Kathakali Chatterjee wrote this article.
I was pleasantly surprised while watching movie "Inside Man" as it started with a famous Bollywood song directed by A R Rahman.
I was pleasantly surprised while watching movie "Inside Man" as it started with a famous Bollywood song directed by A R Rahman.
I found this phenomenon pretty interesting and believed that "music"
has no specific language or culture barrier. As long as it sounds nice
it appeals people - regardless of the global boundary.
I was even more startled while watching Lords of War last week which has another theme music composed by A R Rahman again, from a famous bollywood movie called Bombay.
Then I was watching "Pretty Woman" after a long time and had an uncanny feeling while listening "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison - but I didn't know why.
Now I remember.
One famous Bollywood movie Indianized this song from Pretty Woman. I am sure a large number of Indians are familiar with the original one and I also remember people going bonkers over Julia Roberts and Richard Gere when the movie released in India (that includes me as well!). The thing I like most that the Indian version did not lose its uniqueness even being influenced by the legendary number, at the same time was capable enough to invoke enough curiosity to get introduced to Roy Orbison. Does this Indian tune sounds familiar? How about this one? Yes! "Oh no..no..no.." is influenced by an Indian movie from 1972. Personally I am not very happy about this group "Indianizing" the song because I don't like them. But there are plenty of people who enjoy the number.
"World Music" or "Fusion" is increasingly becoming a popular genre which has helped to eliminate the culture barrier in music. Critics say "Fusion" is not music, it's more chaos - as both form loses its originality. Well, I am no puritan as far as music goes and I enjoy everything as long as it is not a cacophony. John McLaughlin playing in Shakti (1975) or Remembering Shakti (1997) is a chaos? It proved each and every critic in the world wrong who claimed guitar was not the right instrument to play Indian classical music. Ultimately in the end, I think it enriches the culture as a whole when John Brion uses the unforgettable Hindi Sound track - Wada Na Tod in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by the Indian Nightingale - Lata Mangeshkar, whose voice is known to melt a stone - even in her '70s.
Now I remember.
One famous Bollywood movie Indianized this song from Pretty Woman. I am sure a large number of Indians are familiar with the original one and I also remember people going bonkers over Julia Roberts and Richard Gere when the movie released in India (that includes me as well!). The thing I like most that the Indian version did not lose its uniqueness even being influenced by the legendary number, at the same time was capable enough to invoke enough curiosity to get introduced to Roy Orbison. Does this Indian tune sounds familiar? How about this one? Yes! "Oh no..no..no.." is influenced by an Indian movie from 1972. Personally I am not very happy about this group "Indianizing" the song because I don't like them. But there are plenty of people who enjoy the number.
"World Music" or "Fusion" is increasingly becoming a popular genre which has helped to eliminate the culture barrier in music. Critics say "Fusion" is not music, it's more chaos - as both form loses its originality. Well, I am no puritan as far as music goes and I enjoy everything as long as it is not a cacophony. John McLaughlin playing in Shakti (1975) or Remembering Shakti (1997) is a chaos? It proved each and every critic in the world wrong who claimed guitar was not the right instrument to play Indian classical music. Ultimately in the end, I think it enriches the culture as a whole when John Brion uses the unforgettable Hindi Sound track - Wada Na Tod in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by the Indian Nightingale - Lata Mangeshkar, whose voice is known to melt a stone - even in her '70s.
Wonderful article, Katha! I love all those fine YouTube video links! It's so wonderful when you share your Indian culture with us!
Hi David,
This is becoming a melting pot of and a global culture is emerging!
I forgot to mention another one -
Moulin rouge used a famous Hindi song -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYSUofoSY1E
The original was a bigtime hit!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gehtGVj5u-4
Gosh those are incredible videos, Katha! So much money was spent on flash and spectacle and production!
very few Indian movies are creative and original and which are the are phenomenal.
Hi David,
Yes, money spent for one video is huge!
