Chura Liya Hai

So I just had my first "Bollywood Night" where I played some Bollywood music and videos at a local bar. The set went pretty well despite my nervousness, and I connected with one true fan of vintage Bollywood movies, so all told I think it was a success. I'll be doing this again in a few weeks - on May 18th, a little later, from 9-11 PM. Hopefully that'll mean a slightly bigger crowd - it was pretty empty today at 7 PM but picked up from 8 to 9.

Anyway, here's one of my favorite songs, Chura Liya Hai, from the 1973 film Yaadon Ki Baaraat. It features the always lovely Zeenat Aman and lots of very unconvincing mock guitar playing. There's one point about four minutes in where I swear it looks like the guy is about to clock her with the guitar.

It's interesting, with Bollywood songs, to enjoy them divorced from their context in the film - I feel that this is perhaps something that is much more pronounced for a Westerner, who may have much easier access to compilations of Bollywood music than to the actual films. I first heard this song on an excellent compilation called Bollywood Funk, and when I listened to it I never imagined anything quite like this video. I think the image in my mind's eye was much racier - a smoky bar, a scantily clad singer - but perhaps that's the suggestive undercurrent that this movie has to tread around.

Incidentally, this song also has the personal distinction of being the only Bollywood song I've ever attempted in Karaoke form. I'm sure my pronunciation was horrible, but as my audience consisted of middle-aged Santa Cruz bowling alley patrons, I think that was far outweighed by the effect of my sheer joy in performing this song, which I confess was considerable. I hope one day to revisit the potential of Bollywood Karaoke... perhaps in the future I'll have the foresight to document it here.

Oh, and here is a translation of the lyrics:

FEMALE:
You have already stolen my heart
Do not steal glances
Having changed my life
Do not change a bit, sweetheart
Oh, you took my heart, oh my heart
Oh, taking my heart don't humor me
You have already stolen my heart
Do not steal glances
Having changed my life
Do not change a bit, sweetheart

Becoming spring I will come sometime in your world
May this day not pass in just this wish
You are mine, you are mine
Today go making this promise
You have stolen
You have already stolen my heart
Do not steal glances
Having changed my life
Do not change a bit, sweetheart

MALE:
Oh, I will decorate your body's branch
I will give my heart's blood to your lovely red lips
I will decorate your body's branch
I will give my heart's blood to your lovely red lips
What faithfulness is, to this world
One day I will show them madly
You have stolen
You have already stolen my heart
Do not steal glances
Having changed my life
Do not change a bit, sweetheart
Oh, you took my heart, oh my heart
Oh, taking my heart don't humor me
You have already stolen my heart
Do not steal glances

Aap Jaisa Koi

I've been feeling kind of tired this week, and the only cure is lots and lots of star filters. Good thing I've got this disco delight from the 1980 film Qurbani to cheer me up. This song feels like it was just on the cusp of the disco trend that would soon take over Bollywood—it's kind of a softer, gentler disco sound.

Zeenat Aman fronts the band, wearing a dress that's one of those odd combinations of revealing and concealing that you see so often in Bollywood. My God, you can see her SIDES!!! She's supported by a highly enthusiastic Mandingo drummer and a gang of girls in glittery workout leotards. Of course, what really makes this clip is the lighting. Bright, colored, flashing, reflected off disco balls and hanging mesh, but most of all, shot through gorgeous, crazy, rotating star filters.

Intercut a standard portion of male lead reaction shots, one quirky scene with some supporting characters, and a fuzzy heart-shaped matte shot, and you've got yourself a nice feel-good dance number.

Those male leads must have a bit of a hard time doing all these reaction shots. I would assume they're mostly shot separately from the actual dance part, probably with the rest of the crew all staring at them. Here's what I think Feroz Khan is thinking to get himself into the right mood for each shot:

1. Go, shorty, it's your birthday, we gon' party like it's your birthday!


2. Man, check out Zeenat's sides! Daaaamn!


3. I'd tap that.


4. Time to break out my sexy half-raised eyebrow look.


5. It's really hard to keep looking sexy with this damn wind machine blowing on my hair.


6. Oh yeah, the look of slight disbelief. Slays 'em every time.


7. Hmmmm...


8. Wait, shit, did I leave the oven on?


9. Okay man, calm down, you got the scarf of nonchalance, remember? Keep it cool.


10. Damn I'm slick.

Here are the translated lyrics, culled from a forum site:

If someone like you were to come into my life
Then things would be set, yes things would be set

The springtime for the flower, the garden for the springtime
The heart for the heart, the body for the body
Everyone wants a meeting of body and soul
I wish that your heart would have a desire for mine
Then things would be set

I'm a human, not an angel
I'm afraid that I might wander
This lonely heart cannot pull itself together, without love it will pine
Where is there one like you, this heart would like to have just you..

Then things would be set...

