Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Loopy and looping


Ok, so I made this totally amazing discovery today and I can't sleep tonight unless I have stuck a big fat notice on the bar's noticeboard about this.

Remember the last time when all the songs of a Hindi movie used to be good? No? Frankly speaking, me neither. Okay, how about the time when almost all songs of a Hindi movie used to be good? Somewhat? I'm thinking Parineeta, Jism, etc. Yeah, so that doesn't happen anymore. (Several folks recommended Talaash and Barfi to me, but I didn't find it all that loop-worthy after a few times. I was also very disappointed with Rockstar - both the music and the movie.) These days, I consider myself lucky if I like one song in the album. One song that is not gimmicky or 'designed' to be a chartbuster. One song with some proper lyrics, if not poetry in it, one song that does not say inane things like ishq wala love (I still maintain that the tune is lovely though) or talk about Munni's/Sheila's/Chameli's assets and abilities. There have been flashes in the pan like 'Saibo' and 'Mora piya' but they don't come by often.

Though I'm still in touch with what new movies are in the pipeline, lately I've stopped following music albums of new movies. I don't know what's out there anymore and I don't care. The last time I listened to the weekly top 15 in the hope of finding just one good new song, I was disgusted. Seriously. Sample these songs - Totey ud gaye, Punjabiyan di battery, babli badmaash, main senti hoon, lat lag gayee. (Check it out yourself if you don't believe me; these songs are still in the top 15 of several charts).

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not being a Bollysongsnob here. I like my 'Soni de nakhre' kind of songs as much as the next guy, and I am all for them in the gym, but some days I just want to lie back and be consumed by a song, totally soaked in it, the music and lyrics washing over me, the song in its entirety actually moving me (and by moving me, I don't mean head-bobbing to kaindi ponnn ponnn ponnn). And I don't find anything. Yes, I often go back to the oldies, but a nice new surprise every now and then would be so nice, wouldn't it? Especially one that has no video associated with it in your head yet, just the song itself and nothing else.

So I was writing this chapter explaining electromagnets to 10-year-olds when I realised that I needed some music to cheer me up (electromagnets get depressing after exactly half an hour). And I don't know why, but I went to check out new movie albums, something I hadn't done in a while. Boy, am I glad I did. I saw the poster of Aashiqui 2, and said to myself - why not? As the first strains of the first song 'Tum hi ho' filled the room, I sat up. Electromagnets be damned, this was an actual good song. Holy cow. Imagine my total shock when the next song 'Sun raha hai' turned out to be even more mind-blowing. Was this possible? Two good songs in one movie? A movie following the pathetic trend of unrelated sequels? Surely this was a practical joke? A very cruel one at that. Maybe the file names were wrong? So I googled 'Aashiqui 2' music review. And it turns out I'm not the only one who loves the songs. Of course, I am aware that I could be over-gushing as a result of the 'Bhikhari ko bheek, jo bhi miley theek' syndrome, but I have to say I have not played an album on loop all day for a very very long time now. And I did that today. Almost all the songs are great, and I won't nitpick too much on minor details (e.g. some songs sound too Pritam-ish and I hope they are not lifted off Korean tunes, and the inconsistent use of pronouns - 'Hum tere bin ab reh nahin sakte, tere bina kya wajood mera', and the song 'Hum mar jayenge' which is quite meh. And oh, I just can't my head around 'Apne karam ki kar adaayein'. Something doesn't seem right. It should be 'ataayein', shouldn't it?).

The truth is - I felt good listening to Bollywood music. Real good. After a very long time. (I even went and checked out the movie's trailer. Vidya Balan's devarji looks promising, but I'm not too sure about Shakti Kapoor's daughter. She might be all right; I figure I just can't get the 'auuu' out of my mind. Might do an SSSK post on the movie at some point.)

It's a bit hard to describe what the songs did to me. The closest would be the kind of feeling songs like 'Is tarah aashiqui ka asar' or 'Pehla nasha' or 'Tere dar par sanam chale aaye' did to us in our teenage years. Now they may make us shake our collective heads and laugh, but back then, those songs made us feel something. They enveloped us. Made us more alive. Filled our hearts with something that we did not realise would probably never come back to us when we were older.

So there. There is still hope in the world. All is not lost. If you want some of the sunshine I soaked in today, click here now.



13 comments:

mythalez said...

GOLD!! [Oh how long has it been]

and you say, that the Bwoods have actually produced a fully listenable album? Really? I won't believe you until I hear it :P

Vasudha said...

Barfi had an immensely listenable album too :D Especially Phir Le Aya Dil (all three versions, topped by Rekha Bhardwaj's) and Kyun :)

Stone said...

My playlist these days -

Kai Po che - all 3
Khamaakha - Matru ki bijli ka mandola
Darmiyan - Inkaar
Sapna Re Sapna or Kaali Kaali aankhone ka.. - Ek thi daayan

Arun said...

Don't worry, it comes back even when you're older - that special feeling that music can bring. You just have to not close yourself to it.

Arun said...

On the iTunes store, Aashiqui 2 has 6 stars. Tum Hi Ho has a popularity of 12/12 and Hum Mar Jayenge has a popularity of 1/12. Ankit Tiwari's Sunn Raha Hia has 7/12 while Shreya Ghoshal's has 5/12. The third most popular song in this album is Meri Aashiqui with 6/12.

Sri said...

Completely agree with you..just this week, i tried to google to see if there were any new nice songs to listen too but found songs of "Jab Tak Hai jaan" in the list of top songs!!

I like Barfi..Try listening to the songs of the Tamil movie "Kadal"..they are really good..the movie is trash though!

Some songs in "Kai Po Che" are good too..

Must check out "Aashiqui 2"

mad hatter said...

oh god, high five to another person who's cheesed off by "inconsistent use of pronouns" ... it gets worse when one line says 'aap/tum' and the next has 'tera'. what the...

khamakha completely beautiful... and you didnt find rockstar loop-worthy?

mad hatter said...

but yeah, i get it, rockstar barfi arent loopworthy in quite the same way the 90s music was to many of us..

Technofun said...

Very true.. every weekend we try to play some top songs from new movies and after 1 song we go back to 90's

In last year... Kai po che has couple of good ones.. the only one with good lyrics is Paani de rang from Vicky donor.. you can keep it on loop

Kanan said...

Thanks for sharing this. I rarely ever listen to new stuff. It freaks me out for the reasons you described in first four paragraphs. Heading over to saavn to listen to Aashiqui 2..

Divya said...

Wish u a very happy birthday..hope you had lots of fun...hv a wonderful year ahead!!

Varsha said...

Am yet to check out Aashiqui -2 music, but now I shall do it certainly. However, the songs you mentioned "Is tarah aashiqui ka asar chhod jaoonga", "Tere dar par sanam", others "Chhod aaye hum", "Hum ko sirf tumse pyaar hai", "Pehli pehli baar baliye". I like them still. They remind me of my teenage, but makes me want to go back to those days again. Humara zamaana!

Anonymous said...

Oh I liked Tum hi ho alright, but I kind of kept falling (ofcourse in my heart) while listening to sun raha hai. It has something in it that I can't quite put my finger on. Simply amazing song and yes I got the inconsistent pronouns the first time. I wonder what people think when they write lyrics! No respect for grammar :(