Download Bombay Hindi Songs

[Jennifer Leos]

Bombayis the soundtrack to the 1995 Indian film of the same name, with eight tracks composed by A. R. Rahman.[1] The film was directed by Mani Ratnam, and stars Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, while the soundtrack album was released on 24 December 1994 by Pyramid.[2] The Indian film was originally a Tamil film dubbed into Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. The soundtrack was thus released in multiple languages. The lyrics for the Tamil version were written by Vairamuthu, except for the song "Halla Gulla", which was written by Vaali. The lyrics for the Hindi and Telugu versions were written by Mehboob and Veturi, respectively.

The soundtrack of the film became one of the best-selling Indian music albums of all time, with sales of 15 million units.[3][4] The soundtrack was included in The Guardian's "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die" list,[5] and the Hindi version of the song "Kannalane", titled "Kehna Hi Kya" by K S Chitra was included in their "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear" list.[6] The song "Hamma" was later reused in Ok Jaanu (2017) as "The Humma Song".[7] "Bombay Theme" has appeared in various international films and music compilations, while "Kannalanae" and "Bombay Theme" have been sampled by various international artists.

Since its release, the soundtrack for Bombay has been influential, both nationally and internationally. The soundtrack also found success across India in its dubbed Hindi and Telugu versions. In 2007, the soundtrack was included in The Guardian's "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die" list,[5] and the Hindi version of the song "Kannalane", titled "Kehna Hi Kya", was included in their "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear" list in 2009.[5] In 2014, BBC Music listed Bombay among their "20 Greatest Soundtracks" of all time, and selected the instrumental "Bombay Theme" as its standout track.[8]

A. R. Rahman won the Filmfare Best Music Director Award (Tamil) for the soundtrack. Vairamuthu won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Lyricist, and K. S. Chithra won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback for the song "Kannalane".

"Kannalane", also known as "Kehna Hi Kya", is based on Qawwali, a form of Islamic Sufi music.[9][10] K. S. Chithra won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback for the song "Kannalane". Backing vocals were sung by A. R. Rahman, Sujatha Mohan, Ganga and Reshmi.

"Kehna Hi Kya", like the other songs on the Hindi soundtrack, was written by Urdu lyricist Mehboob. "Kehna Hi Kya" was included in The Guardian's list of "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear".[5] The Hindi version of the song was also sampled by Ciara for her 2009 song "Turntables", featuring Chris Brown.

The track "Bombay Theme" is an instrumental orchestral piece composed and arranged by A. R. Rahman. It has been sampled by many artists in the world. The track featured in various compilations and films besides being sampled by many major artists. Major compilation albums on which it appeared include Chakra Seven Centers (1995; in which it was credited as "Ajna Chakra"), Anokha - Soundz of the Asian Underground (1997), Caf del Mar Vol 5 (1998), Ambient Chillout Mix Vol. 1 (2002) and Paradisiac 2 . The track is alternatively credited as "Bombay Theme Tune," "Mumbai Theme Tune" or "Bombay Theme Music" in compilations. It was featured in the Italian film Denti by Gabriele Salvatores in 2000, in the Palestinian film Divine Intervention in 2002, in the 2005 Hollywood film Lord of War,[11] and in Julian Schnabel's Miral (2010).[12][13] Rahman reused the track as "Bombay Theme Intro" in the score of the 1996 film, Fire, by Deepa Mehta. It also appeared on a French TV commercial for Volvic starring Zinedine Zidane in 2000. The theme was also sampled by the German band Lwenherz for their song "Bis in die Ewigkeit",[14] and by the American rapper Lloyd Banks for his song "Rather By Me" (2009).[15]

The track "Uyire"[16] was among the most popular and acclaimed songs of the 1990s. It was sung by Hariharan, who believes it is the best one he has ever sung.[17] After composing the song, Rahman had three choices for the vocalist - S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas and Hariharan. Rahman says: "I had three options for that song. SPB sir, Yesudas sir, Hariharan. Then I imagined all of them singing it. Since I had not heard Hari in a non-ghazal kind of song, I decided to take the gamble. Then when he did, he had a whole new flavour for the song."[18] The song also incorporates elements of Sufi music.[9]

The female vocals have been provided by K. S. Chithra for Tamil and Telugu, and the Hindi version was sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy. The song was called "Tu Hi Re" in Hindi while it was called "Urike Chilaka" in Telugu. The Hindi version was first sung by K.S.Chithra but music company wanted Hindi singer to sing henceforth it was sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy. The background voice was by Hariharan & Swarnalatha

The Tamil track "Andha Arabic Kadaloram" had two different versions. The original release contained only A. R. Rahman's version; whereas the re-released version contained the rap portions by Remo Fernandes which were recorded for the Hindi dubbed version.

