the Top 2 are ARR numbers .... http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/living-with-music-a-bollywood-playlist-by-daphne-beal/
March 25, 2009, 7:00 am Living With Music: A Bollywood Playlist by Daphne Beal By Gregory Cowles<http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/author/gregory-cowles/> [image: Daphne Beal]Sven Wiederholt Daphne Beal *Daphne Beal is the author of a novel, “In the Land of No Right Angles.”* I lived and traveled in South Asia for many years, beginning in 1989, and witnessed everyone from Tibetan nuns to street boys vamp to Bollywood songs, so I knew how much a part of daily life they were. But it wasn’t until 1998, when I was researching the lives of migrant Nepali sex workers in Bombay’s oldest red light district, Falkland Road, for what eventually became the third section of my novel, that I understood their transformative power. The inside walls of brothels were covered with headshots of Bollywood stars. When the girls got ready at dusk, they always blasted the film songs, reminding me of the way my friends and I played Madonna or Cyndi Lauper during our freshman year of college. All the songs in this list are happy, hyper, get-up-and-dance numbers spanning the last half century, and I’m including the links to videos, because there’s never been a music genre more tied to the filmic form. (I’ll leave the soulful, more angsty list to another devotee.) *1) Dil Se Re,* composed and sung by A. R. Rahman with Anuradha Sriram and Anupama; and *2) Chaiyya Chaiyya,* composed by A. R. Rahman, performed by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasti. Before winning this year’s Oscar for “Slumdog,” A. R. Rahman created soundtracks for more than 100 films. These two rollicking songs are from the 1998 hit “Dil Se” (“From the Heart”), which I watched in Bombay in the company of a shoeshine boy who had attached himself to me. Its female star, Manisha Koirala, is Nepali (the niece of Nepal’s prime minister at the time), with a penchant for Meryl Streep-like gazes, and was revered by the Nepali women in the red-light district. In 2003, the BBC conducted an international poll of most popular songs, and “Chaiyya Chaiyya” was in the Top 10 in 155 countries. Its dance number in the film is performed on top of a moving train, the male lead (Shahrukh Kahn) apparently without a stunt harness. (Videos: “Dil Se Re”<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Pjh-ijaC0>| “Chaiyya Chaiyya” <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_2gW3zwMMQ>) *3) Aap Jaise Koi,* from the 1980 film “Qurbani.” This disco hit was composed by Biddu, a U.K.-based Indian, who is better known (on this side of the globe) for danceable faves like “Ring My Bell” and “Kung Fu Fighting.” “Aap Jaise Koi” (whose catchy refrain is “baat ban jaye,” or “it would be so nice”) made an overnight sensation across the subcontinent of then 15-year-old performer Nazia Hassan, who has been called “Pakistan’s first pop diva.” (Video<http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/living-with-music-a-bollywood-playlist-by-daphne-beal/%3Chttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o5C1yUlx6w>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o5C1yUlx6w”>Video</a>)</p><p><strong>4) Jaan Pehechaan Ho,</strong> performed by Mohammed Rafi for the 1966 movie “Gumnaan.” Anyone familiar with Terry Zwigoff’s movie “Ghost World” (2001) will recognize this tune that combines surf guitar and funk with Elvis gyrations, gold lame, bandit masks and some intense head bobbling. (<a href=>) *5) Aloo Chaat,* written and performed by RDB (Rhythm, Dhol, Bass), a group of three Anglo-Indian Sikh brothers. This 2008 song is where rap, bhangra and intentional camp meet, and it is impossible not to grin and move to. ( Video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_1Klh2aXX4>) *6) Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu,* performed by Geeta Dutt in “Howrah Bridge” (1958). I first met this song in its second cinematic incarnation, in a scene on Falkland Road, in Mira Nair’s 1988 film “Salaam Bombay!” It has a catchy tune performed winsomely by the legendary Geeta Dutt, and it is a little more singable than some for the non-Hindi speaker because of the line in English, “Hello mister, how do you do?” (Video<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVKEMOenP-o> ) *7) Dum Maro Dum,* performed by Asha Bhosle, from “Hare Rama Hare Krishna,” 1971. Pure hippie chic, this song (whose title translates as “Take Another Toke”) has some nice, crooning psychedellic sounds mixed with Hare Krishna chanting. The video from the film features long-haired Western kids found in Kathmandu, almost certainly in the hash-smoking corner of town called Freak Street. (Video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddGjV51Edok>) *8) Kokku Para Para,* performed by Tippu, Manicka Vinayagam and Rajalakshmi. This upbeat and highly hummable song is in fact from a 2005 Kollywood hit called “Chandramukhi.” Confused yet? That’s a reference to the film industry in Tamil Nadu. But I included it because the film was dubbed into Hindi (and German!). The song has an essential and familiar sweetness and is the favorite of my 11-year-old friend, Vahni, in Columbus. Also, the film’s star, Rajnikanth is so beloved that when I met the actor’s daughter at a dinner in Bombay in 2007, she told me that once when he was slapped in a movie, the audience in Chennai burned down the theater in protest. (Video<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh-gY5iQE1Y> ) *9) Rang Rang,* performed by Sonu Nigam and Alisha Chinoi. This is another sugar-pop confection in a spoof filmed in Toronto called “Bollywood Hollywood” (2002). The director Deepa Mehta and actress Lisa Ray went on to a more serious collaboration about traditional Indian widowhood in “Water,” but this number is as light as air. (Video<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH1qfK2n_nE> ) *10) Aaja Nachle,* performed by Hans Raj Hans, mixed by bhangra master Bally Sagoo. Featured in Mira Nair’s “Monsoon Wedding” (2001), this song is a modern club interpretation of a classic Punjabi folk tune, the title of which means “Come Dance.” The question is, why wouldn’t you? (Video<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2dwjWPyY9U> ) -- -A http://viewsnmuse.blogspot.com
