Jun 19, 2006 02:01 PM
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“Vulgar” Hindi movie songs have a long and illustrious history which I shall not attempt to document in its entirety here. But for people who do not merely seek to be titillated and also desire some background, here is my attempt to document the “rise” of the double-meaning song in a succinct fashion.
One of the first naughtily-worded attempts was Shammi Kapoor going Kisssssss…..and then starting the song as “Kisko Pyar Karoon, Kaise Pyar Karoon”. Very tame by today’s standards no doubt, but for its age it was a shocker. My mother told me that she was forbidden to see Hindi movies for precisely these vulgarities.
The first stirrings of naughtiness came in the 80’s with “Tamboo Main Bamboo” [Mard] , “Main Lungi Uthaake” [Agneepath] and its variants.
But the real wave of vulgarity came with the Choli trend of the 90s. Finding what lay behind the choli became a national obsession with “Choli Ke Peeche” [Khalnayak] captivating the country. Other lesser-known but no less raunchy ripoffs included “Main Aathra Baras Ki Ho Gayee…Meri Choli Chothi Ho Gayee[ Dilbar–picturized on Mamta Kulkarni] and “Choli Main Tabahee” [Khalnayika–picturized on Varsha Usgaonkar].
Mithun turned the nation to “horny-thology” with his song about birds and more birds…”Gutur Gutur” [Dalal] leaving little to the imagination. Akshay Kumar followed it up with an equally ribald ” Turu ru turu ru Kahan Se Karoon Main Pyar Suru” [Elaan].Sanjay Dutt and Akshay combined in “Amanaat” to belt out “Din Mein Leti Hain Raat Ko Leti Hain” and the deliciously decadent “Daloonga Daloonga”.
And Mamta “Khol”karni, the innocent “bholi-bhali” ladki let the country in on the inaccessability of her pyarwali khidki in “Sabse Bara Khiladi” and then the “Bharo” song from the same movie [ she was referring to her maang of course]. In the middle she lost her “kurta ka buttons” …Rama Rama…hope she found them with Mithun’s help.
If the Renaissance had its Michaelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, the vulgarity wave had David Dhawan and Govinda. Combined with the genius of Sameer and the nara-chaddi antiques of Nandu, tumhara Bandu Shakti Kapoor “Raja-babu” shook the collective conscience of India. Cold nights were never the same after “Sarkailo Khatiya”. “Aaeeooo”’s combination of buxom women and Govinda’s obscene gestures spread awareness of the literacy problem like no other public service message before [After all the song went :” Main angoota chaap parna likhna jaano na”]
The word “sexy” passed into the national vocabulary with “Mera Pant bhi sexy” [Dulara] and the needs-no-introduction “Sexy sexy” song from Khuddar [which incidentally was banned by South Africa radio because of the use word “sala” in its lyrics !]
Not to be outdone, Mithun fought back with “Mirchi re mirchi kamal kar gayee, dhoti ko phadke rumaal kar gayee” but the Dhawan-Sameer camp were upping the ante with each successive release and Mithun was no match for the vitriol of vulgarity.
“Angna Main baba” and “Ek Tamanna Jeevan Ki” [Aankhen] packed enough punch to knock the pretenders out. However with Karishma, Dhawan’s muse, deciding enough is enough and seeking “respectability”, new blood was needed.
So the next addition to the camp became innocent-faced Juhi Chawla. Starting with Najaayaz’s “Tick Tock” she soon graduated to “Towel Main Bahar Jayogi” (which in my humble opinion IS the most vulgar song ever picturized in Bollywood—does anyone have the video?) and “Saaiyan Ke Saath Maraiyan Mein”[ both from Eena Meena Deeka].
But this decadence could not last.
David Dhawan and his men pushed the envelope too far with the disgusting Andaaz starring Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla and for the last time Karishma Kapoor. With songs which went “Malgadi Tu Dhakka Laga, Garam Ho Gya Engine Mera” and “Khara Hain Khara Hain” the backlash was inevitable.
It was looking like things r there to stay but it all changed with Barjaya’s Hum Aapke hai Kaun (1994). One of the biggest commercial successful movie in Indian cinema changed the tide back to family drama genre….
