I’ve been away in Delhi for the past month where Slumdog Mania has hit with a frenzy, and stories of Frieda’s engagement/marriage or missing Slumdog kids were often the headline story. Oddly enough, soon after touching down stateside I realized that Slumdog Mania has taken the U.S. by storm too.
There were two signs that signaled to me this storm (besides of course the prolific amount of posts I had to catch up on here at SM). The first was when watching my nightly secret addiction, TMZ, I saw the infamous Anil Kapoor getting interviewed by paparazzi. Not Dev, not Frieda, but Anil. Kapoor. And not just once but a few times.
The second happened while flipping through the car radio, I heard what sounded like ‘Jai Ho’ but mangled. Because the girl was singing “Jai” pronounced as “Jay.” I was thrown off. It sounded like an evening of karaoke with the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack gone girl band.
Okay, so maybe the song isn’t that bad but I prefer the wholesome A.R. Rahman version. Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls (who I saw once at a secret M.I.A. show in Silverlake) apparently is a fan of Bollywood.
Nicole Scherzinger stated in a past interview with Desi Hits! that she wanted to go Bollywood, and now she has, and according to her the reward is plentiful. “It’s an honor to be able to collaborate with A.R. Rahman and be a part of the Slumdog Millionaire project in any way. The movie, the story, and the music was a gift and very spiritually uplifting for me. I can only hope and pray Slumdog Millionaire, and my version of ‘Jai Ho (You are my Destiny)’ touches and connects people all around the world”. [DesiHits!]
It is weird to see something that I saw as personal and desi go mainstream. It was just like the first time I heard M.I.A.’s Galang on a car commercial when she first hit the U.S. and I had this little pleasureful tummy flip. As if someone discovered my yummy little secret. But then when M.I.A.’s Paper Plane was picked up by the Pineapple Express trailer, my tummy just started feeling queasy. Seeing Slumdog Millionaire going through this process is giving me similar tummy flips – from when I watched the movie in an independent theatre back in the fall to sitting here watching Dev and Freida on the Tyra Banks show teaching Bollywood dances as I type this blog.
Abhi touched upon this effect earlier, but I wanted to know what all this Slumlovin’ fusion is doing to your tummy. Does it make you feel as uneasy as I do? Or does all the SM love reflect something more?
I got that feeling when MIA broke out in the USA, as she originally lived and grimed in the UK. It’s silly when I think about it now.
Hmm… Borders is playing an all-Bollywood muzak track, the featured new video on Hulu is “Exercise Power Bhangra,” and as Abhi mentioned yesterday, they’re comparing Jindal to Jamal.
Your call.
I’m kind of neutral about the Slumdog phenomenon in the West. It probably won’t be in fashion by the end of the year or it might fade out of the mind of the public mind.
(In one Blender or Vibe? magazine last year featured the Pussycat Dolls. In the article, it was mentioned the ladies in the group are devotees of Ammachi, the hugging Swamini/Guru. Forgot the exact issue but it was from some issue in 2008. So the Pussycat Dolls are no strangers to some aspects of Indian/Desi culture.)
Surprisingly good! (the pussycat dolls version). Never thought I would say that about the Pussycat Dolls. They were smart to use original movie clips for their video. Brought a smile even on this Bollywood skeptic’s face! (The children are so frikking cute! They absolutely made the movie.)
Jessica Sutta of the Pussycat Dolls is patron of a school and educational charity that works in north India and has been for some time. I know this because I have the hots for her and googled her a while ago.
Here is a short video of Jessica Sutta dancing around a chair in an empty warehouse.
Anyway, I really don’t understand what is wrong with all the brown love and attention. Desis complain that they feel invisible and marginalised in the USA or UK, but when desis go mainstream, we complain about that too. Well some of you do, I use the term ‘we’ to temporarily collectivise us, even though I am not part of this coolness resentment, that when cutting edge desi goes mainstream, it’s like, hey man, I listened to that ages ago……
I mean, don’t get me wrong. I hate Gurinder Chadha’s movies as much as the next person, so I’m not one of these saps who gets excited by everything that goes down in brown town, but people like Rahman, and MIA, and Dev and Frieda deserve all the success they can get off this. When something is good, it’s good, and the PCD version is inferior to the original, but it will take Rahman’s cachet into the stratosphere when it takes off. Such is life. I can see a record company putting out an AR Rahman greatest hits for the western market and it selling like crazy.
Listening to the song in English makes me appreciate the original even more. Gulzar’s lyrics in the original are so much better and yet Rahman’s tune is powerful enough that even this poor copy makes me wanna start singing.
Of course. If Dev and Freida had come along 20 years ago, they would have been completely ignored. Something is changing. And it is a sea change–a giant wave that is coming along very fast–one that is touching anything and everything Indian. Inidans in the past may not have got their due but a new generation will come about that will get more than their due.
It’s cool to be Indian.