Hi Maliha,
Welcome to Urban Semiotic!
"Indian movie" is an over generalization, because there are 18 official languages and each and every language has a movie industry of their own.
I guess you are talking about “Bollywood”, and it is all business and entertainment – it doesn’t even claim to be intellectual.
If you really want to watch “phenomenal” something then watch the following:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/movies/21indi.html?ex=1334808000&en=3d5e45c0a6495177&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Parzania, Black Friday, Black, Nishabd, Sarkar, The Guru - these are some recent milestones.
Katha --
Is Bollywood indebted to Hollywood or is it now an original creation of its own doing?
Hi David,
It is hard to define Bollywood in one sentence; it is a weird mixture of everything – should better be called a curious “combination” with a dash of Hollywood, touch of traditional Indian culture/custom and glitz and glamour.
It is the "parallel movies" that are fascinatingly original and appeals both the head and the heart.
Hi David,
Let me give you an example:
The movie Sholay (1975) is an all - time milestone in Hindi movie industry.
It ran continuously for 2/3 years in some movie halls and created a record. It was the biggest block-buster ever.
The actions/stunts were known to be influenced by John Ford’s “Stagecoach” (1939) – though I haven’t seen it. But it still maintains a very Indian flavor.
Funniest thing is the movie was supposed to be pulled out from the halls because of its lukewarm response at first!
The following song from the movie also opened a new vista in modern Hindi song -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIc5ALdd4NY
though it is originally sung by Demise Roussos in 1946:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UJXgmPqAE4&mode=related&search
The extra example helps a great deal, Katha, thank you!
I love it that Bollywood may have been bred in imitation but now lives on its own creative terms!
I love the way music can cross the cultural divide and unite in ways other things cannot.
What did you think of Lord Of War ? My children were watching it and it pulled me and had me on the edge of my seat.
Hi Nicola!
After a long time! Missed you!
Loved the movie - watched it for the second time! Which I do not do unless I am really intrigued by it!
Dipping in and out when I can ....... real life has snuck up on me with a vengeance.
I am glad you enjoyed Lord of War - I have watched it several times now - I am still enthralled by it.
It's good to hear from you always Nicola!
"Is Bollywood indebted to Hollywood or is it now an original creation of its own doing?"
Hi David,
This is a wonderful post and I'd like add my two cents here...
No one knows when exactly the Hindi film industry which operates from Bombay/Mumbai got christened as "Bollywood". Hindi movies started in the 1930s. It was, I guess, in the late '80s that the Hindi movies really started reaching a global audience and that's probably when the name "Bollywood" stuck with Mumbai's Hindi film Industry. I'd say Bollywood owes Hollywood a lot more that it'd ever give credit for. Before the Hindi film Industry became "Bollywood", it did a lot of original movies (I agree there were rip-offs even back then..But the numbers were relatively smaller). However after the "Bollywood" tag, the level of originality has gone down dramatically. Most of today's directors are heavily influenced by Hollywood and even other movie industries from different countries(nothing wrong with that, of course). There have been instances of total rip-offs where not just the story-line, but even the camerawork and lighting, even the costumes have been copied from some Hollywood flick. A director, Sanjay Gupta, it is said, actually gave his cinematographer the DVD of "Oldboy" and said "We are going to make this film". The result was "Zinda" in 2006 which became quite successful. 2007's small budget film, "Bheja Fry", which has become a smash hit, is lifted from "Le Dîner de cons", a 1999 French film. I'm citing just a couple of instances.
But then there are also some directors and producers who try to create something original. Unfortunately such people are only handful. Nagesh Kukunoor's "Iqbal" in 2005 and "Dor" in 2006 were brilliant, original movies.
But Bollywood has become a "Big Business" now and every producer-director wants to play it safe. And the ripped-off movies are doing quite well in India...So they'd rather ape the west instead of doing something new here....So yes, definitely Bollywood owes a lot to Hollywood and other global film industries.
Cheers,
Videowatch