Here it is...Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram "disco style". The newest song on the filmy block, from the movie Krissh 3. I just saw it yesterday.
This particular line of the bhajan has been morphed 3 ways in the last two decades.
1. The half-bhajan half rock song from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
2. The call for agitation version from Satyagraha.
3. The disco song from Krissh 3.
Its not so much religious or moral blasphemy as it is musical harakiri. I'm not outraged, I am just disappointed. It is like the concept of "Christian Yoga": one is outraged for what it stands for (supposed Hindu proselytization), and yet one uses it in name and spirit for marketing purposes (why else would you continue to call it yoga?)
I'm hoping the song actually has a viable context that justifies the use of "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram", but I'm not waiting with bated breath. Why use the popular line of a song if one means to present it in a completely different context and tempo? I have nothing against dance music and thumping beats, and am awestruck once again at Hrithik Roshan's warp-speed dancing. But its difficult to find a reason other than cheap marketing that they used this line.
The reason I'm disappointed with this is the same reason I'm disappointed with most remixed songs. Similar to how we remember legendary tunes in their context, the remixed sounds become the new context. For some listeners, "Dum Maaro Dum" may now be the song that has the phrase "...potty pe baithe nanga", "Tumhi ho bandhu sakha tumhi" is a beach song.
But even those who don't know the bhajan, here is the new context to this line: the lyrics of this song from Krishh 3: http://www.lyricsmint.com/2013/09/raghupati-raghav-krrish-3.html.
Compare that to the lyrics from Satyagraha: http://www.lyricstaal.com/satyagraha-title-song-lyrics/
Both start from the same line: one morphs into a party song, the other into a call for agitation. Which context do you think is more faithful to the spirit of the original one? And why should we care about faithfulness? Because most listeners associate a song with the context set by its words, music and what they were doing when they heard it. "Mere Desh ki dharti" is an unabashedly patriotic song even though I have never worked in a field, "Airanichya deva tula..." is one of my favorite Marathi songs not because I was once an ironsmith, but because I heard that song most often and saw that movie at my grandparents' house. Presenting an existing piece of music in a completely different context does more than making it accessible to the current generation. It renders that accessibility meaningless because the context is garbled.
This particular line of the bhajan has been morphed 3 ways in the last two decades.
1. The half-bhajan half rock song from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
2. The call for agitation version from Satyagraha.
3. The disco song from Krissh 3.
Its not so much religious or moral blasphemy as it is musical harakiri. I'm not outraged, I am just disappointed. It is like the concept of "Christian Yoga": one is outraged for what it stands for (supposed Hindu proselytization), and yet one uses it in name and spirit for marketing purposes (why else would you continue to call it yoga?)
I'm hoping the song actually has a viable context that justifies the use of "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram", but I'm not waiting with bated breath. Why use the popular line of a song if one means to present it in a completely different context and tempo? I have nothing against dance music and thumping beats, and am awestruck once again at Hrithik Roshan's warp-speed dancing. But its difficult to find a reason other than cheap marketing that they used this line.
The reason I'm disappointed with this is the same reason I'm disappointed with most remixed songs. Similar to how we remember legendary tunes in their context, the remixed sounds become the new context. For some listeners, "Dum Maaro Dum" may now be the song that has the phrase "...potty pe baithe nanga", "Tumhi ho bandhu sakha tumhi" is a beach song.
But even those who don't know the bhajan, here is the new context to this line: the lyrics of this song from Krishh 3: http://www.lyricsmint.com/2013/09/raghupati-raghav-krrish-3.html.
Compare that to the lyrics from Satyagraha: http://www.lyricstaal.com/satyagraha-title-song-lyrics/
Both start from the same line: one morphs into a party song, the other into a call for agitation. Which context do you think is more faithful to the spirit of the original one? And why should we care about faithfulness? Because most listeners associate a song with the context set by its words, music and what they were doing when they heard it. "Mere Desh ki dharti" is an unabashedly patriotic song even though I have never worked in a field, "Airanichya deva tula..." is one of my favorite Marathi songs not because I was once an ironsmith, but because I heard that song most often and saw that movie at my grandparents' house. Presenting an existing piece of music in a completely different context does more than making it accessible to the current generation. It renders that accessibility meaningless because the context is garbled.
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