Why Do All Bollywood Numbers Sound the Same?

November 19, 2008 

Listen to thirty minutes of Zoom any day of the week to enlighten yourself of the upcoming releases. Either there’s something wrong with my hearing or there’s a serious dearth of creativity in Bollywood right now. As most viewers, I don’t understand what goes into the making of music for a movie but what I do know is good music can make or break a movie. And it’s been a really long while since the industry came out with some differentiating foot-tapping number.

The only ones that have stood out in recent times are perhaps “Pappu Can’t Dance Saala” from “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na” or the ones from Bachna Ae Haseeno (thanks to The Boss). So much so that the originals sound very similar to the remixes. Or is it because they are overdoing the promos?

Even the popular “Singh is Kinng” didn’t boast of any grooving numbers. If it weren’t for the aggressive marketing or the chemistry between Akshay-Katrina, I doubt it would have been as successful. And don’t even get me started on Himesh Reshammiya; to think that he got the formula right once and has been rehashing ever since movie after movie in his nasal voice with the lyrics changed is suffocating. To think of Yuvvraaj being promoted as a musical with Ghai trying to replicate the success of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, it’s no where close. It’s a shame that the music took 87 days to make while the shooting lasted 90 days - whatever that means. Nothing these days makes you want to look back and hear one more time. I can’t quite recollect when I last named the movie from its music without as much as flinching an eyelid. The other day, a song from the recently released Dostana was playing and I thought it sounded very familiar - no wonder Karan Johar in action. If anything, the choreography can get better in the least. Great steps among recent movies: I’d pick the Bachna Ae Haseeno title number.

I am longing for an era as the ’90s when we had movies with almost all the songs that were chart busters - remember Aashiqui, Dil, Main Pyaar Kiya, DDLJ, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and much later Dil Chahtha Hai - phew that was so effortless. And I have to now really rake my brains hard to come up with even 2 or 3 movies with overall good music in recent years. Maybe I will settle for Rang De Basanti, Jab We Met (alright, this is biased because I’ve seen it like 7483 times), and Bachna Ae Haseeno.

What’s on your playlist?

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Comments

4 Responses to “Why Do All Bollywood Numbers Sound the Same?”

  1. Suresh on November 20th, 2008 1:00 pm

    Rangeela
    Taal
    Dil Se
    Hum dil de chuke sanam
    Lagaan
    Saathiya
    Swades
    Dil chahta hai
    Kal ho na ho
    Omkara

    I’m sure the list is quite long for other Hindi music lovers — but, I have a limited taste when it comes to Bollywood.

    Me: Rangeela and Taal - definitely. With you on those.

  2. Alok on November 20th, 2008 1:25 pm

    Heh, for me music is something to occupy my brain’s unused capacity while working. As long as it’s not too noisy, anything goes.

    Am currently using in.com’s streaming audio and taking advantage of playlists created by other people.

    Me : Effortless Entertainment :)

  3. CD on November 20th, 2008 9:59 pm

    I would add: Jodha akbar, Jaane Tu Jaane Na, Swades, Murder, Bachna Ae Haseeno….hhmm, still thinking… :-)

    Me: Haven’t seen Jodhaa Akbar. Aish - bit of a repellant for me. Murder - interesting!

  4. Trailblazer on November 24th, 2008 7:58 am

    Swades and TZP were amazing. As was Guru.

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