[10] The Upcoming Adult Presents: 18 Pretty Bad Films With Pretty Great Soundtracks

Is it easier to compose great music than it is to produce great movies? What a stupid question, I guess I'd say - had I not had so many experiences pointing in the opposite direction. Especially Indian movies often have a hard time convincing me of their cinematic quality - that is, since I've grown from being utterly fascinated by epic melodramas such as Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

However, it's a widely know fact that Indian movies like to focus on the musical aspect of cinema a lot more than movies from any other country. While the dancing varies from era to era and isn't that trendy today, the music has and will probably always be an important part of the Indian cinema. And this may be the explanation for why I've seen a bunch of Indian movies that were not much fun looking at but a lot of fun listening to.

There are some non-Indian movies too though, that shine with their soundtracks only, but as the amount of these is very little, you will find mostly Indian movies in this list of...

18 pretty great films with pretty great soundtracks, in no particular order.

Don't forget that it's a matter of taste - and mine can be a bit trashy when it comes to Indian movie songs. I'm also not saying that all songs from these soundtracks are that great. But do share your opinion with me!

Mette's 2011 Retrospect - The Music

The retrospect series continue... this time, we've come to the world of melodies and stuff like quints that I neither understand nor want to understand. 

It's true: even though I love music, I don't know much about it, and I have never studied it as intensely as movies, fashion or the solar system.

There are many people that know more about this, we conclude, and people who have found all the great tracks of 2011 that I haven't heard yet. I don't listen to a lot of new music.

That's why this post will not deal with say, the best albums or songs of 2011, but the wonderful songs that I discovered in 2011.

Soundtrack of the Month - November '11

The wonderful French romantic comedy I saw yesterday convinced me to have a soundtrack of the month this time, instead of just a song - a very special soundtrack, that is.

DIRTY DANCING. A film about music and coming-of-age, including a dash of 60s-nostalgia (those old enough to remember watching it on the silver screen might also say 80s-nostalgia). Countless teenage girls must have been introduced to it by their mothers when "the time was right" and fallen in love with not only the film, I'm sure. As for me, I didn't fall in love with Patrick Swayze for that matter, but the film initiated my chronic crush on dancing and the 60s - style, films, and especially music from that decade (or music inspired by it).

Short One on Music

It wasn't hard to choose this time's Song of the Month. Shaitan won the match of becoming Film of the Month, so I felt No Smoking earned this one. And the song is amazing.

Another reason why I chose it is, that last month film and song were American, and I felt I wanted to choose two Indian features for a change. 

So here it is, the Song of October 2011:

Phoonk De

by

Sukhwinder Singh (composed by Vishal Bharadwaj)

Soundtrack of "No Smoking" (2007)

You can listen to, and watch the film sequence, below.

Usually, I write a long post on the lyrics, meaning and feeling of the Song of the Month, but I don't have that much time today - school and stuff, you name it.

Rain according to Bollywood

„ Sullen clouds are gathering fast over the black fringe of the

forest.

O child, do not go out!

The palm trees in a row by the lake are smiting their heads

against the dismal sky; the crows with their dragged wings are

silent on the tamarind branches, and the eastern bank of the river

is haunted by a deepening gloom.

Our cow is lowing loud, ties at the fence.

O child, wait here till I bring her into the stall.

Men have crowded into the flooded field to catch the fishes

as they escape from the overflowing ponds; the rain-water is

running in rills through the narrow lanes like a laughing boy who

has run away from his mother to tease her.

Listen, someone is shouting for the boatman at the ford.

O child, the daylight is dim, and the crossing at the ferry

is closed.

The sky seems to ride fast upon the madly rushing rain; the

water in the river is loud and impatient; women have hastened home

early from the Ganges with their filled pitchers.

The evening lamps must be made ready.

O child, do not go out!

The road to the market is desolate, the lane to the river is

slippery. The wind is roaring and struggling among the bamboo

branches like a wild beast tangled in a net.  “


- The Rainy Day
Rabindranath Tagore

~ ~ ~

If this was the way Indian people experienced rain in the time of Tagore, that view has certainly changed under the influence of not only Bollywood, but surely also the South Indian film industries.

