Sing a song of Bombay, hope is running dry

Lets go staccato Jaaved Jaaferi simply suggested to his cowriter Kiran Kotrial They did with an aptness and aplomb which catapulted I am Mumbhai from Kaizad Gustads 1998 film Bombay Boys to hit status No 1 on the charts for six weeks in a row stirring up a vibe about the city underbelly overrun by gangs of dons the rap piece fully soaked in the piquant flavours of BombayReviews raved from Ekdum jhakkas gaana to Pity the fools who dislike this either they arent from the glorious 90s or dont understand the lyrics Opening in English to soon skillfully segue Hindi with smatterings of Marathi and Gujarati its words distilled the core of bhaigiri Admission electiontelephone connectionconstruction permission illegal erectionpaisa nu collection paper nu correctionEverything perfection jabi leve bhai actionWith music by Ashutosh Phatak and Dhruv Ghanekar fiercely cadenced I am Mumbhai is honest from the getgo Mumbai ekdum danger placeWhere you survive if youve got the paceYouve gotta be fast youve gotta be tezYouve gotta be shaana to win the raceJaaferis unapologetic satire on the system refused to steer clear of robust expletives including one eventually beeped out after the initial ch syllable Popular culture then threw around vague phrases like kuttey kaminey as outrage which no one uses in roadside fights Without shying from reality we injected lingo as it is uttered the raw aggression of anger that erupts in swearing and cussingJaaved JaaferiMidsong he goes Chhota chhota matter baney police casebada bada lafda gul without traceghabraane ka nai give it in the faceTwenty years later Tony Sebastian aka Stony Psyko belted out the gritty ditty Aai shapath Saheb me navtho I swear on my mother it wasnt me about a man wrongly detained by the police The Marathi composition is by the Dopeadelicz group from MatungaDharavi This referred to a true incident says Tony who is from Tamil Nadu One night after an event my pals and I were pulled over for no reason except our appearancemdashlong hair and baggy clothes At the police station we were thrashed till luckily one cop asked what we do I sang a rap piece catching their attention They let us goA standout stanza is Utsavaath sankataath jeev dhokyaat gaalunThevthaat tumhi poorna lok sambhaalunRaksha karta karta shaheed zaley khoopYa sarva police aana majya salute In celebrations and bad situationsYou risk your life to save usMany have become martyrs protecting our livesI salute respect to all the police Hiphop has soaring currency observes Tony who has heard of cops bopping jauntily to Aai shapath on their phones When Vijay Maurya acting as the interrogator showed the video to a cop he knew the response was Dekha hum itna bhi bura log nahi hota haiSome songs enjoy a repurposed second life postdisaster Transformed with a poignantly slower lilt and fresh phrasing to reflect a citywide tragedy the reprisal of Bombay meri hai retained the cult recall of its original The 1969 score commissioned to attract foreign tourists was credited to Mina Kava Minoo Kavarana told by HMV to tweak his pucca Parsi name to a poppeppier version a friend of my parents As kids my brother and I giggled behind our hall curtain listening to the Bom bom bom bom refrain when he visited to share this Though his innocently titled earlier Evening in Gay Maharashtra won fans enough the adulation was unprecedented for Bombay meri hai sung by Uma Pocha Of her delicious ethnic diction punching the track Adi Pocha says My mothers forte was feeling the words She brought street joy to the songRight after the July 2005 flood fury citywide Usha Uthup and Adi Pochas soulful ballad repurposed the 1969 party hit Bombay meri hai originally sung by Usharsquos sister Uma Pocha PICSGetty Images and Adi PochaJuly 26 2005 changed the beat From an exotic chirrupy take on the city pain effectively accented Adis aunt and Umas famed sister Usha Uthups reworked version Everybodys picnicparty favourite morphed elegiacally after flood fury claimed hundreds of lives A paean to the kindness of strangers and to adaptability the wistful soundtrack wafted over actual reportage capturing the trauma interspersed with visuals of policemen dabbawalas and cabbies helping those stranded in neckhigh water Usha huskily inflected Even when it rains we just roll our sleeves and sayCome to Bombay come to Bombay Bombay meri hai And People come from everywhere from near and afarTo make a decent living or to be a superstarThey decide to stay and one day you will hear them sayCome to Bombay come to Bombay Bombay meri haiAs Adi says Rendered with different emotions this was suddenly filled with new meaning Zubin Balaporia rearranged an old melody as a heartfelt tribute essentially the same song evoking an entire other mood Pride Love for a complete meltingpot of a city The wonderful display of an indomitable peoples solidarity strength and resilienceRemo Fernandes during lockdown in Siolim Goa His 1987 release Bombay City ranks as a defining