Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Kiran (class of 2024) and features music from the recent Bollywood on the Block performance.
Bollywood on the Block: Endgame
This year, UR’s Bollywood Jhatkas wrote, choreographed, and performed an original piece for the annual Bollywood on the Block dance show. Here were my favorite songs to dance to!
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
UR’s South Asian Fusion team, Bollywood Jhatkas, recently performed to some of their favorite remake songs at the 13th annual Celebration of Dance. At the music library, we have a select number of Bollywood films, two of which are remakes! Don and Devdas are two beloved classics that were redone in the early 2000s. Many of the songs were also reused and were given a more updated take.
Bollywood is notorious for recycling their classics, but it’s also received a lot of backlash in recent years. Critics are saying that they’ve run out of ideas and continue to ruin old movies. Some of the movies and songs are very well done, whereas others take away from the classic charm. Devdas and Don are two very controversial films because of this. Personally, I have only known the newer versions, and I have grown to love them. Shah Rukh Khan can truly play almost any role and knows how to draw an audience in. You can watch these remadefilms by checking them out at Parsons Music Library!
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Kiran (class of 2024) and features songs presented by UR’s Bollywood Jhatkas and Block Crew in a recent performance on campus.
Bollywood on the Block: The Sequel
Bollywood Jhatkas and Block Crew recently performed their second joint showcase, on March 25th. Here are some of the crowd’s favorite songs/remixes!
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
“Main Hoon Na – The Importance of Support During College”
Growing up, I didn’t understand much about my culture. It wasn’t until I was in middle school that I really started to appreciate my ethnic background. Bollywood movies changed my entire perspective on a hidden part of my identity that I had neglected to explore. I began to immerse myself in India’s film industry, enamored by the music, dancing, and storylines. Main Hoon Na (I am there) quickly became one of my favorite movies and a staple pick for family movie night.
Main Hoon Na explores the journey that a young soldier (Ram) takes to find his half-brother after the death of their father in the midst of a peace treaty between India and Pakistan. Indian terrorists threaten to destroy this peace and are after Sanjana, the Indian General’s daughter, who happens to attend the same college as Ram’s half-brother. Ram goes undercover as a student and must protect Sanjana without compromising his position for his half-brother. What follows is a charming and action-packed adventure that will test them all.
College, especially after COVID-19, has proven to be a mental challenge for both students and professors. We continue to see deaths of college athletes by suicide and a rise in demand for mental health resources. We often forget that it’s ok to reach out for help, and that we don’t have to go through college alone. Main Hoon Na is a reminder that we can lean on our support systems, no matter what. Although fictitious, every Bollywood movie has real-world lessons or morals to learn from. Ram’s dedication to his family and his friends when they need it the most carries over into our daily lives – we can both give and receive support.
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today we’re featuring a collection of Bollywood music from the 2000s curated by Music Library student assistant Kiran (class of 2024). Editor’s Note: since Bollywood songs are often from films, I’ve linked to some titles that are available to check out in the library catalog so you can see them in their full context if you want!
Bollywood music has always been a staple of my childhood. On my way home from school, my grandmother would put in a CD with over her favorite songs and we would listen to new ones every day. I love how upbeat it is and the variety of instrumentation used. It is so different from Western music, but just as good in my opinion. These songs are from the early 2000s to 2010.
Lata Mangeshkar is the best-known and respected female singer in the history of Indian film music. She is probably best known as a playback singer for Bollywood films. Playback singers often record songs for use in films.
The Indian Hindi-language film industry is referred to as Bollywood and is based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and is one of the largest centers of film production in the world. The word is a portmanteau of “Bombay” and “Hollywood”. The most popular commercial genre of Bollywood is the masala film, which freely mixes action, comedy, drama, romance, and melodrama along with musical numbers. Masala films can generally be considered musicals. Indian cinema has been the largest producer of musicals in the world since the 1960s, when it exceeded America’s musical film output. Playback singers record songs for the film soundtracks, and the actors lip-sync said songs for the cameras.
Poster for the 1947 Hindi film Aap ki sewa mein which features an early example of Mangeshkar’s work
Lata Mangeshkar is said to have recorded more film songs than any other singer. She has recorded songs in over a thousand (!!) Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Marathi, Hindi and Bengali.
Music really has been the driving force in Mangeshkar’s life. Her father Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar was a classical singer and theatre actor. She received her first lessons in music from her father and was performing as an actress in her father’s plays by the age of five. She is the elder sister of singers Asha Bhosle, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar, all accomplished musicians and singers in their own right.
In 1942 when Mangeshkar was 13, her father died of heart disease and Lata immediately joined the Bollywood film industry as an actress-singer to help support her family.
Here is a Youtube clip from Azaad a 1955 film which features Mangeshkar’s voice:
Lata Mangeshkar has received many awards and honors during the course of her career. India’s highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was bestowed on her in 1989 by the Government of India. She also has been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor.
In 1974, The Guinness Book of Records listed Mangeshkar as the most recorded artist in the history, stating that she had reportedly recorded “not less than 25,000 solo, duet and chorus backed songs in 20 Indian languages” between 1948 and 1974. (The actual number of songs she has recorded is a matter of some dispute. Regardless, she is certainly ONE of the most recorded artists in the world.)
Here is a Youtube clip of the song “Tujhe Dekha To Ye Jaana Sanam” (“My love, when I saw you then I realized” per Google translate) sung by Mangeshkar and Kumar Sanu from the 1995 Bollywood film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (transl. The Big-Hearted Will Take the Bride, per Wikipedia):
In addition to singing, Mangeshkar has composed music for five films and also produced four films. Her career spans over seven decades now and she has only recently begun to show signs of slowing down (a bit) at the age of 91. Her influence on Indian film and popular music is profound.
Here is a small sampling of library resources concerning Lata Mangeshkar, Bollywood, and Indian popular music:
