate Ho, is if at all possible even more brilliant. The girls have one-upped the guys by plotting their own marriages but the when the guys refuse, Neetu and Shabbo melodramatically decide to kill themselves. The guys show up to tease them, as each of their suicide methods go stale, and then offer them help. "Don't light yourself on fire with those matches, have this lighter!" I am hysterical watching this song but not laughing at suicide; I think at the core it is the heroines' over-dramatic behavior that elicits the laughter, and of course the fact they never really want to kill themselves - it is an act that the guys are participating in by teasingly offering them more efficient methods. And it is hilarious.

Every so often you encounter people who fast-forward songs in movies and think the songs offer absolutely nothing to the overall plot. Very well, I say, they have a point about some films, and with some songs. But sometimes, the song is a scene like any other, even with the song-and-dance, and it contributes to the logic of the film just as the scene that preceeds it and the one that comes after it.

Such is the song Hum Premi (dreadful quality on the youtube video, my apologies!), which at face value is a typical love song. In context of the movie, however, it becomes an incredibly clever dialogue between Amit and Kishan, heavy with dramatic tension as Amit suspects Kishan of being a crook. Even in terms of acting, the scene is fascinating, to see how they react to each other. Naturally, the DVD subtitles probably don't capture half the poeticism of the original lyrics, but even in their blunt form they make this a great scene to watch.

One of the best scenes in the movie, easily.

There are some other utterly fun songs in the film certainly worth discussing - like the qawwali of sorts with the heroines - or the utterly fun Neetu-in-a-maid's-outfit song as Amitabh harrasses her - but I think I'll skip ahead...



..to plug this brilliant fanmade video that takes the best bits of Parvarish and sets it to the Neetu-maid-outfit-song (Aayiye Shauk Se Kahiye). It's definitely spoilerous because it has all the best bits, pretty much, but nevertheless, well worth checking out if you need to refresh your memories of the film.

Friday's post will be about villains, action and all things badassery.

IFAC #13: The cheesier side of the industry's favourite jodi.

When I first saw Bollywood, I especially enjoyed three things about it; Kajol, Shahrukh, and the coupling of the two on screen. I wanted to see more of them, and so after K3G (my first BW film), I got my hands on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (which I liked) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (which I adored).

But I still had two SRK-Kajol films to watch, two films not so universally loved but still seen by most because, well, even if you don't love SRK-Kajol, who doesn't love 90's masala?

So here are the song clips people rarely associate with the legendary pairing ..one can only wonder why this is.



Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankheen from Baazigar. 90's Bollydisco with all the ridiculousness but also all the catchiness in the world. Sinfully long at 7 minutes but still guilty pleasure gold.



Baazigar O Baazigar from ..Baazigar. Also very long, but so worth it, what with all the delightful costume changes (from Zorro and bride to a sailing couple to whatever Spanish/Latin-American stereotype the next get-up is..) And never forgetting the bit where Shahrukh jumps out of the water with a trumpet in hand. Bless.



Jaati hoon main from Karan Arjun. Truly fabulous piece of farmyard eroticism plus general fun goofing around. I unironically adore what Kajol is wearing. And pretty much everything else, too. I need to rewatch the movie because damn, was it fun.

Indian Film Advent Calendar #6: Cute, cuter, Siddharth.

LINK

Great Siddharth!dancing in his latest Telugu film, Oye / Oye. Some pretty odd moves and as a song it's not a huge favourite (hello autotune!), but still worth checking out. I also really like this song:

LINK

Spoiler! He looks really awesome in this movie. I'll try to screencap and review it later this month.

Edited layout-breaking videos into links.

This is why, this is why I'm hot.

Here's what this post isn't: insightful commentary on the global popularity of hiphop and views on how non-American seem to adopt only certain ideas of the hiphop "life style" and music stylings from what is an incredibly complex cultural phenomenon born out of individual and group creativity and socio-economical conditions of 1970's New York City.

Here's what this post is: a shameless plug for my friend Smurphmurph's brilliant fanvideo effort where she mixed the otherwise embarrassing hiphop incarnation of Shahrukh Khan with the authenticity of USian hiphop.

The results are HOT.



Even though I specifically said this is NOT one of those posts, I have to say I do love the internet age for enabling these sort of things. And what's more hiphop than mixing and matching two materials in the way that people make these brilliant fanvids?

