Bombay (1995)

The movie is highly acclaimed and I was watching it in Hindi for a while recently. When I was growing up, I had heard the songs in Tamil and Hindi so many times that it didn’t take me time to recollect the lyrics.

What struck me was the picturisation of this song.



Arvind Swamy’s suit-wearing character is literally hounding his wife played by Manisha Koirala to bear him a daughter. It doesn’t help that she is politely refusing, and yet dancing to his tunes. They already have two sons (twins) who join the fun.

I don’t have much idea on movies made in other South-Indian languages, and I can say that Tamil movies employ vulgarity more easily when compared to their Hindi counterparts. If you have watched the sequences from “Enthiran” when the robot rescues the naked woman who is bathing when the fire breaks out (she subsequently commits suicide when lots of people see her naked) or when the robot successfully prevents Aishwarya Rai’s character Sana from getting raped in the train, you perhaps might know what I am referring to. Was there no other way to portray the robot’s prowess and his inability to understand emotions?

Before you take offence like a relative once did, it is not to say that Hindi movies aren’t vulgar – there are enough examples like I mentioned in this post. However, Hindi movies understand customer segmentation in a way Tamil movies don’t. Read an opinion given here. Or consider that teenagers (or worse, adultescents) were the chief targets for the makers of “Grand Masti”.

I have been an observer to this conversation between two women more than once – one of whom refused to even utter the word sex, and the other brought up Kamasutra and sex positions at the drop of a hat. Both are movie-watchers, and have different tastes. Given that movies seem to be the staple form of sex education in the country (apart from having “well-informed” friends who develop “non-vegetarian” habits early on), one of the changes I’d like to see in Indian movies is a more informed and evolved depiction of sex. For that, a start has to be made with revamping the education system, and the reality shows in which children now participate – either mouthing adult lyrics or dancing to adult moves.

Peppy music and spontaneous lyrics

I listen to a lot of Bollywood music, and it has taken me a while to get used to the idea of liking the music and almost discounting the lyrics that sound like gibberish. While I know that all songs cannot sound like those from “Rockstar”, some attention to the lyrics would be nice.

Look at what “Rockstar” gives.

“Jo bhi main, kehna chahoon
Barbaad karein, alfaz mere”

Years ago, the sibling had a habit of singing songs in their English version. For example, “Panchi nadiya pawan ko jhoke” from “Refugee” became “Birds, rivers and gusts of winds” sung to the same tune. She had perfected the technique and many a Bollywood number got translated into English.

In recent times, Bollywood music has seen songs with verses from languages other than Hindi. I sometimes wonder if any thought has gone into the lyrics, or whether the attention is only given to the music and the mood of the song.

The song of 2011 is “Chammak Challo” – it makes use of a combination of Hindi, English and Tamil.



The interesting picturisation of “Dil Dance Maare Re” made me notice this song from “Tashan”. It uses a combination of Hindi, English and Bhojpuri.



Moving South, “Kolaveri di” uses Tamil and English.



Each song had something "different" - be it the singers (Akon, Dhanush) or be it the picturisation. Thus, I will remember them and perhaps stick to humming their tunes.