Folk Songs in Hindi Cinema
I love the song “Yeh Ishq Haye” from the movie Jab We Met. Every time I listen to it, I can’t help but notice the use of the first line of a Kumauni folk song in the music. The bols go like this- “Kaile Baje Muruli” and it’s used in the interlude of this hit song very effectively. The full mukhda of the Kumauni song goes something like this
- Kaile Baje Muruli, O baina, Oonchi Oonchi danon mein
- Chiri hai Kaleji, meri, udas man mein
(Translation: A woman, soldier’s wife, confides to another, how someone playing flute on some distant mountain top makes her sad. The sound of flute tugs at her lonely heart. )
I did find the song on YouTube and here’s a link. The video is taki, so ignore that but audio is by the original artist.
The song is a classic in Kumaoni and is a part of the cultural milieu there. In a single song, you can get a complete perspective on the hard life of a Kumaoni woman who battles loneliness (because her husband is far away, usually for employment), hard physical labor due to the tough terrain, poverty and biting cold all through her life. These were the same women who made Chipko movement so successful. Example of a soldier’s wife is also a good representative of the population as Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand) as a state has one of the largest representations in armed services as a percentage of its population.
I have been there on those mountain tops and have listened to that haunting tune of a flute. I grew up and spent first 10-12 years of my life in a Kumaun village where Kaile Baje Muruli was a common part of the village life. Shepherds grazing their animals playing flute is not very uncommon. Flute is a relatively inexpensive instrument and easily available. The sound of flute on a mid-summer day can carry for far distances along with the mountain breeze and can create a haunting sound that pleases the ears and saddens the heart at the same time. Gopal Babu Goswami is immortalized by this classic. But village life used to be full of folk artists, creators of many such songs. Many used to possess great talents and were capable of creating new songs for every festival season and interweaving the current topics in to the songs. Most of these artists had never had school education and unlike Gopal Babu Goswami, their talents weren’t recognized outside of their villages or the region.
Cut to Gainda Ful, one of the finest folk songs created in Hindi cinema. (Sometimes I wonder if there is any limit to ARR’s talent or range as a musician!). This wonderful new gem is so sweet and wonderful, but only too short. Just before you settle down and start savoring it like a dessert, the song gets over. But, the song has very UP/MP, Hindi belt type sound to it especially with lyrics like “Busshirt pahin, khai ke bida paan, sare Raipur se alag hai, saiyan ji ki shaan”, amazing! I wonder if Prasoon Joshi borrowed from some folk song and added some of his own. The language is so western UP and Rekha Bhardwaj’s vocals are so perfect.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that even after these many years, decades of evolution and western influence, folk songs keep reappearing in Hindi film music. Hindi Cinema has used, and abused folk songs from many different languages from different parts of India yet India is so big, so diverse and so rich and culturally so old that there seems an unlimited reservoir of folk songs for inspiration, modernization and reuse.
Folk songs usually have a regional touch to them and can be effectively used to provide depth and credibility to a character. Now it’s a different matter that very rarely our filmmakers and story writers venture outside of Mumbai and that too Punjabi community living in Mumbai to create characters that look and sound like other Indians. But change is coming and filmmakers are slowly getting braver about making films with stories based in different parts of this vast country.
As the stories and characters become more real and representative of the diversity and vastness of India, there is an immense potential for use of folk music. Folk music is at the other extreme of classical music in terms of sophistication, language and structure. If classical music is Sanskrit, Folk music is Prakrut, the language of common folk. Classical music was created by maestros and promoted by kings and courts, whereas folk music typically originated in hat-bazaar and village fairs and was probably the means of time pass and entertainment for common villagers. Folk songs may be full of flaws for a purist, with poetry typically ridden with grammatical loopholes, meter often incorrect and language mixed with words from a major language such as Hindi, Bengali or Punjabi along with phrases and words from a local dialect. But once you get beyond that, you would be amazed by the sheer variety and depth of imagination, deep rooted beliefs and philosophy expressed in plain simple language.
Typically, every folk song has a story behind it, only known to the local people. In my case, I grew up with Kumaoni folk songs and still remember how my grandmom (who went blind in last few years of her life) would tell us the story behind so many folk songs. Every time she would find a listener for her folk tales, you could almost notice a twinkle in her otherwise lifeless eyes. The stories would have a universal theme or stereo type with a local touch- the evil mother in law who wouldn’t let the newly married girl visit her parents (MILs haven’t changed, have they?), bond between sisters who were married to two different corners of the world and would long to see each other (very regional and medieval stuff, as you had to trek long distances in a difficult terrain devoid of roads earlier) , childless (banjh) woman and her pain, brothers wouldn’t get along with each other, wife longing for the return of her husband from the battle field or from faraway Pardes where he had gone looking for work. Every song had it’s own story and a the local twist would be added with the mention of a local tree or fruit or local festival mentioned, a prayer to a local God or mention of local geographical features, in this case mountain peaks and cold climate.
