Bollywood dance beats... Inspiration Item #46

So I was at work awhile back and was talking to one of the girls about Bollywood movies. Her mum is Indian and she loves the big dance blockbusters and mentioned a few of her favourites.

Anyway time passed, exams came along, I got invited to a Sikh wedding and was all inspired so looked up Bollywood music in a bout of study procrastination. These are a few of my discoveries...

First up is Leija Leija from the 2001 hit Khabi Khushi Khabie Gham (meaning sometimes happy, sometimes sad). It has a great intro and there's no holding back on the dancefloor by either sex (plus can I mention it has one of the most beautiful men on the planet feauring as the male lead, Hritick Roshan).

If I need to get moving this next one is definitely my fav, starts off slow and builds with cracking beats. The clip is a bit old but I think the man responsible for this awesome love-song in the rain clip is A.J. Rahman (he wrote and performed Jai Ho which has hit the music charts as the Pussycat Doll's take on Bollywood from the movie Slumdog Millionare).

I stumbled across this song, Eli Re Eli a little while back. Great undulating rythmn and female solos, but the guys are a little weak. What I'm gathering from the English subtitles is that this is some type of empowered Bollywood Bridget Jones called Yaadein (definitely on the list to watch).


This one makes it into the list solely because of Aishwarya Rai's absolute sex-bombness. It has the classic Bollywood depiction of guys vs. girls on the dancefloor... with girls definitely winning out (don't think the guys ever recovered form Aishwarya's amazing hip flexibility).


If all this has been a little too exhausing have a listen to the theme music for Mumbai also by A.R. Rahman. I find it's very relaxing after the soprano notes and ever-speeding beats of the classic dance songs.



P.S. had a chat with my mate from work and we're going to have a Bollywood movie sleepover.. sounds good to me.

Inspiration Item #46