Duniya Uski Sunti Hai

Here's a rather bizarre cabaret number from the 1966 movie Dus Lakh. I found out about this movie from a book I'm reading called Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb, by Jerry Pinto. It's a pretty good book... it's not really much of a biography, but more of an academic look about the cultural meanings and ideologies reflected in Helen's career and her roles. I mentioned in an earlier post that Helen never really succeeded in getting good leading roles because she was not ethnically Indian — this book provides a very thorough explanation of the traits and positions that Helen's characters were given because of her perceived whiteness. Besides that, it's giving me a great list of — what else — more Bollywood movies to track down and get clips from! Because, you know, the six hours of clips I already have captured and ready to post might not be enough... :)

Helen comes rolling in on a giant globe ("the world" of the song's title) dressed in — for some reason — a flamenco/mariachi outfit, with a bunch of fruit on her head like Carmen Miranda. Then Brahmachari, playing her brother, appears in possibly the silliest hat you've ever seen (if you've never been to Beach Blanket Babylon).


Beach Blanket Babylon plus Al Gore plus Carmen Miranda equals Bollywood... it all makes sense now

Also, this might just be me, but I'm seeing a weird resemblance between Brahmachari and Ron Mael of Sparks:


Helen is in fine form in this number, but Brahmachari nearly upstages her with his antics, such as pulling ridiculously fake strands of his hair out and "twanging" them, a bizarre stripping costume change where he ends up in what look like bright orange pajamas, and then just to max out the absurdity, another silly hat with what looks like a blow-up donkey on it. Then Helen walks him on a leash. All this has barely even a tangential connection to the lyrics or to the plot of the movie, and I suspect that maybe it's just meant to illustrate how unruly and strange Anglo Helen and her family are. Pinto writes in Helen that Christians and Anglo-Indians are often characterized in Bollywood movies as having loose morals and being associated with alcoholism, crime and prurient sexuality.

At least in Dus Lakh, Helen's character, Kitty, doesn't die or meet another sad fate, as she tended to. Pinto writes:

Kitty then becomes a nurse, and thanks Kishore, for she has been saved from a life of degradation. Her adoption of what are presented as Indian values and the consequent willingness to enter a life of service — never mind the Anglo-Indian community's long tradition in education and medicine — saves her from a fate worse than death.

Here are the translated lyrics of the song. The "du du du, ni ni ni, ya ya ya" part spells out "duniya," which means "the world."

Du du du
Ni ni ni
Ya ya ya
Duniya
The world listens and obeys him who makes it bow to its feet

Take from one and give to the other, that's how all live in this can
When it's someone else's wealth, eat, drink, enjoy as much as you can
When this is how everyone lives, then why don't you too try it?

Learn and understand the walk the world walks, dear
You too change your color, what is it that you fear?
If it's necessary, be nice even to him who makes you sick

Dum Maro Dum

In the '70s, Bollywood films began to develop a stronger political consciousness, and take on more pressing conflicts. Earlier Bollywood films had certainly dealt with some amount of politics, but in general they had a simple message of uniting different ethnic and religious groups under Indian nationalism, as in the song "Ganga Meri Ma" (which I'll be posting later).

This clip, however, from the 1971 movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna, represents a rare note of dissatisfaction and anger. The film opens with a lengthy rant by the central character, Prashant, played by Dev Anand, who also wrote, produced, and directed the movie. He laments the international rise of the Hare Krishna movement, and the Western devotees it has attracted, saying, "These people, whose religion is smack, grass, cocaine, LSD - and whose temple is open physical relationship - these people are leading every moment of their lives only for this moment. They are all lost under the influence of intoxication and enjoyment." As it turns out, Prashant's sister Jasbir has fallen in with a commune of Western hippies, is taking drugs to numb the pain of their parents' divorce, and has blocked out all memories of her childhood. In this clip, Prashant discovers Jasbir (played by Zeenat Aman) with a group of stoned hippies (played by real-life Western hippies found on location in Kathmandu). Prashant is the serious-looking guy with the giant collar that the camera keeps zooming in on.

Philip Lutgendorf's Indian cinema site, a great source of information, claims that in the '70s, "street urchins in Indian towns were apt to greet young Western travelers with a mocking rendition of the film's hit title song," specifically the opening line, "dum maro dum," which means "take another toke." Apparently Dev Anand was not alone in his scorn for the Western seekers who flooded India in the '60s and '70s.

I found a translation of the lyrics on a website with a Photoshop spoof of the Kronos Quartet's recent album with Asha Bhosle:

Take a toke
Let the pain be erased
Say all day and night
Hare Krishna, Hare Ram

What has the world given us?
What have we taken from the world?
Why should we care about everyone else?
What has everyone else done for us?

Whether we live or die
We won't fear anyone
This age will not stop us
We'll do whatever we want

Take a toke
Let the pain be erased
Say all day and night
Hare Krishna, Hare Ram

Lyrics: Piya Tu Ab To Aaja

For any of you who are curious, I found a very bad English translation of the lyrics from last week's post.

Lover, you just come now

He has come, look look he has come!

Lover, you just come now
My spirit flames like a blaze, come and extinguish it
So my body's flame becomes cold, embrace me in that way

For these thirsty thirsty lips of mine
Your lips have made a thousand promises
If one who forgets is to live then how will he live
Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes yes

Lover, you just come now
My spirit flames like a blaze, come and extinguish it
So my body's flame becomes cold, embrace me in that way

If your kindness remains on my condition
I even accept that reason, oh dear
For which you touched my footsteps
Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes yes

Lover, you just come now
My spirit flames like a blaze, come and extinguish it
So my body's flame becomes cold, embrace me in that way