Every part of India seems to have its own tradition of folk songs that are passed on from one generation to next. Rajasthani folk artists with their colorful costumes have long symbolized India to the tourists. As expected, Rajasthani songs are full of references to the desert sand, the kesariya safa (head cover) worn by men, Ranas (royal kings) and Kunwarjis (another term for royal princes) and of course the dholna, the local term for the beloved. (It seems every dialect has a unique term for the beloved, in Kumaoni, the term equivalent to Dholna is Bana or sona). Punjabi songs folk have references to the rich farming culture of the land and the big heart and “Live life king size” style of people. Bengali songs seem full of references to boat and boatman (manjhi) and typically sweet just like the language and the sweets.
My first memory of a folk song in Hindi cinema goes back to “Nazar Lagi Raja tore bangle par” from Kala Pani. I didn’t know the name of the film back then, but the song would play quite often on the radio. In You Tube days, it’s easy to revisit the memory.
I didn’t even know back then that the song is a mujra or what a mujra is supposed to be. Another mujra song with folkish tune and lyrics is “Inhi logon ne” from Pakeeza.
My Bihari friends introduced me to Teesari Kasam songs – “Pan Khaye Saiyan Hamar”, probably the best nautanki style folk in Hindi films and the evergreen “Pinjare wali munia” – both with distinct Bihari/Eastern UP touch and very popular in that region. Raj Kapoor used Narendra Chanchal’s voice effectively in Bobby for a Punajbi folk type song with Sufi touch. Most of the manjhi songs seem to have their origin in Bengali folk music.
I wouldn’t subject you to you tube videos of all the folk songs that I have heard and liked. But if you are still reading, I would like to compile a short list of some classic folk music based songs from Hindi films, old and new. Based on my limited understanding of languages other than Hindi, please forgive me if I interpret some of them incorrectly as folk music.
Here you go, in a chronological order.
1955- Ichak Dana – Sri 420 (Punjabi folk song adapted in Hindi)
1958- Nazar Lagi Raja – Kalapani (Mujra style, Hindi, Eastern UP touch)
1963- Tera Sajan hai us par – Bandini (seems Bengali folk touch, wouldn’t be surprised if copy of some Bengali folk song)
1965- Wahan kaun hai tera – Guide (Melancholy, seems Bengali touch, wouldn’t be surprised if copy of some Bengai folk song)
1993 Dil Hum Hum Kare – Rudaali (Is it because Bhupen Hazarika sang it or is the song really an adaptation of some Asamese folk song)
1966- Pan Khaiye Saiyan Hamar – Teesari Kasam (Awadhi, Bihari touch, Nautanki style)
1966- Pinjare wali munia – Teesary Kasam (Awadhi, Bihari touch, Nautanki style)
1972- Inhin logon ne- Pakeeza (simple Hindi, touch of Braj)
1973 Mandir masjid todo – Booby (Punjabi sufi style)
1974 Mehengai mar gayi – Roti Kapda aur Makan (Very topical, expresses the frustration of the times)
1975 – O Manjhi Re – Khushboo (Gulzar Sab again, in this classic song, not sure if this is an original creation or an adaptation of some folk song)
1975 hooth Bole Kaiwa Kate – Bobby (Adaptation of Marathi Koli folk song)
1981- Sar se sarke – Silsila (Marriage song, seems copy of some Punjabi folk song, language Hindi)
1981- Rang Barse – Silsila (Probably the most Holi song ever, captures the naughtiness on display at Holi time, has a folkish tune to it)
1981- Mere angane mein – Lawaris (I am pretty sure this was lifted from some folk song, not sure from where?)
