Just read an article in The Hindu's Friday supplement (the closest it will ever come to the main body of the Times of India), titled 'Direct, Dil Se'. The subtitle read as, "It is no longer just about Bandra and Bhatinda. .....". This was just the stimulus I needed to write about something that has been irking me for long now, and was on my hitlist of things to lament about here. Its the all pervasive Punjabi songs in Bollywood cinema of recent times. Sure as the afore mentioned article says, Hindi films may have finally broken the confines of Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra and starting to venture into the by-lanes of UP, Bihar, Kolkotta, and the likes. But apparently, the whole country dances to the tunes of bhangra and hums Punjabi lyrics. The first time I realized this was when I was looking at my music collection sometime back, and noticed that in two months of the new year, I had only felt the need to download the music of one film. Even last year, the total number of films with music worthy of listening to more than once was miniscule. While this might be due to the overall falling standards of filmy music, I also realized that I just didn't care to listen to Harshdeep Kaur singing heer or Rabbi's challa as I had no clue as to what they are singing about. Now give me something like angrezi beat, where the music is more than enough and I don't have to really guess what the lyrics mean, and I'll be more than happy. But whats up with all the heavy duty Punjabi music in almost every other Bollywood movie nowadays? A sampler of the trailers and music on TV nowadays - 'Jugni' from Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster returns, a couple of tracks from Mere dad ki maruti (something about Punjabiyon di battery and another one I don't even know what its called).
Now when we are talking about movies that are set in Punjab and the stories are integral to the state, I get that the music adds to the flavour - movies Mausam, Luv Shuv tey Chicken khurana, needed their (wonderful, I might add) Punjabi soundtracks. But do we need a Punjabi track in every movie? I have not seen Jab tak hai jaan (and will not see it. well ..... Jab tak hai jaan!), but I am guessing it wasn't really necessary for SRK to jump around like a monkey singing an all out Punjabi song on the streets of UK or US (or whatever hell western country Yash Chopra chose this time around to humiliate Indians) in a HINDI movie!? Did a movie like cocktail need to have all those Punjabi tracks (borrowed from various sources), however great they might have been? Did a student of the year really need a "Velle" or Kukkad"? Did a UP-based Tanu weds Manu, need a Jugni (there seems to be a lot of them anyway!) in the end credits? And speaking of Jugnis, one of the stand out moments in Cocktail for me was when Deepika Padukone's character realizes she's hit rock bottom, at a party, and is seen lying on a rooftop, ravishing in a green dress. The song playing in the background is, of course, another Jugni! And though I love that song, I have no idea what it is saying! I do not know how does it convey the turmoil the character is going through, or even if it does do that or not, because I do not understand the lyrics. So it takes away something from that moment for me. Do the filmmakers and music directors and lyricists of our Hindi film industry really believe that the entire country understands Punjabi? Heck I am a Delhiite, and Delhi might as well be the honorary capital of Punjab, and I still have trouble understanding and more importantly, identifying with those songs! I just feel like flipping the channel, or get bored and distracted when most of them come on.
Now I am not saying that if its a Hindi movie, it all should be inexplicably Hindi. I don't mind a Marathi 'Navrai Majhi' (English Vinglish), Womaniya or a Gujarati 'Shubhaarambh' (Kai Po Che) thrown in every now and then. In fact, these are pleasant, refreshing breath of fresh air. All I am opposing is this excessive, unending barrage of unnecessary Punjabi music and lyrics (they bother more) in every second Hindi film! And this is a relatively recent trend maybe last couple of years or so. I guess it has to do with the recent success of Punjabi pop music and artists like Mika, Honey Singh and so on. Not so long ago, a "tere bin" by Rabbi (Delhi Heights) or even Mauja Mauja (Mika) were extremely appreciated. Because then they were the exceptions, rather than the norm. Hindi Pop music scene died with the 90's and all we have now is Bollywood to satiate our need for Hindi music. A little regional flavour every now and then is welcome and even appreciated, but can we please maintain a soundtrack that all Hindi-speaking consumers of Bollywood universally understand?
