Comments on: Throwing English in the mix http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/ Bollywood blogged - international Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:37:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.3 by: DURANAI http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-6803 Mon, 02 Apr 2007 10:18:51 +0000 http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-6803 HELLO I AM DURANAI I LIVE IN GERMANY I THINK U KNOW THAT? I AM 12 YEARS OLD AND IN OCTOBER IS MY B-DAY.I HOPE U DONT FORGET IT!" CIAO BYE TSCHÜSS!!!!!"""""HAB DICH GANZN DOLLE LIEB OK CIAO KISS KOMM DOCH MAL ONLINE!"hdgggggggggggggdl HELLO I AM DURANAI I LIVE IN GERMANY I THINK U KNOW THAT?
I AM 12 YEARS OLD AND IN OCTOBER IS MY B-DAY.I HOPE U DONT FORGET IT!”
CIAO BYE TSCHÜSS!!!!!”"”"”HAB DICH GANZN DOLLE LIEB OK CIAO KISS KOMM DOCH MAL ONLINE!”hdgggggggggggggdl

]]> by: jhaji http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-136 Sat, 21 Oct 2006 04:41:38 +0000 http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-136 happy dipavali to you michael,beth , Babasko , Filmiholic , Kaddele , Marco , Maria , Mirie , oliver , and ''totally basmatic'' . cheers, jhaji. happy dipavali to you michael,beth , Babasko , Filmiholic , Kaddele , Marco , Maria , Mirie , oliver , and ‘’totally basmatic'’ .
cheers,
jhaji.

]]> by: musicNmovies http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-135 Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:56:33 +0000 http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-135 C'mon english has become lingo of most of the urban indians, and even in rural south india.So its natural to have those words in normal hindi titles and even in the songs. As you reminded, 'What is your mobile numbers' and even soulful track of B&P. But it's not just now english words were in Indian songs. I remember Kishore Da & Nutan back in late 50s, black and white movie, where there was one popular song - "C.A.T, cat manee billi, M.A.D mad, mad manee paagal". It sometimes make sense and goes along with the rhythm of the song. Belive it or not, there are more english speaking poeple in India than Hindi speaking. Its kinda common language for interaction within the country itself, as country holds so many different languages from eas to west and from north to south. So the invasion (am I getting too harsh on English people ?) is pretty obvious. But you might be surprised with one incident I had in Germany, atleast I was. There was one celluar network called O2, I hope most of you all know this network. You might be aware or if you are not then, in Germany English language is like taboo. People hardly tend to speak with you in English (even they know it, NOT ALL but most of them). So, this o2 had a tagline over there - O2 CAN DO. Eventhough, Germans are not fond of English language, they still use it as MARKETING TAGLINEs, still dont know why do they do that. And guess what? Upon one survey done by popular TV program,Most of them even didn't understand the meaning of that TAG LINE, it was like a sophisticated rhyme for them. So compared to those stuff, atleast ENGLISH words within Indian songs are much more justifiable and contemprorary. Signing Off ! T h i r d E y e Bollywood Blogger www.musicnmovies.info C’mon english has become lingo of most of the urban indians, and even in rural south india.So its natural to have those words in normal hindi titles and even in the songs. As you reminded, ‘What is your mobile numbers’ and even soulful track of B&P. But it’s not just now english words were in Indian songs. I remember Kishore Da & Nutan back in late 50s, black and white movie, where there was one popular song - “C.A.T, cat manee billi, M.A.D mad, mad manee paagal”. It sometimes make sense and goes along with the rhythm of the song.

Belive it or not, there are more english speaking poeple in India than Hindi speaking. Its kinda common language for interaction within the country itself, as country holds so many different languages from eas to west and from north to south. So the invasion (am I getting too harsh on English people ?) is pretty obvious.

But you might be surprised with one incident I had in Germany, atleast I was. There was one celluar network called O2, I hope most of you all know this network. You might be aware or if you are not then, in Germany English language is like taboo. People hardly tend to speak with you in English (even they know it, NOT ALL but most of them). So, this o2 had a tagline over there - O2 CAN DO. Eventhough, Germans are not fond of English language, they still use it as MARKETING TAGLINEs, still dont know why do they do that.

And guess what?

Upon one survey done by popular TV program,Most of them even didn’t understand the meaning of that TAG LINE, it was like a sophisticated rhyme for them.
So compared to those stuff, atleast ENGLISH words within Indian songs are much more justifiable and contemprorary.

Signing Off !