1982- Fir se aiyo badra bidesi – Namkeen (leaves you with a tinge of sadness best expressed by none other than Gulzar sab, dialect seems Braj or western UP)
1989- Tutak Tutak Tutia – Ghar Ka chirag (Common Punjabi folk song, used in this stupid Chunki Pandey film)
1990 Kesariya Balma More – Lekin (Typical Rajasthani)
1991 Chhananachhan Chudiyaan Khanak Gayi Dekh Saahibaa – Lamhe (classic, with Rajasthani folk song played in parallel to Hindi adaptation, great picturization by Yash Chopra)
1993 Angna mein baba – Aankhen (one of the several Bhojpuri folk songs used and abused by Govina-David Dhawan Combo)
1993 Choli Ke Pichhe – Khalnayak (Item Number- Rajasthani)
1994 Sarkai Liyo Khatiya- Raja Babu (Govinda-David Dhawan, who else, Bhojpuri)
1999 Main aayi hun UP bIhar lootne – Shool (Item Number- Claim to fame for Ms. Shetty)
1999 Nimbuda – Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (Rare Gujrati folk song based)
2005 Kazrare Kazrare – Bunti Aur Babli (Item Number-Nautanki style, thanks to Gulzar sab for showing that you can have item numbers and still make it graceful and poetic, Aishwarya Rai set an entirely different standard for item numbers, looked sexy and beautiful, cheap yet graceful, all at the same time, simply amazing!)
2006 Beedi Jalaile – Omkara (Item number, Nautanki style, typical UP, witnessed a similar show in NauChandi Mela at Meerut, was called “Variety Show”, very similar atmosphere, not as many guns back then)
2006 Namak Ishq Ka – Omkara (Item Number, once again variety show style, Rekha Bharawaj is simply superb, sufi touch)
2008 Jugni – OLLO (Punjabi)
2008 Tu Raja ki Raj Dulari – OLLO (amazing depth and voice so different, lyrics so folkish)
2009 Beeda – Gulaal (Mujra style item number, Rajasthani folkish)
2009 Ranaji – Gulaal (Mujra style item number, Rajasthani, Piyush has weaved in current topics beautifully, very common in folk songs)
2009-Gainda Phool – Delhi 6(ARR and Prasoon Joshi, need one of the best folk style song ever)
1991 Galyat sankli sonyachi – Dil Hai ki Manta Nahin (Marathi Koli folk song)
2002 – Chhalka Chhalka Re – Saathiya (Gulzar again, marriage song)
2002 – Jhooth Kapat chhal kini – Saathia (Gulzar, this one didn’t get its due as other songs were big hits, but a cute little song, folk western UP style wedding song)
I am sure I have missed many more or you have your own favorites.
Finally, I would end it with a couple of more recommendations.
- BeatofIndia : For those of you interested in listening to original folk songs in regional languages, this website has some decent collection.
- Main aur Mera Saya: A rare collection of Asamese folk songs, translated in Hindi by Gulzar and sung by Bhupen Hazarika
This would conclude my tri-logy on music, you can access the other two here
http://passionforcinema.com/extraordinary-songs-in-ordinary-albums/
http://passionforcinema.com/music-of-gulaal-where-were-you-mr-mishra/
I’ll move on to other topics now.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
a fine write-up, good work.
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u have started out with folk song and then drifted onto folk flavor/influence; because most of the songs u have mentioned are not folk-songs but just folk influence. and in case of UP-bihar lootne, its juts the vocal cord tat gives it a folksy feel
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genda-phool was heavily assissted by raghubir yadav in lyrics dept. i think i read that somewhere and even the credit rolls showed that. in fact, raghubir yadav was behind-the-scene for the entire ram-leela stuff as well.
Just the tone of the singer singing the song, belonging to a particular region or borrowing a line or two from some existing folk song and using it in composition does not make a song folk song. I think in a movie the song can be classified as folk song if it embodies the custom and culture of the particular region which may be based on the premise of the movie or the background of the characters and it should be mundane and refined.
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When I listened to Genda Phool it instantly gave me the feel of listening a folk song but I cannot say the same for most of the song listed here. May be it also depends on my familiarity of the original folk as Hori Khele Raghuveera… from Baghbaan instantly reminded me the faag-geet sung by the people of Eastern UP villages at the time of Holi as I was familiar with it. Others may take it as normal hindi song because it has only been influenced by the original folk. The charm of the folk has been lost here and it cannot be classified as folk. The same is the case with many other songs listed in this post.
Rajat Dholakia and Raghubir Yadav had recorded the original song with Rekha Bharadwaj. Earlier Raghubir Yadav was called to teach Rekha to sing the original Chhatisgadh tune ( which was sung by RY’s mother when he was small ). RY & RD modified the original “Karaar Genfda Phool”.
Lateron Rehman “remixed” ( yes A Singh ji !! ) RD-RY’s composition and Prasun marked his own stamp by adding words like “sasuraal”
Nice write-up, though even I would go by the view that most of the songs mentioned here are of the folk flavour type than actual folk songs itself.Nevertheless a good list of songs & yes its nice to listen to the distinct “folky touch” in these songs.
