Desi Girl

Another graduating party at KLB. Another awkward beauty pageant. Another lunch of delicious bhatura that I helped make. Another round of gorgeous girls in saris that want to take a picture with me. But this time, I was thinking about something else that stood out from today’s events.

As part of the ear-shattering musical lineup, the song “Desi Girl” from the movie Dostana was played. At least 5 times.

Bollywood music is a fascinating phenomenon that I know so little about, but it is so culturally important that it would be a disservice not to at least mention some of its qualities. First of all, notice that I identified the song by which movie it was from, not the recording artist. That’s because nearly every Hindi song in India is from a movie, not an album. If a song is in a local dialect, like Punjabi or Tamil, these are released in albums, but by and large, these songs are typically only enjoyed in their particular area. For the most part, the popular music that Indians listen to comes from Bollywood. These songs are featured as music videos in films sung by famous actors and actresses. As a result, the actual musicians who write and record the song are not very well known. The actors get most of the credit.

Another feature of the music is the glamour and glitz granted by the videos. Songs produced on their own wouldn’t be nearly as popular if they weren’t accompanied by the dance-filled video where they were feature. Additionally, all the dancing for the songs is an attempt to copy the dance style seen on the video. Two girls did a dance performance to “Desi Girl” at the party, and when I looked up the music video later, I saw that they were trying to dance exactly the same way Priyanka Chopra was dancing in the film. It’s like they were brainwashed. Hindi songs are nothing without their dancing. I realized this about a month ago, when I was playing some American music for girls in the hostel. One of them looked at my computer and asked, “Where is the dancing?”

Plus, all of the songs that I heard today are from movies that have been released in the past 3 years. Apparently, these songs don’t have much saying power. As soon as the next big hit is out, the last one is forgotten. I like classic music, like jazz, blues, and even some 30’s swing, but Hindi music is all prepubescent. There’s so much new material that comes out every year, a song that lasts 10 years in India is already considered to be an oldie.

Hindi music is catchy, repetitive and easy to dance to, if you like that music. It’s best when played so loudly you can’t hear yourself think, and it must be accompanied at all times with a huge smile on your face and a gorgeous woman at your hip. Personally, I can’t really get into it. I like it because of the huge role that it plays in Indian culture, and that in itself is fascinating, but you won’t see me jamming out to “Zoobi Doobi” on my iPod anytime soon.