T h i r d E y e

Bollywood Blogger
www.musicnmovies.info

]]> by: jhaji http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-132 Tue, 10 Oct 2006 02:58:55 +0000 http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-132 nameste marco, i second you on'trying to make the film look modern'idea,and i see lot of thought in sheetal's post too,especially it's important to notice when the concern comes from a foreign land..., in india today for 'cinema',- 'youth' is a 'target' to whom the 'product' is to be 'marketed' and 'sold' in a 'strategy' and 'look' and 'lyrics' of the film matters because it reaches to audience first in form of music and promos/trailors serving as 'appetizer'through different channels in form of print and electronic media in the mass globally...no harm in all this.i agree to business and welcome all the efforts,but by doing all this and trying 'hard' to sell to international market is not a great idea,and you are right.i feel 'bollywood'has its own uniqueness and that has brought attention globally by its own virtue.but may be we are in a process and in a natural phenomenon...,changes are inevitable and i welcome all this in hope for the best. happy blogging, cheers. jhaji. nameste marco,
i second you on’trying to make the film look modern’idea,and i see lot of thought in sheetal’s post too,especially it’s important to notice when the concern comes from a foreign land…,
in india today for ‘cinema’,- ‘youth’ is a ‘target’ to whom the ‘product’ is to be ‘marketed’ and ’sold’ in a ’strategy’ and ‘look’ and ‘lyrics’ of the film matters because it reaches to audience first in form of music and promos/trailors serving as ‘appetizer’through different channels in form of print and electronic media in the mass globally…no harm in all this.i agree to business and welcome all the efforts,but by doing all this and trying ‘hard’ to sell to international market is not a great idea,and you are right.i feel ‘bollywood’has its own uniqueness and that has brought attention globally by its own virtue.but may be we are in a process and in a natural phenomenon…,changes are inevitable and i welcome all this in hope for the best.
happy blogging,
cheers.
jhaji.

]]> by: Marco http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-131 Sun, 08 Oct 2006 10:46:16 +0000 http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-131 An interesting topic and one that started to bother me a little bit lately. Although you didn't mention the key culprit: Himesh Reshammiya. I love his music as much as the next guy but he has this sometimes annoying habit to bring the most trivial English lyrics into his songs. "I Love You for What You Are" (Aap Ki Khatir), "Love You Unconditionally" (Ahista Ahista), "24x7 I Think of You" (36 China Town), "Because I Love You" & "No Way" (Anthony Kaun Hai) are just some of the examples. Who in the right mind would ever bring such a tongue twister as "unconditionally" into a song text? :) In his defense: He seems to be able to make it work anyway. The idea seems to stem from two hopes: A) trying to make the film look modern for an urban Indian audience and B) hoping for better international sales through more accessible lyrics. I believe it works for A while B is wishful thinking. Most of us Non-Indian Bollywood-fans wouldn't want our beloved films to be filled with the same everything-sounds-the-same disco stuff we hear every day. I don't believe we want qawwalis, ghazals and classical music only, but the songs should have their unique Indian quality – or they would lose a lot of their value for us. The challenge seems to be a combination of more modern music (which all music industries strive for, how could we deny it to Indian composers?) with the traditional and the unique. But of course I’d also have to agree with Sanjay that English has long been an important language in India, even after Independence. So if there is a rise in English lyrics, it might be part of the rise of English on the whole planet. Even here in the German speaking world, many of our advertisements slogans are nowadays written in English – one line in English in a couple of songs hardly even matches this influx in central Europe’s everyday language. But I will definitely keep an eye on this – and will write Himmesh an angry fan letter if ever he goes overboard with his English lyrics *smile* Cheers, Marco An interesting topic and one that started to bother me a little bit lately. Although you didn’t mention the key culprit: Himesh Reshammiya. I love his music as much as the next guy but he has this sometimes annoying habit to bring the most trivial English lyrics into his songs. “I Love You for What You Are” (Aap Ki Khatir), “Love You Unconditionally” (Ahista Ahista), “24×7 I Think of You” (36 China Town), “Because I Love You” & “No Way” (Anthony Kaun Hai) are just some of the examples. Who in the right mind would ever bring such a tongue twister as “unconditionally” into a song text? :) In his defense: He seems to be able to make it work anyway.

The idea seems to stem from two hopes: A) trying to make the film look modern for an urban Indian audience and B) hoping for better international sales through more accessible lyrics. I believe it works for A while B is wishful thinking. Most of us Non-Indian Bollywood-fans wouldn’t want our beloved films to be filled with the same everything-sounds-the-same disco stuff we hear every day. I don’t believe we want qawwalis, ghazals and classical music only, but the songs should have their unique Indian quality – or they would lose a lot of their value for us. The challenge seems to be a combination of more modern music (which all music industries strive for, how could we deny it to Indian composers?) with the traditional and the unique.