“Naina Milayke” from “Saathiya” is one one of the songs which I really loved.
Rahman himself has said that “Genda Phool” is not an original composition but a classical Indian song which has been re-mixed. The same applies to “Aarti” from “Delhi-6″. “Genda Phool” is such a beautiful song. We should really thank Raghuvir Yadav, Rajat Dholakia, Rakesh Mehra, Prasoon Joshi and Rahman to give it the glory it always required.
I hope this sets a new trend in Bollywood where people get inspired from our own culture rather than Western songs. Remix, reuse, copy so whatever you like but make sure our gems are not lost forever.
I never thought someone would talk about a Kumaoni folk song on PFC
This took me back to my childhood days. Although I didn’t grow-up in Kumaon, this song was everywhere in the family along with another folk song – Hito Didi
I am glas someone ackownledged that gem of a song “Phirse aayio badra bidesi” Listen to this song by a fog drenched cliff, water flowing mildly and you’ll know what this song means… From the same movie there is another folk song… aanki chali, baanki chali.. and of course not a folk song but my all time fav song.. raah pe rehte hain…
Some more folk songs that I like…
I dont know if these can be called folks songs but lambi judaai and chittiye( Henna),
Smita Patil’s song from Manthan
Songs from Nadiya ke us par,
Kuchi Kuchi rakama ( Bombay)
Kahe tose sajna ( Maine Pyaar Kiya)
Aasa hun tur jaan aayee ( Dont know which film)
Kancha re kancha re ( not entirely folk song but the music is so folksy)
* I meant glad and not glas
Just thought I’d add a couple of folk songs from Andhra that were used in Hindi films
Ramaiyya Wasta Wayya – Shri 420 – I guess the correct transliteration from Telugu should be Ramaiyya Osta vaiya
Dekhne Mein Bhola Hai – Bambai ka Babu – Used by SD Burman to such beautiful effect in a stellar soundtrack.
As for Bengali folk songs, here’s what I could think of:
Ganga Aaye Kahan Se – Can’t remember the name of the film, but composed by Hemant Kumar based on the Bengali folk song – Aamay Dubaili Re.
Jahan Chaar Yaar – Sharabi – Bappi da twisted “Bondhu Tin Din” (made famous by Runa Laila) till it was virtually unrecognizable.
Aaj Sajan Mohe – Pyaasa
Na Main Dhan Chahoon – Hum Dono
Can’t name any specific folk songs, but very very influenced by the Bengali kirtaniya tradition.
Bichuaa (1920), Bhangra Pauna (1971), Paheli and Saat Rang Ke Sapnay and Rudhaali also had songs with a Rajasthani touch, Udd Jaa (Gaddar), Maari Teetri (De Taali), Nanhe Jaisalmer and Dor also included “Kesariyaa”, Lagaan and Mangal Pandey and Meenaxi also had songs with folk elements, Chappa Chappaa (Maachis), Manzaraat (Sikandar), Bumbro (Mission Kashmir), Mele Chaleyaa (Yahaan), I think Tahaan had Kashmiri folk music
Thanks for all the comments. I wish there were a way to respond to each post directly.
Rals and Jahan,
Yes, most songs are either adaptations or songs with folkish tunes or influence. But that’s ok, the songs do need adaptation and in some cases translations for the broader audience to understand. But the songs are sound special when the folk influence is maintained or paid tribute to in some manner, like the song in Lamhe where the two play in parallel.
KCP,
Thanks for the tidbits on Gainda Phool. That explains a lot and kudos to ROM for finding a way to use the song in the film, even in a modern setting like Delhi.
Dewi, Amanda, Neeraj,
Thanks for adding to the list.
Dewi,
Thanks for the background on Telugu and Bangla origins.
I don’t mind if our musicians copy, reuse or recreate folk songs as long as they find a way to pay tribute to the original, may be by adding the original to the album for audio only or giving credit to folk artists, wherever known.
Laga chunri mein daag’s song Kachi kaliyan mat todo starts with a folk song.. something like . banna daadi ka laadla. The only thing likeable in the movie..
pardesi from dev d
2008 Tu Raja ki Raj Dulari – is a Haryanavi Folk Ragini. The instruments are very basic dholki, ghaduva (made with old tube and water pot.)…
How about the song “zihaal-e-miskeen mukon ba-ranjish, bahaal-e-hijra bechara dil hai” from “Ghulami”.
It is one of the most loved songs. Am not sure if I can classify this as folk.