No, Bollywood, the audience does not ‘want’ mediocre songs

Aao ji Mera haath thaamo ji Mere sang sang chalo aur Wahaan baitho na

Aur thoda wahaan tasalli se Apne khayalaat ko share karo na

Ek baar baybee, selfish hoke, apne liye jeeyo na.

Please come, take me by the hand, come with me and sit there (destination unspecified). And then, over there, take your time, and share your thoughts with me. Just for once, bayyby, be selfish and live for yourself.    

This is not poetry This is stuttering, polite, if rather illogical, prose. Which, in itself, is not a problem.

The problem is that this alleged song is from Being Superhuman Bhai’s latest movie, has been written by Bhai, and every effort has been made to sell it off as a “romantic chartbuster” (Tips Official’s description).

The picturisation is beautiful. There are snowclad mountains. There is the lovely Jacqueline Fernandez, in colour-coordinated mint green with Bobby Deol, contrasting blues and reds with Bhai himself. There are women in white vaguely swaying in the background. The music is lilting, if generic “romantic”. Atif Aslam’s voice is pleasant.

Basically, a lot of money and skills have gone into packaging a very poor song very well, showing where Bollywood’s priorities lie — they will invest in making Salman Khan’s efforts sell, but not in paying a decent songwriter.

And then, worst of all, blame it on the audience — this is what people like, yaar.

Who has the time to listen to songs where you have to Google the lyrics to understand them? Who has the time for raagas and notes, when all you want is a peppy number to pick you up after a tiring day at work?

This is Bollywood propaganda to justify its mediocrity, and its laziness. Worse, it is presented so convincingly that a large section of us actually end up believing it.

If this hypothesis were true, good songs would have ceased to be made. That is overwhelmingly not the case.

For every “Ishq Wala Love” (Student of the Year) tricked down our throat with the syrup of beautiful visuals and music, there is a “Tu Kisi Rail Si Guzarti Hai” (Masaan).  For every “Sari Ke Fall Sa Kabhi Match Kiya Re”, (R... Rajkumar), there is a “Meri Har Manmani Bus Tum Tak” (Raanjhanaa).  

No. People do not prefer nonsense strung together over coherent sentences. No, a “good song” is not elitist, full of difficult words. It is perfectly possible to write beautiful, moving poetry with the simplest of words — the classics “Aa Jaa Piya, Tohe Pyar Dun”, “Abhi Na Jao Chhod Ke, Ki Dil Abhi Bhara Nahin”, are just two of the innumerable examples.

Also, to make its point, poetry does not have to rely on clichés and outdated imagery that “today’s generation” cannot relate to.

In Satya’s “Sapnon Mein Milti Hai”, a hopeful lover is simply, and effectively, described as following the beloved around the whole day like a “khali rickshaw” (like an empty rickshaw).  

In “Matargashti” from Tamasha, a line says “Na Kashi na Kaba, main Twitter Pe Hun”.   

Of course, a “good” song is a highly subjective term. But all the songs I mention here have been popular, well-loved, well-received, giving the lie to the claim that the audience “wants” lazily made songs.

There have always been brilliant songs, atrocious songs, just-about-average songs. What is new today is the aggressive effort to make mediocrity not just acceptable, but the only normal.

Of course, it is not art but commerce that is driving this. It is easier to churn out formulaic “hit” songs — electronically mixed music to arrive at an energetic, upbeat tune, proceed to slam words onto it, throw in some sex and some gaalis, and then, through glitzy, glamourous marketing, hammer it into the audience’s brain that this is the “pulse of the youth”, “beat of the nation”, that you must like this song, because everyone else does.  

Because almost no thought goes into the songs – recycling a set of 26 ideas – the lyrics are crass, regressive, sexist, and plain nonsensical Main To Tandoori Murgi Hun Yaar, Tere Doggy Ko Mujhpe Bhoonkne Ka Nai).

Another tired and dishonest defence is that the songs today are “bolder”. But sex and desire have existed in Bollywood music forever, without compromising on the poetry — a “Namak Ishq Ka” is far “bolder” and more erotic than “Daddy Mummy Hain Nai Ghar Pe”.    

There is no harm in everyday conversations being set to music and turned into a song.

But when most such songs belong to high-budget, blockbuster movies, and music involving more effort comes from “offbeat” cinema, Big Bollywood’s priorities in allocating resources become clear.

The audience will consume whatever it is offered. But if it were happy with these, “evergreen” songs would not remain so, and the industry itself would not feel the need to keep “remixing” them.   

Bollywood, make mediocre songs if you wish. But stop blaming the audience for it.

Also read: Stop judging Bollywood songs. Music can never be trashy