Bollywood Music: Plot-driving or Escapist?

Bollywood soundtracks are special. Like any other genre of music, filmi music can be heard in isolation, but watching the film beforehand can make a perceptible difference. This act increments the position of a Bollywood song from being a film-promoter to being an aural bioscope. It either speaks for the film by providing cadence to the camera and gravitas to the plot or provides an escapist outlet to intense cinema. Simply put, it serves two purposes: it either acts as a catalyst to move the story forward, or serves as a momentary detour from a grim or overwhelming film. Here, I analyse Bollywood music through this binary. 

Bollywood music as a continuum catalyst: moving the plot forward

As continuum catalysts, songs add a bardic and theatrical touch to the film. Lyrical ballads and nervy orchestrations substitute and complement dialogues and emotions on-screen. From classics like Mother India and Pyaasa to the relatively recent Shakespearan trilogy helmed by Vishal Bharadwaj, there is significant Bollywood filmography employing soundtracks as a means to move the story forward. 

One must also, however, bear in mind that the onus of garnering a film’s momentum is not solely on a song belonging to its original soundtrack. Incorporating popular songs from other films to create a relevant film soundtrack compilation is very popular in Hollywood but a rarity in its Mumbai counterpart. Still, Bollywood films from the last decade like Gangs of Wasseypur and Aligarh have masterfully used retro Bollywood songs as background music to suit their key scenes. While GoW uses yesteryear songs and movie posters as timestamps in the five hour-long, two-part epic saga; Aligarh uses songs as an instrument to express the unconscious. The audience watches a coy, almost teary Prof. Siras (Manoj Bajpai), secluded from the world, having a glass of scotch and listening to Lata Mangeshkar’s “Aap ki nazaron ne samjha, pyar ke kaabil mujhe”–possibly hinting at his lonesome and solitary life as a homosexual in a heteronormative world. This is a routine affair for Siras, as he prides on his little red tape recorder, his sole companion in a world which looks at him with roving eyes. The cassette player and the songs thus complete the complex character which Bajpai essays, and become an indispensable part of the film.

Incorporating already popular songs in a new film likens them to hidden easter-eggs in the film, unearthing which, surprise and cinematic euphoria galores. Moreover, having songs which add to the film’s narrative makes them the exclusive property of Bollywood. In other words, a Bollywood original soundtrack which aids in moving the film’s plot forward sets itself apart from an album of any other genre. It cannot be perceived in isolation, it would always kindle memories of the plot of the film. 

Moving on to the showstoppers: Songs which are self-sufficient and are added to the movie solely for those extra whistles and hoots as the hero saves the damsel in distress or the two of them tango away the night.

Bollywood music as a stopover: stagnating the plot, diverting minds

 

“Deewar had bothered me even when I’d seen it as a college student. The Shashi Kapoor–Neetu Singh song straight after the interval. What was that?”

-Khalid Mohammed, noted director and film-critic.

Often in Bollywood, songs–no matter how melodious they are–end up being fillers. These fillers disrupt the flow of the film and become stopovers. ‘Stopover’ songs are mostly used in gritty and dark films to bring down their intensity. A favourite of producers and distributors, they are mostly escapist and fantastical romantic numbers featuring the hero and heroine dancing around lush surroundings. These songs, when heard in isolation, do not give away any elements of the film’s plot; rather they may lead to a very distorted image of the film. For instance, consider the 1993 crime-thriller Baazigar. 

Its soundtrack features no suspenseful music associated with a whodunnit (the background score suffices). Instead, the eight-track soundtrack is dominated by cheerful, romantic songs. Movies like Baazigar create a tripartite fan-base. One section loves the film due to its story, execution and other technicalities (other than music), a second, relatively neutral section equally loves the movie and the soundtrack and a third section ascribes the success of the film solely to its soundtrack. To each one’s own.

Contemporaneous with this binary of continuum catalysts and stopovers, lies an interesting aspect of Bollywood films which is often relegated to the background by the audience: motif.

The interplay of motifs in Bollywood music: speaking for and through the entire film

“Sandese aate hain, humein tadpate hain,

Jo chitthi aati hai, vo poochhe jaati hai.

Ke ghar kab aaoge, ke ghar kab aaoge!

Likho kab aaoge!

Ke tum bin ye ghar soona, soona hai…”

This is the most popular song from the 1997-war-film Border. It speaks for the film, its subject and protagonists. But neither does it move the story forward, nor can it be classified as a stopover. It just embalms the plot with melody. Recurring in bits and pieces throughout the film, it certifies as its musical motif, or simply, theme music. 

"It almost became the sports anthem of the country, especially after India won the 2011 Cricket World Cup. It was no longer our song but the country's song."

This is Salim Merchant talking about his song “Chak De! India”. A motif in its own right, this title track brought the required punch in the highly anticipated 2007 sports film. His statement shows how Bollywood, through its motifs and soundtracks can connect to the masses at a national level. 

Another prominent feature of musical motifs in Bollywood is the element of rhetoric in the lyrics. From “Ke ghar kab aaoge!” in Border to “Kuch kariye! Kuch kariye!”  in Chak De! India, each thematic song packs with it certain catchphrases that stay with the audience for a long time.

Anything which fits the bill, fits in Bollywood

Before addressing the main argument and announcing a final verdict for ‘catalysts versus stopovers’, it would be cogent to assert the fact that Bollywood is a capitalist industry. All eyes are on all eyes watching a film. And the most bankable invite to the cinema is a popular soundtrack. A hit soundtrack heightens the possibility of a hit film. Filmmakers were once keen on registering the fillip in the sales of their soundtracks. But ever since the prominence of streaming music, physical soundtrack sales are inching closer to oblivion by the day. So, back in the day, profits could be yielded both from the box office and a local record shop. 

Evidently, profit matters the most in Bollywood. Therefore it has to toe the line of commercial appeal while simultaneously juggling with critical appraisal. For the producer then, it hardly matters whether a song is moving a film forward or pausing it for the moment. The song should sell, the movie would follow suit.

The final argument: Continuum versus stopover? Why not both?

In tandem with the realities of a profit-incentivised Bollywood, meriting its songs is a subjective and economic task. Ideally, all Bollywood movies possess a balance. They have a mixed bag of songs. Some songs are made for the film, some others are made ostensibly for the album. But every song, every motif adds something to the film. Consider the success story of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, boasting of an all-rounder soundtrack.

Cutting through the dichotomy of Bollywood music stagnating or accelerating the plot of a film came the soundtrack of DDLJ. It was a bestseller. What made it a bestseller? Popular resonance with the soundtrack. It had something for everyone. From plot-driving musical motifs like “Tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam” and “Ghar aaja pardesi” to romantic stopovers like “Mere khwabon mein jo aaye” and “Zara sa jhoom loon main”, the songs were and still are superhits with or without the film. In 2005, a decade after its release, the album was adjudged the top Hindi soundtrack of all time by voters on the BBC Asian Network website. 

What is the significance of Shah Rukh Khan’s mandolin (a motif and a veritable metonym for DDLJ’s soundtrack)? It reaffirms the fact that sometimes Bollywood music can act “both” as a stopover and a continuum catalyst in films. It can have elements of both escapism and motif so long as it gets acceptance among the masses. In short, the consumer rules the roost, content shall follow suit. 

A supporting conclusion could also be that the soundtrack of a film is an active tool in the hands of the director. How masterfully the song is incorporated in the film by the director determines its shelf life. Either it can be a supernova item number in a flux or it can be an evergreen motif for generations to cherish.