Song of the Month - September 2011

It's been quite a hard quest to decide which song would by my Song of the Month for september 2011... the "nominees" included The Last Unicorn (America), If You Want Me (Marketa Iglova) and I am a Man of Constant Sorrow (The Soggy Bottom Boys). Somehow, I always get stuck on film songs... The combination of picture, song and stories of both is quite magical and powerful in a way (due to their lack of story, music videos, in my opinion, fail to transfer that magic in the same way). 

Long story short, here's which song finally won the match:

Lose Yourself
by

Eminem

Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile, 2002

As always, here's the song, so you can listen while or before reading:

There's something you should know about my relation to this song: I have not seen the film 8 Mile. Nope. It's strange, I know, because I like this song so much (and I admit, I also like Eminem), plus the film's been on TV a few times but... somehow, destiny always came in between us.

Song of this Summer, 2011

Beera Beera

by

Vijay Prakash, Kuotane (additional vocals by Keerthi Sargathia & A. R. Rahman)

Soundtrack of "Raavan" (2010)

Of course, music needs to be listened to before one may couch it:

Click me to listen

or

Click me to listen

Beware, this song is addictive. Big time. It's one of the best songs that have ever sprung from Rahman's magic fingers or brain, or whatever makes him do what he does. 

The duration of about 3 minutes has been described as "tantalizingly short", and I though I have never heard that word before (looked it up in a dictionary), I know that it's true. The song isn't exactly short, actually, about the length of a typical western pop song, but you never want it to stop, you want those holy tunes to go on and on and on. 

Many of Rahman's best songs commence in a quite "strange" sounding way, which in my eyes is a clever step, as the brilliancy of the song shows off even more in that contrast. A rough voice sings "Aankhon mein jaan... oooo..." ("In his eyes his beloved", I believe), quickly followed by some "jungle tunes", as I call them - evoking pictures of a jungle and its strange residents in your mind. 

And now comes my favorite, favorite part... I am mad about this part. After I went crazy about this song, I kept hearing this part all the time, wherever I went, just - always. It doesn't even have any lyrics. Basically, and objectively, it's Rahman (the God!), singing "e-e-e-o, e-e-e-o-o, o-o-o-o-o...". Twice... oh, I must keep listening to it! It is... pure, pure magic, pure inspiration - pure music.

Then it's over, and the song begins for sure.

This is probably the addictive part for most of the people who love this song, and it is addictive, though not as much as my favorite part. Eh bien, qu'est-ce que c'est? Le refrain, évidemment. Basically consisting of... one word. A name. Ah, names with power - one word, one name is enough to awaken your senses... Better than "Main Hoon Don", way better, much more simple, just "Beera". 

"Beera ke das maathe, Beera ke sau naam,

chede jo Beera ko... dhamadhamdhamdham"

("Beera has ten heads, a hundred names - if someone taunts at Beera... dhamadhamdhamdham!")

He doesn't even have the coolest name on earth, he is also a God (like Rahman), immortal probably - and don't'u dare touch'm.  Ah, let's praise him even more by singing his name. (Vijay Prakash is a rrrrockstar, by the way).

I really like how they bring in the "jungle tunes" as the song goes by. You feel like you're standing in the middle of a jungle, and all those natives are dancing around you singing weird songs and playing weird instruments. In the middle of them Vijay Prakash, praising "Beera", the man who kidnapped you. Sorry, not the man - the God, who is frightening, brutal and above all that, well, plain awesome.

"Arey Beera udhti aandhi, Beera ek toofan,

saans mein uble agni - Beera jalti jaan, jaalti jaan..."

("Beera is a rising storm, Beera is a tornado, in his breath the fire is burning - Beera burning lives...")

I told you, he's awesome. I mean, he's kind of a human dragon, too, as we just found out. "Beera burning lives, burning lives, burning lives... Beera...".

"Janam naa poocho, jaat naa poocho,

poocho jo pehchan - Beera ka abhimaan hai, abhimaan hai..."

("Don't ask about his birth, don't ask about his caste, 'cause if you do ask, you'll realize - Beera's got ego...")

Maybe he doesn't wear suits, isn't well-groomed and he doesn't have a smoky voice - but Beera is a strict business person. He doesn't talk privacy with anyone, he's the Godfather of the jungle... 

