I’m not the only one who secretly loves English language song breaks, right? As an English speaker, I can actually sing them! Which is great. But on the other hand, feeling the need for an English language song break usually indicates that the song itself is not that great.
Here’s one that is sincerely stupid, but also sincerely good somehow at the same time. “It’s the Time to Disco”
Same movie! Not only has English thrown in, also has a rap break. And yet, is still a good song. “Preity Woman”
Possibly my favorite English language song and I know it is a silly movie and a stupid song, but it is also really really pretty! “I Just Want to Spend My Life With You”
A classic that I am not even ashamed to like! “Right Here Right Now (rap)”
Another cool classic, “Kehte Nahi”
And of course my pump up song, that I feel like is in English just so I know it is for me, “I Am The Best”
One that kind of makes fun of the English trend, the title song from “Bol Bachchan”
One that uses English to create a whole kind of global vibe for the song, which is a very appropriate, so I guess this is a good one, “Girls Like to Swing”
And to end, the two worst English language songs, you can vote as to which one you hate the most/think is the worst written. Is it “Selfish” from Race 3:
Or is it “I Am in Love” from Lagaan?
Oh, and also, which of your favorites did I miss?
dontcallitbollywood 
I can tolerate English language song breaks in silly, dance songs like “Where’s the party tonight” or “It’s the Time to Disco”, but I absolutely hate them in more “classic” songs like this one from Laagan. Other terrible example is Pookkal Pookkum. Such a beautiful tamil songs, and in the middle it becomes painful to hear.
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So, your vote would be for the Lagaan song as worse than the Selfish song? That seems fair.
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Definitely 🙂
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I hate English in Hindi songs, unless it’s there for a reason. It breaks the mood for me. Sometimes musical quotations from the West throw me off, too. Like the Linus (of Peanuts fame) quote in the newer Agneepath.
On the other hand, I love “Bol Bachchan” because it’s playing with the language.
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Yes! And one I forgot to include is “Maacho”, a Tamil song that has fun rhyming together nonsense-y Tamil words with nonsense-y English. Kind of turning both languages into nothing.
On Sun, Mar 24, 2019 at 4:31 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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From Telugu movies –
1. “Life is Shabby without you baby” from Padamati Sandhyaragam (1987) the movie with American as hero – the movie situation was to be sung by an American, but lyrics are more Telugu-ish, translated to English – but good rendering (though accent is not accurate) –
life is shabby, with out you baby
life is shabby, with out you baby
when you smile dear sandhya.. గుండెల్లొ గుబ గుబ .. కళ్ళల్లొ తహ తహ
గుండెల్లొ గుబ గుబ … గుబ గుబ
life is shabby, with out you baby
life is shabby, with out you baby
when you smile dear sandhya.. గుండెల్లొ గుబ గుబ .. కళ్ళల్లొ తహ తహ
గుండెల్లొ గుబ గుబ … గుబ గుబ
the morning i saw you the first time.. you are an ordinary baby that’s what i felt
as i watch you day in and day out.. i know now what you mean to my life
when i beat the tom tom in bad mood.. it sounds as if its made of wood
when i think of you baby and beat it again.. oh brother its a bam bam
my heart skips a beat when you play in to me..
when i kill you cheat .. i forget to eat..
life is shabby, with out you baby
life is shabby, with out you baby
when you smile dear sandhya.. గుండెల్లొ గుబ గుబ .. కళ్ళల్లొ తహ తహ (Gundello guba guba, Kallallo Tahataha)
గుండెల్లొ గుబ గుబ … గుబ గుబ
music in the FM, music in the TV.. music on the stage, music in the stereo
the moment you start smiling at me baby.. silence silence silence everywhere
the day when you ask me బాగున్నారా.. i told my bad mood Sayonara..
singing to girls is not my cup of tea.. you made do so its a speciality
dont you ever hit me like a ping pong ball.. my heart get beat like a ding dong bell
life is shabby, with out you baby
life is shabby believe me, with out you baby
when you smile dear sandhya.. గుండెల్లొ గుబ గుబ .. కళ్ళల్లొ తహ తహ
గుండెల్లొ గుబ గుబ … గుబ గుబ…
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2. “So much to say that” Nagarjuna’s Santosham
So much to say that I Love You
Now that so much I Need You
How would it be if you leave me
Feel it for me.. to believe me
I wanna love.. but not alone
Living for you and dying for you
I wanna love.. but not alone
Living for you and dying.. for you
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3. “Bhale Bhale Mogadivoyi” from Kamal’s Maro Charitra (Ek Dujhe Ke Liye in Hindi) – Girl is a Telugu and the man is a Tamil, so as she sings in Telugu, he responds in English
I don’t know what you say to me but I have so much to say
I wanna fly with you up the sky and dance all the nights
I can’t help darling falling in love with you and only with you
come darling let’s play the game
come darling let’s swing and swing
…
One fine day you will be mine.. It would be full of sunshine
One fine day you will be mine.. It would be full of sunshine
…
Oh come baby let’s have some fun…round here there is no on
…
I wanna fly with you up the sky and dance the whole nights
…
No need to feel shy my girl
No need to hold back my doll
…
Hand in hand let’s say my dear…
Come near don’t fear dear
…
Oh let’s start the game of our life
And you’ll be my dear wife
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I used to feel contemptuous of songs that mixed Hindi and English until I realized that one of my favorite pieces of poetry is a mix of two languages! I am talking about the qawwali Zeehal-e-miskeen by Amir Khusro. It alternates between Persian and a dialect of Hindi.
Obviously, I am not comparing any of these songs to Khusro, but now I don’t automatically dismiss songs that mix Hindi and English. I would love for someone to write good poetry that seamlessly switched between the two languages. I wonder if Harivanshrai Bachchan ever tried it – he was after all an English professor who wrote his PhD thesis on Yeats. I feel like the Lagaan song had the right context for doing something like this but failed, and for that I rank it higher than Selfish.
As an aside: I refuse to watch Padmavat, but I have heard that it also does huge disservice to Amir Khusro. I assume this is because he was a court poet of Alauddin Khilji and actually wrote some contemporary accounts of the time.
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How do you feel about songs that are entirely in English?
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I refuse to re-watch Padmavat and I wasn’t focusing enough to notice an Amir Khusrau character the first time around, so I can’t help you. There is a section where Ranveer orders the court historians to remove certain parts and rewrite other parts maybe that was him. In my research before Padmavat, it was frustrating because the story does not come from contemporary accounts, the whole version of Ranveer’s character does not come from contemporary accounts, so the film in its entirety would also be an insult Amir Khusro and really all of the Delhi Sultanate culture of the time.
I think the new Bombay rappers might be the best bet for combining Hindi and English in a beautiful way. Some of the songs from Gully Boy manage it a little. And they are artists who grew up speaking and thinking in “Hinglish”.
On Mon, Mar 25, 2019 at 6:30 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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