The influence of western music in India has never been so immense – until now. All Hindi Bollywood songs are full of English lyrics. There is a bit of Hip Hop after each verse.
The Bollywood film industry has never had the folly to imitate the Hollywood guys. Everyone knows that Indian filmmakers have copied movies, but the music was original. Musical movies and dancing in Hindi were the ingenuity of Bollywood.
With the success of Slumdog Millionare, western audiences have become familiar with the Indian film style. No Indian movie is complete without dance floors where all the main actors in the movie dance together. Choreography is a difficult matter, not all famous celebrities agree to follow certain steps. The choreographer adjusts the movements according to wishes.
The influence of western English music was always there, but it was not very prominent in the main scene.
Dhoom Machale by Tata Young
The first time Indian music lovers chose an English song was when ‘Dhoom’ was released in 2004. Tata Young sang the song titled ‘Dhoom Machale’, all the words were in English except the title of course. The song turned out to be insane that people are still seen dancing to this song at functions and parties today.
Snoop Dogg’s rap song on ‘Singh is Kinng’
In 2008, Snoop Dogg appeared in a music video along with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is a rap song. The video and song were an instant hit. It was the first time we saw a major international celebrity bond with Bollywood.
There are many other songs and various international musical artists have composed music for a Bollywood movie. Even regional songs include hip hop. Bollywood is slowly giving up its originality and is now focusing on what is in global demand.
I’m not complaining about the use of English, but the integrity of traditional Bollywood songs is compromised. With the increasing penetration of American music on our Indian television, young people are more interested in Western music. And for the Bollywood music industry to survive, they need to change and adapt to more popular musical styles.