Perhaps this is stating the obvious, but I did not like Heeramandi. Anyone interested in the histories of performance in South Asia, or indeed in coherent storytelling, would probably have major problems with it, which I do. But I found myself seeking out the song that introduces Bibbo (Aditi Rao Hydari) in an elaborate sequence that nods faintly at Madhubala\u2019s iconic \u2018Mohe Panghat Pe\u2019 in Mughal-e-Azam.

Heeramandi is full of little nods like that; the terraces with simultaneous performances evoke Pakeezah, as does that first scene introducing Alamzeb, with her hair fanned out and soaking, while she is engrossed in reading (unfortunately Sharmin Segal, playing Alam, has less charm than one hair on Meena Kumari\u2019s head).

Aside from the songs directly taken from older repertoires, like Amir Khusrau\u2019s \u2018Sakal Ban\u2019, and the wonderful thumri \u2018Lagat Karejwa Mein Chot\u2019 (connoisseurs will immediately remember Saba Dewan\u2019s iconic film, The Other Song), I find the rest of the album quite insipid. But there\u2019s a frisson about Bibbo\u2019s introductory song. Certainly part of it is the beautiful vocal performance by Barnali Chattopadhyay, throatily evoking a Bollywood lite version of the \u2018tawaif voice\u2019 (aka the not-Lata voice, but that\u2019s not a conversation I will go into at this point).

Partly I was charmed, against my will, by the lyrics, which have grown on me since I first came upon the song. There\u2019s a certain impossibility in translating the opening lines \u2013 Saiyaan / hatto jao / tum bade \u2018woh\u2019 ho. Saiyaan, hatto jao (My love/go away) replays a familiar trope; the heroine is resisting her lover\u2019s advances, but we are meant to read the mood as playful. She holds the agency (in a very limited way), because as the feminine beloved she is meant to be both irresistibly sexy and overcome with her own modesty, at the same time. Where, then, is this limited agency? It is in the performance itself; where she can seduce by subterfuge, her desire only allowed expression in an oblique way. I will say more in a minute, but let\u2019s go back to the really thorny line \u2013 tum bade \u2018woh\u2019 ho \u2013 for people who don\u2019t speak Hindi or Urdu, I would translate it something along the lines of you are very \u201Clike that\u201D if I was being quite literal about it, which of course one can\u2019t. \u2018Woh\u2019 is a euphemism here; she\u2019s characterising him as naughty or lustful.

The rest of the lines play on familiar nayika aesthetics, particularly from songs about Radha and Krishna \u2013 she\u2019s afraid of the questions her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and friends will ask about where she spent the night. The papiha (cuckoo), that familiar trope, is evoked \u2013 since ancient times, various birds have been accused of revealing lovers\u2019 secrets in Indian poetry and music \u2013 and here it is no different, for in the morning the bird will reveal all (read linked poem from the 7th c. Amarushataka, in which the heroine has to put a ruby in the parrot\u2019s beak because the nuisance of a bird is recreating intimate sounds). The end result is a performance of feminine modesty \u2013 she will be overcome with shame, she says. The eyes, smile and dancing suggest the opposite of the literal meaning of the words; for weeks now I have had Instagram posts pop up commenting about Hydari\u2019s \u2018gajagamini\u2019 walk (a gait resembling an elephant\u2019s, again from Indian cultural history, specifically dance history and practice).

For me it is the scene right before the walk that is more telling; she picks up a rose, seems to offer it to him, takes it away, and then throws it to him. Her love and her desire will not be won so easily, nor given away, but she will seem to \u2018give in\u2019 when she wants. These are elaborate games of flirtation, power and eros that millions of lovers know. But here they are happening in a specific cultural context, a performance by the now over-represented breathtakingly beautiful cinematic tawaif.

Despite myself, there\u2019s something immediately delicious and evocative about the song, and perhaps in that it has been successful in linking hands with \u2018Mohe Panghat Pe\u2019, which is after all another song in which the singer complains about attention from her lover while performing her seductive delight at it. It is the yes yes no no push-pull dynamic of a very particular kind which can be slippery and very dangerous as soon as it escapes the realm of fantasy. But in fantasy too, repeated so often, powerful as it is, it can be interrogated.

It got me thinking about the question of sex and the woman\u2019s desire in Bombay songs. I\u2019m not looking at any literature about this yet, and I am sure there are reams of it. But anyone who\u2019s grown up with Bollywood knows exactly what I mean, the eroticism that infuses, eddies around, spills out of so many, so many, so many songs. I have often joked that I simply cannot fall in love with anyone who doesn\u2019t understand the Dil Se soundtrack.

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