“What’s the deal with all those songs in Bollywood?”
I’ve found that the most consistently misunderstood aspect of Bollywood (and, indeed, all popular Indian cinema) is the way lip-synced songs are used within the narrative of the film. American viewers in particular tend to find this an almost insurmountable obstacle to appreciating Bollywood films on their own merits. Why might Bollywood be ignored by the Western film community even as mass entertainment from places like China (kung fuand wuxia films) and Japan (anime) have been embraced?
I think the problem may lie in an association of Bollywood with Broadway-style American musicals and their sugar happy appropriate-for-all-ages content (due to heavy censorship during the heyday of the American musical). Bollywood films are not appropriate-for-all-ages. While they do have to pass through a Censor Board and explicit references to things like sex are going to be snipped if a film is to have an all-ages certificate, films can and do discuss a wide variety of serious issues using lip-synced songs. For example, the film Roti Kapada aur Makaan (Food, Clothes, and Shelter, 1974) is, among other things, a tough look at how the drive to stay out of poverty can lead a person to an immoral life. It has songs in which the actors lip sync and it also has a really disturbing rape scene and a bittersweet ending. Dil Se (From the Heart, 2000) is an intense film about terrorism. It has songs where the actors lip sync; it also has explosions and tough social commentary.
This clip from Dil Se, for example, shows how Amar is romanticizing the war zone he has been sent to cover as a reporter. We see his inner thoughts expressed through song in a way that couldn’t be easily duplicated in a Hollywood film (please forgive the advertisement):
So, Bollywood films are not all cheerful or what we might consider ‘family-friendly’ and the endings to the films are sometimes really unpleasant. Still, I still hear Western film buffs argue that lip-synced songs somehow make a film unrealistic. Let’s get one thing straight — the use of music in Western films is no more realistic than in Bollywood films.
Bollywood songs usually function like a soliloquy out of a Shakespeare play. The songs are designed to express a character’s inner feelings in a metaphorical way. A couple, for example, might be shown singing a duet in a lush meadow in Europe. Indian audiences implicitly understand that the couple has not actually been teleported to Switzerland or The Netherlands. The fantasy location and the song are designed to show how that first blush of love feels to the people involved. In another examples of a fantasy teleport song, in Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham (2001) you clearly see Rahul in a shop in India and then suddenly he and Anjali are cavorting around the pyramids in Egypt:
This, however, is no less realistic than your classic Hollywood movie song montage that features a couple falling in love using a series of different scenes set to “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.” Likewise, previously recorded songs used as part of a background score are an accepted convention in Western film. We don’t walk around hearing music matched to our mood in real life, but Westerners accept the fantasy in movies because it’s familiar.
Soundtracks and falling-in-love montages do not happen in real life but we have learned to ignore the artifice of the tools to appreciate the stories told. The only difference between those things and Bollywood songs is that is that Western viewers have no experience with the Bollywood song form.
———————————
About 15 years ago, a friend gave Filmi Girl a cassette tape with the soundtrack from the 1980s hit Bollywood film Maine Pyaar Kiye and she was hooked. A few years later, she began watching the films the songs were centered around, and after realizing that her real life friends were uninterested in hearing her gush about Aamir, Preity and Rani, she started a blog. The 31-year-old librarian now spends her limited free time reading about her latest interest and watching large amounts of deliciously, over-the-top Indian films. Read more Bollywood for Beginner posts at Filmi Girl.
If you would like to write a post for Sociological Images, please see our Guidelines for Guest Bloggers.
Comments 20
Dena — February 19, 2011
I love the songs - was introduced to Bollywood via Lagaan and then Ashok. That got me on the SRK kick and I was hooked. I also lived in a neighborhood where my nearest video store was Indian - lots of access and nice people to help me choose. So much fun, but it is hard to predict who will be turned on to Bollywood and who will ask me why we just wasted three hours...sigh.
PhDork — February 19, 2011
I'm no expert on Bollywood (merely a fan), but I do study American Musical Theatre, among other things, and I feel the need to point out that the notion that AMT is no more than "sugar happy appropriate-for-all-ages content" is problematic. (Unofficial) censorship has played some role in AMT, the most popular stage musicals of the mid-century "Golden Age" actually dealt--both overtly and covertly--with serious social and political issues of their time. The creators of those musicals were conscious of engaging important issues.
I think a lot of the bias against AMT on film (and on stage) is more deeply rooted in bias against it as 1) an unapologetically popular form, 2) a form that often privileges female voices (literally) and 3) a form that gives free rein to emotionality through music and dance.
Bollywood is maligned for these same reasons, but the layers of cultural difference make it even harder for a mainstream US audience to access. I would recommend Ajay Gehlawat's new book "Reframing Bollywood" on this subject.
April — February 19, 2011
The songs are designed to express a character’s inner feelings in a metaphorical way.
