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From Mujras to Item Songs: Tracing the Journey of Courtesan Songs in Popular Hindi Movies and Inclusion in Popular Culture

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From Mujras to Item Songs: Tracing the Journey of Courtesan Songs in Popular Hindi Movies and Inclusion in Popular Culture Volume III, Issue V, July 2015 – ISSN 2321-7065 From Mujras to Item Songs: Tracing the Journey of Courtesan Songs in Popular Hindi movies and inclusion in Popular Culture. Cheena Chawla Assistant Professor( Department of English) Patel Memorial National College Rajpura, Punjab. Abstract: The present paper attempts to analyze the incorporation of courtesan songs as mujras in Popular Hindi movies and their inclusion in Popular culture. These mujras held a prominent position in Bollywood and contributed a great deal to the success of the movies they were a part of. Due to globalization and changing trends and consumer demands, the mujras in Indian cinema slowly and gradually transformed and paved way for the bolder and more provocative item numbers and the courtesan stood reincarnated as the item girl. Research Paper: Courtesan songs originated in temples through devadasis and gradually reached Kothas and concert halls. With the degeneration of courtesan tradition, their private performances and private salons dwindled considerably. But their art was not completely lost. With the proliferation of Bollywood, their music started incorporating itself into popular Hindi movies, though in a somewhat changed manner, which catered to the interest of the masses i.e. it became part of the popular culture. Popular culture has been the subject of a heated critical debate. The proponents of elitist culture, critics such as Max Horkheimer and T. W. Adorno, Dwight Macdonald are of the view that "Masscult ... doesn't even have the possibility of being good," because it "offers its customers neither an emotional catharsis nor an aesthetic experience" (Macdonald 4). Whereas the proponents of popular culture, critics such as Richard Slotkin, Refereed (Peer Reviewed) Journal www.ijellh.com 416 Volume III, Issue V, July 2015 – ISSN 2321-7065 Leslie Fiedler argue that culture does not merely include elite and high works of art, instead „culture is ordinary‟(Williams 92) as Raymond Williams points out. The popular Hindi film is without doubt an incredibly remarkable means of mass entertainment. Popular film and popular music are undeniably connected in Indian cinema. The inclusion of songs in the film is the most consistent charecteristic of popular Hindi movies. Film songs have been the unchallenged popular music of India. They have a quasi-classical status. It is not an original genre, rather borrows from classical, semi-classical and folk repertory only but altered for use in film by changing instrumentation and sometimes rhythm. Whatever be the case, the Indian masses identify with film songs instead of classical music. And the centrality of the mujra - the dance of the courtesan in Bollywood cannot be questioned looking at the countless number of such songs in the Popular Hindi movie as Veena Talwar Oldenburg points out in „Lifestyle as Resistance : The Case of the Courtesans of Luckhnow‟, “…their enduring influence on the Hindi film is all too patent”(Oldenburg263). Most Hindi films, called masala movies, are popular because of the songs and dances in them and the very notion of the music and dance sequences is reflective of the style of entertainment at the kothas. And mujra- the courtesan song and dance form- held its sway over Bollywood for many decades of twentieth century through movies like Pakeezah(1972) and Umrao Jaan (1981) and the iconic mujras in these movies. Inhin logon ne le liya dupatta mera. Hamri na maano saiyyan, Hamri na maano sipahiya se pucchho, Jisne bajariya mein chheena dupatta mera. Inhin logon ne le liya dupatta mera(Pakeezah 1972). (These people have taken away my dupatta. If you don‟t believe me, my dear, You can ask this police constable, Refereed (Peer Reviewed) Journal www.ijellh.com 417 Volume III, Issue V, July 2015 – ISSN 2321-7065 who snatched my dupatta in the market). (Translation mine.) Pakeezah is the most perfect example of the representation of courtesans in Popular Indian movies. The above mujra, as Gayatri Gopinath observes: although light-hearted with a catchy tune and flirty lyrics, directly refers to the courtesan's capitulation and critique of the patriarchal discourses on feminine purity and propriety. She suggestively dances in front of her customers in the public space of the brothel ; she refers to the loss of sexual and moral purity she suffers as a result of patriarchal social mores as she sings these lines. The fetishistic gaze on the courtesan's feet references her sexual labur as well as her inner purity(Gopinath86). In Umrao Jaan, the courtesan is the poet, dancer and the temptress rolled into one as seen in the mujra: Dil chiz kya hai aap meri jaan lijiye, Bas ek baar mera kaha maan lijiye. Dil chiz kya hai aap mri jaan lijiye, Bas ek baar mera kaha maan lijiye(Umrao Jaan 1981). (My heart is an insignificant thing to ask for, I can offer my life to you but it is my request, please agree to my pleadings.)