I actually also love those verses... This song is just rock around the... ah, not clock... jungle. I think we should invent a new genre, "Jungle Rock". I mean, what else would "Beera Beera" be? Okay, "Rahman", most certainly, a genre that already contains many other Rahman songs unable to be put into the cupboard of genres... Most likely his best ones...

The rest of the song is not new in terms of lyrics. There's a repetition of the first verse and a lot of singing "Beera". Addictive, by the way. 

And then, it's over. It's just over. And you want to cry, cry your heart out, because this wasn't supposed to end - this was heaven! Heaven!

Hm... wait a minute... I once heard of the so-called "re-play" button... 

Oh, thank God! Thank you, Rahman and Beera (well, I called them "God", so...)! Oh, there it is again...

"Aankhon mein jaan... ooo..."

And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And a...

gain.

----------------------------

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.

Song of the Month (June 2011)

Almost since the very begin of this blog, I've had a Gadget called "The Month", where I choose a Song of the Month and a Movie of the Month - each month. It is always a song, and a movie, that I've listened to a lot/ seen the previous month, and that I'm just crazy about.

Because I always write at least one sentence (mostly much more) about every film I've seen in the previous month at the start of the new month (I'm not confusing anyone, am I?), I didn't find it necessary to make a whole post out of Movie of the Month. (Read about this month's movie, Devdas (2002) here).
However, Jack had the idea, that I could write about the songs I choose every month - you know, thoughts on them, and the reasons I choose them.

Why didn't I think of that? I love music, but it happens that I love a lot of things at the same time, so it's hard to write about all of those things (I even often think that I don't write enough about films).

Anyways, one post a month? I think I can handle that.

So, let me present to you, the Song of the Month, June 2011:

The Sound of Silence

by

Simon & Garfunkel (Soundtrack of "The Graduate)

There are two versions of this song, one is more calm and acoustic, while the other one has some more instruments and is a bit "louder". Both are used in the film, but the last one more frequently. 

Here's the last one I mentioned:

I can't find the acoustic version on youtube, but you can buy it or listen to it on iTunes.

Both versions are awesome, but I think that the acoustic version is just a little, tiny bit better, because it... it really comes from the heart, do you know what I mean? (Though it sounds corny, yes, I know).

And after some time, when you've listened to the song like... 10 times or more, and you look up the lyrics... you will be even more enchanted of this masterpiece, and in awe of the two musical Gods that wrote and sung this song (I'm not sure if they also composed it...), because the lyrics are so poetic and true, and... awesome. Simply awesome.

My classmates were quite annoyed by the song - it appears a lot in the film, and every time it did, you could hear sighing from every corner of the room. After we finished the film, some went like "Yeah, great movie, ya know, awesome soundtrack..." and stuff like that (I mean, they said it in a very sarcastic way), while I was still up in the air/ the movie... (Oh, I forgot that, in case you didn't know: we watched the film in English class, in school).

It has been a really long time since I've been so obsessive about a song... Of course, I often find music that I love and listen to a lot, but it's not like this most of the time... 

I'm not an expert concerning love and all that, but I think you can be truly in love with a song, maybe even more than a film...

Here are some of the songs I've been falling in love with over the past few years:

Acoustic version of "Thinking of You" that Katy Perry sang at the KISS FM Spring Live Lounge (before she became famous).

Katy Perry is one of my favorite singers, but her new album is kind of crappy. Her voice has been modified in every song, and most of the songs seem so fake, just mediocre pop-crap.

The first album is wonderful, but the very best is when she sings her old songs live...

Straight from the heart (here it is, again).

"Never Think" by Robert Pattinson (please ignore the video, just listen)

You can discuss Twilight, even I don't think they're good films, I mean... they're just candy, if you get that... You can also discuss Robert Pattinson, and I understand that a lot of people don't like him, also because they've mostly not seen more of his films, except for... Twilight.

But this song. This song is wonderful, just wonderful.

And I won't discuss that.

----------------------------------------------

Writing about music wasn't as hard as I had imagined, though I haven't really written that much.

So, what do you think - do you like this new feature? Would you like me to write more about the songs, or are there any other improvements you can think of? I'd like to hear all of your thoughts.

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.