Meri jaan ka soundtrack. Or something.

Tagged by Ramsu, I felt like I should give this a try. It might not always be very fitting because to be honest, at times I don't remember what lyrics of a certain song talk about specifically, and anyway, filmi songs portray a rather limited range of emotions. You've got joy, sadness, loneliness, love and intoxication..

Rules of the tag: Various situations are given. You have to come up with a song ( or a couple) that aptly describe those situations in YOUR life.

Opening credits: Endrendum punnagai from Alaipayuthey. I think the title and first line of the song means "forever smiling" which is a pretty damn cheery way to start the movie about my life, and that may not be completely accurate (I'm certainly not always smiling!) but it's a fun, youthful ARR tune, so why not?

Waking up: Athiri pathiri from Dum Dum Dum. Another Tamil song, whaddya know. It's a girly, energetic sort of song and "pathiri" sounds like "patteri", which is Finnish for "battery", and what more do you need in the mornings than some serious Duracell-type energy?

Average day: Dil chahta hai from Dil Chahta Hai. No, every day of my life isn't goofin' around Goa with two of my best friends (I wish!), but the mood of the song and the sort of lazy dreaminess of it fits my thoughts as I go through life.

First date: Dating from Boys. "Yeah, I can clearly see - dating is a fantasy!" I hardly remember what this silly Tamlish song is about, but I actually like Blaaze's rapping/singing, and I love the Boys soundtrack, and it fits, so this one.

Falling in love: I'm not at all sure how apt for my life this is but it's a song I've been digging a lot as of late so I'll say it: Dil deewana from Maine Pyar Kiya.

Love Scene: Roop tera mastana from Aradhana, or God could I be more of a cliché?

Fight Scene: Gore gore from Hum Tum. Get it? Get it? Okay, no seriously and leaving aside stupid puns, Maaro maaro from Bunny, a Telugu flick. The lyrics are more like "yay youth!" than "yay violence!" but I think it fits all the same.

Breaking up: New York nagaram from Jillendru Oru Kaadhal. I haven't seen the movie but the lyrics and tempo of the song seem to speak of this post-break up loneliness. Again, questionable aptness to my own life as I've never gone through a particularly painful break up.

Getting back together: ..or gotten back together with anybody! I'll say Tujhe dekha to from DDLJ.

Life's okay: Paathshala from Rang De Basanti.

Mental breakdown: Crazy kiya re from Dhoom 2. For one, listening to this too much will give me a mental breakdown. For two, well, CRAZY kiya re, hai na?

Driving: Babu samjho ishaare from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. Complete with comedic noises and excellent Kishore singing, if I ever learn to drive, you'll hear this in my car all the time.

Learning a lesson: Ya rabba from Salaam-e-Ishq. This would be the humility after learning the lesson.

Deep thought: Piraiye piraiye from Pithamagan. I'm not sure if the lyrics suggest any sorts of thoughtfulness but that's the kind of thing I associate with the soundtrack and the movie itself.

Flashback: Maangalayam from Alaipayuthey. Because it ..flashes back to Endrendum punnagai! Isn't that clever?

Partying: Say na say na from Bluffmaster.

Happy dance: Beedi from Omkara. I know it's a raunchy song but it can also be happy, right?

Regretting: Haan ji haan from Seeta Aur Geeta - because isn't alcohol the easiest thing to regret?

Death scene: Mohabbat ki jhooti kahani from Mughal-e-Azam. Will my death be so full of suffering melodrama? Probably not, but it's a lovely song.

Closing credits: Of course, the current Indian film trends would dictate the closing credits song, not my actual life story or anything. It has to be a ridiculously mixed hiphop song of sorts, complete with English rap lyrics and the occasional Hindi verse thrown in! My current such favourite? Bhool bhulaiyaa from Bhool Bhulaiyaa - it's so bad and yet I love it so much. Also, it is somewhat a relief to know, for the audiences, that even once my life's tale has been brought to its end on-screen, there is still a world out there, and that world has Akshay Kumar, red convertibles and plenty of booty-shaking babes for him to place on top of that red convertible. You know? Life goes on, Khiladi style.

Tagging whoever has a blog, saw this, and thought "hey, that's neat!". Bonus points if, like me, you only use Indian film songs. Get to it!