Hollywood is smart in making money. Fusions help sell movies and music in both places because it earns the cool tag. And especially with a sizable middle class population in India, hollywood wants to sell more there, and they cant sell more than they do now unless they take a few from India seriously. http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1828745, a record viewership in India for oscars.
Good. I hope they all heard Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black’s speeches loud and clear. And that it actually filtered in to them a little.
kylie minogue is in india right now. she’s dancing in a bollywood song with akshay kumar. she isn’t a stranger to desis though. she sang at lakshmi mittal’s wedding. i think it’s cool that kylie’s dancing in a song with akshay. they both look good toghether. kylie’s also collaborating on a song with a.r. rahman.
Agree that Fusion movies will sell. Me being an ardent Johnny Depp fan (Pirates of Caribbean cult) I was eagerly waiting for Mira Nair’s movie based on Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram in which he is supposed to act. Unfortunately the movie seems to be on hold.
In fact the also has some Bombay slum connection where the convict gets holed up there for a long time and seems to have many similarities to Slumdog mill. Wonder how much the movie was influenced by that book if Simon or Danny ever read it ? Btw all this OT
Aah….Again hyperlinking error..SM intern please hyperlink to Shantaram and delete this comment. Thanks
Thanks for this. The Pussycat Dolls version isn’t the original but versions are good stuff too. i had the queasy feeling the first time i saw SD on my laptop. friends here in Jamaica had been raving about it and insisted i look at it. well, i got this wierd uncomfortable feeling and thought that as clever as it was i didn’t like it but then i watched the Oscars with Anna J and co and thoroughly enjoyed that, slowly beginning to warm towards the movie. i think its the discomfort of feeling that India is being translated, a little too glibly, somewhat inaccurately but really what the hell, its someone else’s version and it’s all good as they say here…
All of this is good stuff. If Americans seeing Slumdog and M.I.A begin to realize there is this whole other world out there, and it’s not angry at them, then they’ll come back for more.
Historically, India has exported a lot of culture without ever having to pick up a sword. The more it gave away, the richer it became. We’re just getting back to our roots.
Priya said:
If the Shantaram movie comes out in the next 6 months, it will be able to ride this waye–good timing. But they probably won’t be able to pull it off.
Shouldn’t Spike Lee get some love, too?
And Terry Zwigoff?
Damn you, Tyra Banks. How many times do you need to learn basic Bollywood moves? With Dev and Freida AND with Aishwariya? It’s getting so tired.
I love the Pussycat Dolls one! But I really think they should rerecord it to say jai instead of jay…
This version reminds me of lame English stage musicals from Bombay.
I must admit that I like this fusion. While the hindi version feels more personal, this fusion is not too bad at all. Though I didn’t quite catch all the lyrics. But then it’s me…I like most things fusion anyway (sambhar with roti anyone ? Its great), and east with west (red chard thoran anyone ?). Brings more fun and peace in my dining land ;), so why not something in the music-land.
How did an illegal Bangladeshi migrant like Taz enter Hindustant?!
*Hindustan
Good number from the Pussycats..but i like the original much much better…translation doesn’t quite do justice to gulzars lyrics 🙂 personally i think SDM is a good movie but not as good as it is made out to be, i got a little off put with the amount of coincidence in it, that being said Anil Kapoor is as overbearing on shows and tv spots as he is in the movie, but the visualization the kids, India and A.R Rehman are magnificent in this flick!!
zinda hua hai man mera, liya jo naam tera!
ooh! aah! India! Aaya India!
I dunno. It didn’t seem like India was paying much attention either until it went mainstream.
The $45 or whatever they are kurtas and the Ganesh slippers over the last 5-10 years didn’t tip you off? 🙂 American society commodifies everything, and right now multiculturalism and identity victories are cool (as long as you’re the right sort ;). I mean the frickin President was selling a 4 year wall calendar. I’m not sure that’s what MLK had in mind.
I’m still waiting for Jay Z to do his version… Jai to the H-izz-o.
The Pussycat dolls do put the ho in jai ho.
I’m happy for the actors but Anil Kapoor is really unbearable, going on and on about it being Bollywood’s victory at the Oscars, when it was no such thing. SDM is a British-made film which happens to be set in India and I do wish Anil Kapoor would acknowledge that and shut up.
Every time Dev and Frieda are asked to dance on TV, in some way it seems that their individual performances in the film have been reduced to this on-demand demonstration of their dancing skills.
@sk: SDM is a British-made film
By that token, the Elizabeth films are Indian because the director (Shekhar Kapoor) is Indian?
If you liked Slumdog, here is another video that may interest you. When Music & War Collide is a Documentary following International recording artist DeLon through Sri Lanka on stage in front of 10 thousand people and on the front lines of the war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. Find out what happends when Music and War Collide! When Music and War Collide-Official Trailer
Man, that left a bad taste in my mouth.
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