(Translation mine). Madhumalati Adhikari observes: The image of total surrender is highlighted by her provoking and graceful eyes, hands and body movements. Dressed in a traditional costume, adorned from head to foot with jewellery designed from Mughal paintings, encircled by animate and inanimate artifacts, she is a picture to be desired for. The exposed spectacle redefines our cultural history and Refereed (Peer Reviewed) Journal www.ijellh.com 418 Volume III, Issue V, July 2015 – ISSN 2321-7065 is a discourse on our custom (Adhikari11). Apart from these ever popular mujras from these classic movies based on courtesans, there are a number of other songs based on the courtesans which amply point to their central place in the song and dance repertoire of popular Hindi film from the mid of the twentieth century to the last decades of the same century. Majority of these mujras, apart from demonstrating the singing and dancing prowess of the courtesan, depict the eternal wait of a courtesan for true love: Bahot der se dar pe aankhen lagee thi, Hazoor aate aate bahot der kar di. Massehah mere beemar gum ki, Dawaa laate late bahot der kar di(Tavayaf 1985). (I waited for you but you took so long to come. O my saviour! You could have cured me of my grief, but you took so long to come.(Translation mine). or the mujra as a means of enticing the male audience: Salaam-e-ishq meri jaan zaraa kubool kar lo, Tum hum se pyaar karne ki zaraa si bhool kar lo. Mera dil bechein hai, Mera dil bechein hai humsafar ke liye (Muqaddar ka Sikandar1978). (Salute to love! I offer you my life. I plead you to commit the mistake of falling in love with me. My heart is so restless for a companion.)(Translation mine). Refereed (Peer Reviewed) Journal www.ijellh.com 419 Volume III, Issue V, July 2015 – ISSN 2321-7065 or depicting the pretence and hypocritical nature of society: Shareefon ka zamaane mein aji haal yeh dekha, Sharaafat chod di maine. Mohabbat karne waalon ka yahaan anjam woh dekha, Mohabbat chod di maine(Sharafat 1970) (When I saw the way the righteous conduct themselves in this world, I gave up righteousness. When I saw the way lovers are treated in this world, I gave up love). (Translation mine). But in all the cases, the courtesans has been represented and stereotyped in a particular way. She is represented as beautiful, elegant and graceful yet the sordid reality underneath that she is a woman who is excluded from respectable society is clearly evident. Stuart Hall observes: It is by our use of things, and what we say, think and feel about them-how we represent them- that we give them a meaning. We give them meanings by how we represent them – the words we use about them, the stories we tell about them, the images of them we produce, the emotions we associate with them, the ways we classify and conceptualize them, the values we place on them....The politics of representation examines not only how representation produces meaning but also how the knowledge which a particular discourse produces connects with power, regulates conduct, makes up or constructs identities and subjectivities, and defines the way certain things are represented, thought about, practised and studied(Hall5-6). Thus these courtesans films and mujras amply point towards the significant status of courtesan culture in Popular Hindi movies and also their ambiguous status in society. Without their contribution, Bollywood cannot be complete. But Bollywood keeps on changing and transforming itself depending on the needs and demands of its national and global audience. And Refereed (Peer Reviewed) Journal www.ijellh.com 420 Volume III, Issue V, July 2015 – ISSN 2321-7065 the shifting of focus from the mujras to item numbers can be attributed to this transformation. If a mujra is one of the oldest ways to use the courtesan‟s beauty to tempt the audience, an item number is a much bolder version of the mujra in terms of the lyrics, presentation and attire of the performer. Songs like saat samandar par main tere (Vishwatma1992) and tu cheez badi hai mast-mast (Mohra1994) can be seen as the very first instances of item songs in Bollywood which presented the heroine in a Westernised and bold avtar. Slowly and gradually, these songs also paved the way for such sequences like babuji zara dheere chalo, beedi jalai ley, munni badnaam, sheila ki jawaani, chikni chameli : Babuji zaraa dheere chalo, Bijli khari yahaan bijli khari. Nainon mein chingaariyaan, Gora badan sholon ki lari(Dum2003). (Walk slowly! O refined gentleman, Lightening itself is standing in your way. My eyes are filled with sparkle, And my fair- complexioned body is a bed of flames).(Translation mine).
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