Between the rich and the ribald

An exploration of contemporary Hindi film lyrics in light of the controversial “DK Bose” song in “Delhi Belly”.

“The pertinent question is, how is the Hindi film song holding out today? What lies beneath the skewering of a certain ‘DK Bose' (‘Delhi Belly'), the toilet humour of ‘Mit Jaaye Gham' (‘Dum Maaro Dum') and Salman Khan wiggling his hips to show a dheela character (‘Ready'),” asks film scholar Amrita Dutta, placing the debate about ‘vulgar songs' in perspective. “These songs are only a part of the more significant changes afoot: the shrinking language of love, the gradual fade-out of lip-synced songs to tell a story, the growing use of ‘item numbers' to reel in crowds and the changing voice of the youth.”

Notions of what constitutes vulgar are probably as subjective as perceptions of beauty. While there is a certain common quotient in the value system prevalent in specific societies at a given time, the individual variations are wide. What may be offensive to one is vibrantly playful to another.

Sociologist Arunima Dhar contextualises this aspect by saying, “In general, western societies practice a ‘live and let live' approach towards the creative endeavours of others. From what is on offer, they pick what they fancy and choose to ignore what is not their cup of tea. We Indians tend to take our films, our stars and our songs very personally.” It would not be an exaggeration to say that Hindi movie numbers are like modern-day folk songs and the veritable soundtrack of one's life. There are songs for every mood, occasion and stage of existence. Therefore, the recent hullabaloo over the words of the “DK Bose” song in “Delhi Belly” raises questions that go beyond what constitutes crudity in lyrics.

Expletive signals

Some would argue that songs are a reflection of their times. Aamir Khan, the producer of “Delhi Belly” defended the lyrics of ‘DK Bose' by saying, “If certain words are part of popular parlance then there is no reason to be morally outraged if they are used in a song. We are merely being realistic.”

Others feel that the use of an expletive signals a dearth of imagination.

Dhar elaborates on this theme: “Even in conversation when a person uses a cuss word, she is basically adopting a lazy verbal shorthand. The use of precise terminology to express one's state of mind requires a rich vocabulary that most in today's generation lack.”

Lyricist and dialogue writer Javed Akhtar has long lamented the contemporary scenario wherein youngsters are able to speak neither Hindi nor English well. “Bollywood films are now being funded by western style corporate studios and the scripts are often written in English (and then translated),” adds Akhtar.

In light of this, do we have no choice but to accept that ‘Hinglish' is the inevitable way of the future? That the ‘Hindustani' we have long prided as a symbol of our composite Hindu-Muslim culture (Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb) will not be able to withstand the onslaught of ‘lingo' that is propelled by commercialism? Perhaps there is some consolation to be drawn from the knowledge that purity of language itself has always been a relative issue.