Nadeem-Shravan, a popular music duo who were popular in the 90’s to mid 2000’s did produce some music in the past few years, but each soundtrack failed miserably. Their cliche tunes and inability to create music that may sway from songs that were once guaranteed hits have made them incapable of competing with Bollywood’s new string of musicians who have abandoned the old rules and have morphed India’s music scene.

Earlier this week, Shravan (of Nadeem-Shravan) complained that Bollywood music has left behind local sounds, and that Hollywood has been the Hindi movie industry’s biggest influence. Shravan may not have been listening to any Bollywood music these days. In fact, classical sounds, both Muslim and Hindu, have reemerged in Bollywood like never before.

But that may be a part of Shravan’s problem. Along with more classical influences, Pakistan has begun to make a powerful presence in India. He said:

“If a Pakistani artist releases an album or a song with a video, it gets heavy rotation, at the expense of talented Indian artists. We respect artists from every country, but we need to promote our own Hindustani musicians as well.”

First of all, Indian artists are hugely popular in Pakistan, so why not vice-versa? Also, it is sad that Shravan is speaking of competition, rather than unison, especially when speaking from a platform of music, where artists should promote cultural exchange. In a previous post, I wrote that Pakistani artists have stated that they believe their popularity grows when they make it big in Bollywood. Sadly, Shravan frowns on this ground breaking change in Indo-Pak relations.

Shravan, like Nadeem-Shravan’s music, clearly represents sentiments of the past that have evaporated in Bollywood. Not only has Bollywood’s music progressed, but so has the industry’s ideals.

Here’s a song with local flavor that Shravan probably didn’t catch (even though it was one of the most popular songs last year):

The film is directed by one of my favorites, Vishal Bhardwaj. Originally a composer (Maachis was one of his best albums) and good friends with Gulzar, his films are some of the best that have come out of Bollywood in recent years. Most notably, Omkara and Maqbool, both interpretations of Shakespere plays (like Gulzar’s Angoor), were highly appreciated by audiences and critics. Maqbool, starring Pankaj Kapoor, Tabu and Irrfan Khan, reenergized Kapoor and Khan’s career. The haunting interpration of Macbeth reminded us why Tabu is the best.

Omkara went a few steps further. Although Maqbool had better performances and was overall a better film, Omkara was much more mainstream than Maqbool. While Maqbool had more parallel cinema stars like Tabu, Pankaj Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri, Omkara had Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, mast item-numbers from Bipasha Basu, an incredible performance from Konkana Sen Sharma, Ajay Devgan and Vivek Oberoi. All were phenomenal in their roles, and it was Khan’s most important and needed performance in his career after Dil Chahta Hai. This film also reminded us that Kapoor can act. It also reminded us that films with incredible depth, meaningful dialogue, and tragedy don’t have to exclude filmi item songs. Serious films can have some fun too, and Omkara taught us that.
So what will Kaminey teach us? Priyanka Chopra already had a fantastic 2008 (Fashion, Dostana, let’s pretend Love Story 2050 didn’t happen) and Shahid Kapoor needs what Omkara did for Khan, to show that he can deliver a performance different from his default role (Jab We Met). Let’s hope this caper helps remind Bollywood what good films are!