ode to endurance amid chaos Pic Zenia Santo Costa PereiraMusician Remo Fernandes confesses he saw no such spirit for the first five years he studied here After Goa a virtual paradise where I left my family friends and girlfriend Mumbai was a filthy chaotic polluted nightmare But when I kept returning to the city for concerts and recordings I really appreciated it Among its poorest is never an attitude of give up and die but of industry however legal or illegal hope and opportunity Which is more than one could say for other Indian cities in the 70sThe chorus for Bombay City came to him driving from Bandra for a distant spicy fish thali dinner Its flutefused chords rang Bom Bom Bom Bom BombayThey say youre going to blow awayBut I know you wont I know youll stayAlive and kicking till Judgement Day The remainder of the song eluded him for a while Maybe those chillies were to blame Remo quips I expected the rest as naturally as the chorus When I sat to write one day it flowedAmong the greats Remo has jammed with in Bombay are Zakir Hussain Trilok Gurtu members of Led Zeppelin and Queen Concerts with Zakir and Trilok were exciting with onthespot improvisation and creativity Zeppelin and Queen insisted on lip syncing My most memorable show with a rock artiste abroad was with Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull in DubaiRegarding rampant corruption as the countrys worst curse resulting in obscene disparity between the haves and havenots Remo says Nowhere is this ugliness visible starker than in Indian metros Perhaps Mumbai leads in this open display An opera on Mother Teresas life is a recent project he is close tomdashEvery bit from Teresa and the Slum Bum goes to charity I cannot say if Mumbai will feature again in future Inspiration strikes when you least expect itThe hero of Surabhi Sharmas documentary Bidesia in Bambai is music Specifically Bhojpuri songs soothing the distress of displacement experienced by struggler migrants from UP and Bihar Bidesia one who leaves home taxi drivers truckers tailors construction workers and odd jobbers crammed in ghettos on the neglected north fringe of Nalasopara express yearnings with colourful candour Prominent in her footage Ramanuj Pathak recorded an album in the 1990s Hundreds of aspirants boom out raunchy verses relieving sexual frustration and cabin fever in cooped bastis besides a chance to give vent to their suffering at the hands of ruthlessly exploitative landlords and intolerable bossesInterestingly explicit lyrics are framed for the voices of village women who boldly crave their mens attention City dancers gyrate seductively to these at packed shows often organised with stolen electricity One woman demands Saiyyan bring back a pair of jeans this cumbersome saree confines Ahead lies enticement pointing to heavy bosoms and sensuously cascading hair as she teases I have a sweet ache missing my belovedDont let a beautiful young bride wait alone Why go away when you can gaze at the whole world within mePlayback singer Kalpana Patowary in a still from Bidesia in Bambai Surabhi Sharmarsquos documentary on the bond Bhojpuri music forms between migrants and their North Indian hometowns Pic courtesy Surabhi SharmaSettled in Bombay since 2001 Kalpana Patowary from Assam is active on this circuit Singing spunky item numbers to softer romantic sequences she believes her success owes to the fact that she revels in the liberating playfulness of the language Describing separation pangs and erotic sublimation or indulging in sly earthy double entendre she says I freely interpret the music and will sing Bhojpuri bluesstyle if I want It is not only about physical desire but a vital bond connecting these lonely hardworking migrants with home Rather than dukhi tunes or devotional bhajans happy songs provide rightly needed distraction from their problems Unemployed frantic to head home under crippling circumstances a swift and brutal tilt of fortune sees them seek refuge in serious truths sensitively expressed Bhaiyya oh bhaiyya mazdoor bhaiyyaRooee hum dhunila kapda banailaKapda se bharal ha dukaanKi hamar beta langteh ghumeh ho Ram Brother oh my labourer brotherWe comb cotton we make clothShops are full of clothes made by usWhy are our children forced to walk nakedOf her protagonists Sharma presently in Abu Dhabi says With no public programme possible the lockdown must have deeply impacted Pathak His mainstay was performing at small and big functions Kalpana would be like most middleclass freelance professionals whose savings will buffer stoppage of earning Their music industry depends on contracts and daily wages with little or no permanent security available down the ladderAnother song line laments All relations with this world are breaking oh destiny Could any thought be more relevant todayAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay Reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmehermarfatiacomCatch up on all 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