But of course I’d also have to agree with Sanjay that English has long been an important language in India, even after Independence. So if there is a rise in English lyrics, it might be part of the rise of English on the whole planet. Even here in the German speaking world, many of our advertisements slogans are nowadays written in English – one line in English in a couple of songs hardly even matches this influx in central Europe’s everyday language. But I will definitely keep an eye on this – and will write Himmesh an angry fan letter if ever he goes overboard with his English lyrics *smile*

Cheers, Marco

]]> by: Beth http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-130 Sat, 07 Oct 2006 20:54:06 +0000 http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-130 Sheetal, did you post your story over here? http://bollywoodhub.blogspot.com/ 2006/10/is-bollywood-becoming-more-like_07.html <em>(link cut cause it troubled the design, michael)</em> Sheetal, did you post your story over here?
http://bollywoodhub.blogspot.com/
2006/10/is-bollywood-becoming-more-like_07.html
(link cut cause it troubled the design, michael)

]]> by: jhaji http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-129 Sat, 07 Oct 2006 08:18:12 +0000 http://www.bollywoodbloggers.com/2006/10/06/throwing-english-in-the-mix/#comment-129 nameste sheetal. interesting post,but i am not sure about your point...'westernization of bollywood today' by such uses of english language.english is almost 'the working language'in society across india today and 'bollywood'[much before it was called 'bollywood'] reflected the impact of the language in day to day life through cinema,so nothing is new.films title like'foot path'by zia sarhadi starring dilip kumar and nutan in 1953,taxi driver'in 1954 by chetan anand,[before martin scorsese,1976], 'mr. and mrs. 55'by guru datt and 'kedar kapoor's 'miss coca-cola' in 1955,raj khosla's CID in 1956,mehboob khan's 'mother india'and subodh mukherjee's 'paying guest'in 1957,vijay anand's'guide' in 1965 and 'jewel thief' in 1967,are few examples and there are many other english title and songs not only in hindi films but in other regional language films too.in 'dilli ka thug'majrooh saheb wrote in 1958 ** C.A.T. Cat, Cat maane billi, R.A.T. Rat, Rat maane choohaa arrey dil hai tere panje mein to kyaa huaa... ** M.A.D. Mad, Mad maane paagal, B.O.Y. Boy, Boy maane laDkaa arrey matlab iskaa tum kaho to kyaa huaa...*** 'julie'[1975]had a song 'my heart is beating...'full song in english sung by preeti sagar and got very popular,'disco dancer' in 1983 had a super hit number by bappi da 'i am a disco dancer...'and popular song'disco 82...'in khuddar[1982],so i agree with you its interesting process and anthropological example.happy blogging. cheers, jhaji. PS-*JUNGLE* is hindi word...lol. nameste sheetal.
interesting post,but i am not sure about your point…’westernization of bollywood today’ by such uses of english language.english is almost ‘the working language’in society across india today and ‘bollywood’[much before it was called ‘bollywood’] reflected the impact of the language in day to day life through cinema,so nothing is new.films title like’foot path’by zia sarhadi starring dilip kumar and nutan in 1953,taxi driver’in 1954 by chetan anand,[before martin scorsese,1976], ‘mr. and mrs. 55′by guru datt and ‘kedar kapoor’s ‘miss coca-cola’ in 1955,raj khosla’s CID in 1956,mehboob khan’s ‘mother india’and subodh mukherjee’s ‘paying guest’in 1957,vijay anand’s’guide’ in 1965 and ‘jewel thief’ in 1967,are few examples and there are many other english title and songs not only in hindi films but in other regional language films too.in ‘dilli ka thug’majrooh saheb wrote in 1958 ** C.A.T. Cat, Cat maane billi, R.A.T. Rat, Rat maane choohaa
arrey dil hai tere panje mein to kyaa huaa…
** M.A.D. Mad, Mad maane paagal, B.O.Y. Boy, Boy maane laDkaa
arrey matlab iskaa tum kaho to kyaa huaa…*** ‘julie’[1975]had a song ‘my heart is beating…’full song in english sung by preeti sagar and got very popular,’disco dancer’ in 1983 had a super hit number by bappi da ‘i am a disco dancer…’and popular song’disco 82…’in khuddar[1982],so i agree with you its interesting process and anthropological example.happy blogging.
cheers,
jhaji.

PS-*JUNGLE* is hindi word…lol.

]]>