India today .. music, media, films et al.
Ramesh Hariharan
Went for a long vacation to India.... some random thoughts/masala from
home ......
In general the news media has come to realize that articles on
western news, music, television and movies sell lot more than some
more introspective/essay-like articles ... I noticed a drop in
standards of the Sunday times from my undergrad days when
I always looked forward to reading it. A typical Sunday times
now would have articles on the latest Bryan Adams tour, some arbit
fashion designer in france, interview with another faltu, new
Bollywood face among other such things.
The ads in India are becoming more and more explicit .. there was
a great deal of furor raised in the media about the MR coffee ad
which had a pondy-like picture with the caption ... "TOTALLY AROUSED"
... or something to that effect. The funniest ad that I saw was for
JAWAN underwears... the caption "Pure inspiration" ... wow ! :-)
The new year program on DD sucked ... the only people who (sorta)
saved it were legends like Asha Bhosale, Jasjit Singh and Anup
Jalota. Rest of it was bs ... including silly comedy, hindi pop
(why doesn't Sharon Prabhakar go and sell beedis on the train
instead), Bhappi'I am fat and so are my children'Lahiri and his two
kids doing a cidy dance ... arghhhhhhhhh....
Culturally India has seen a huge change in the last 2 1/2 years
... with the influx of the cable networks.
It's normal to have about 4 movies on TV every day ... and people
have a chance to see some nice sporting action (like the NBA,
Europeon soccer) and get news from CNN and BBC. On the down side of
things there is MTV and the shitall culture that it brings with it.
The sad part of it is that people think that all of america is like
MTV ... boy ! was I pissed. Now they have the weekly top 10
songs from Bollywood... the music is downright pathetic ... and
the lyrics are lewd with hazaar double meanings. When I went back
I wanted to see some old programs like Chitrahaar, Chayageet,
Quiz time etc.... and my cousins (who hung out with me a lot)
insisted on watching the crap on other channels [x, y, z, m tv] :-)
Actually Kerala happens to be the only state where 'am-junta' are
musically literate enuf to have (semi)classical music
blare on loudspeakers .. really, right now their film music is head
and shoulders above the senseless garbage that floods bollywood.
These guys (imo) are recapturing the magic that big dudes like
Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, Madan Mohan and SDB created in the 60's
and 70's. Yesudas insists that every movie he sings in should have
atleast one semiclassical number. Some movies with great music are
His Highness Abdullah
Sargam (voted best regional film of 1993)
Bharatam (National award for the best song : 1992 ... Yesudas)
Never dared to get behind the wheel; the traffic is REAALLY wild in
Bombay. The AIDS awarnesss among people is evident; truck signs like
"HORN PLEASE" "TATA OK" etc are being replaced by some funny slogans
such as "Anarkali... nirodh ke bina kahan chali" :-) :-)
Ok dudes ... back to work
--
Ramesh Hariharan, Chem. Engg., Princeton Univ.
Running may not add years to your life but it adds life to your years
Z. U. Khan
: Hey fellow rmimers !
: Went for a long vacation to India.... some random thoughts/masala from
: home ......
: Now they have the weekly top 10 songs from Bollywood... the music is
: downright pathetic ... and the lyrics are lewd...
*** Heheh Ramesh, I know what you mean :) I remember when I went back
home this December, I watched the trailer of "Raja Babu" which had
Karisma Kapoor singing (to Govinda, with Shakti Kapoor in jams and acting
stupid), "Oooee amma oooeee ammaa... kya karta hai? Larka ho kay larki se
kyon darta hai?" [along with really suggestive gyrations of the hip, etc :)]
Seemed like a fun song, but quality of lyrics pretty bad, and these songs
don't have the staying power of olden greats... just had to mention this.
: I wanted to see some old programs like Chitrahaar, Chayageet,
: Quiz time etc.... and my cousins (who hung out with me a lot)
: insisted on watching the crap on other channels [x, y, z, m tv] :-)
*** Tell me about it! Whenever I go back to Bombay, my cousins are
totally "angreiz-ed out" yaar! :) They only want to watch "English films"
talk "English" and walk "English" :)) Anything Indian is despised with a
snobbish whiff of the nose :)
Zaki
Shrikant Deshpande
: The ads in India are becoming more and more explicit .. there was
: a great deal of furor raised in the media about the MR coffee ad
: which had a pondy-like picture with the caption ... "TOTALLY AROUSED"
: ... or something to that effect. The funniest ad that I saw was for
: JAWAN underwears... the caption "Pure inspiration" ... wow ! :-)
The MR coffee ad was rather amusing. It had a picture of a guy and a gal in
close embrace and it read "Real satisfaction does not come in an instant",
obviously referring to the instant coffee brands.
--
Shrikant Deshpande
shri...@unislc.slc.unisys.com