I never knew that, and now it seems patently obvious! I haven't seen any Bollywood (which is too bad, I'd probably enjoy it) but "WTF, why are they in Egypt all of a sudden?" is the kind of thing that I could see myself saying if I didn't know the context.
Bollywood music is good though; there's a couple of deejays here in Portland OR (DJ Anjali and The Incredible Kid) who play Bhangra and Bollywood music, and it's incredibly fun to dance to!
Kelly — February 19, 2011
Filmi, thanks for your post. I'm headed over to your blog for more reading.
Kat — February 19, 2011
Really interesting post - it's true, Bollywood has been held up do a very different standard than anime and musicals.
Something that troubles me, though: there's an awful lot of violence between the couple in the first video, mostly him being violent and physically controlling of her. I realize this could reflect the general violence of the setting (they are in a war zone, after all), and I also realize I don't really have any frame of reference or enough knowledge of how romance works in Indian society/films to critique this. Can someone more knowledgeable comment on this?
Dena — February 20, 2011
In Dil Se - she is not just playing coy. She is a person with a mission, something of incredible importance to her, and it involves not getting sidetracked by romance. This whole scene is his fantasy of saving her from all that.
I'd like someone to speak to the symbolism of breaking the bangle. I've seen it enough to believe there's significance there.
The guy in Dil Se is a bit of a stalker - that's something you can say about a lot of Bollywood, and it's the source of my strongest tension in watching Bollywood. The dynamic of male as pursuing and female as resisting...it's common. Not across the board, but certainly a lot. Can we really say American film is so different? I guess the difference is the physical ways - grabbing in the dance, holding the end of a dupatta, etc.
Filmi Girl - can you recommend some great Bollywood where the woman is a more active pursuer?
Rickey — February 20, 2011
Benny Lava is awesome!
cyffermoon — February 21, 2011
I have nothing really valuable to contribute to the conversation, except to say that while I appreciate Shahrukh Khan as much as the next fan, I can't understand how the Bollywood viewing public isn't absolutely sick to death of him.
Ed — February 21, 2011
I have a limited amount of exposure to Bollywood, or Chinese or Japanese film and TV for that matter. But a couple of thoughts come to mind. First, Chinese and maybe especially Japanese film seem like they should be even less, not more, accessible to western audiences for cultural reasons. Particularly Japanese anime can have some pretty surreal scenes and story lines. And second, music videos seem to have taken over as musicals for the ADHD generation. And it is worth noting that probably 90% of the audience for music videos would think nothing of seeing their singer/band change scenes from LA to NYC to Switzerland to the pyramids in a single song. I mean, whether it is a Bollywood musical, a Hollywood musical or a music video, no filmed singing is realistic unless it is done in a studio and has no multi-track effects, and dancing should be right out. Well, let me step back from that statement to make an exception for a filmed live stage musical.
But the idea should be obvious, we automatically suspend disbelief and often any sort of critical thinking for media we are familiar with, because doing so enhances the entertainment we derive from that media, and gives us comfort. Americans may find Bollywood somewhat jarring, but I suspect we would quickly recognize familiar patterns and ideas if we spent any time with it.
Jihad-Punk — February 23, 2011
You lost me when you described Bollywood as "Broadway style" musicals. Ummm, music, song and dance sequences have been a long part of Indian cinema way before the birth of American musicals! What a nice way to assert your arrogant U.S exceptionalism while describing foreign cinema.
Very subtle and obnoxious.
russ — February 24, 2011
A new comic at Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal about cultural perceptions about what's absurd and what's not in Hollywood and Bollywood (Things American Superman does and things Indian Superman does):
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2165
Kailey — March 1, 2011
I haven't seen any Bollywood in a long time - but I loved Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham!!
I think that most US audiences don't appreciate/understand foreign films period - which is probably what turns people off to bollywood (and the films are often long - extremely long..) Most people also, probably don't want to read subtitles - because hey - "i'm watching a movie! I don't want to read..."
FilmiAntiHero — July 13, 2014
Wow - someone who's transcribed the exact thoughts I have on Hindi films. As a young Canadian with Indian parents I've devoured Hindi films. I guess because of being exposed to them at an early age, I've had no issue with the fantasy song sequences; what blew me away was your description of them as a musical soliloquy (MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!). Moulin Rouge, although intended as a Bollywood pastiche, was no where close to evoking the actual experience of a Hindi film. Honestly, Hindi films are true entertainers - great popcorn films with great songs (not all are, obviously) - what people new to these films need to understand is that the songs are created to enhance the experience - imagine an entertaining film with music that is great to listen to. Would you rather have Julia Roberts singing a song or her lip syncing to a song by Adele or another great singer. Acting along with everything else in filmmaking is collaborative - one person can't and (mostly) shouldn't be doing it solely. One of the most entertaining films recently, Mission Impossible 4, left me exhilarated and ecstatic but at times I daydream how the film could've been even more amazing if it had some great pop songs "sung" by some actors, maybe Cruise trying to woo a women - alas, it's just a fantasy.