Bombay, Meri Jaan

It is not often that you get two movies about Bombay releasing in the week. While one of them identifies a locality by name, the other pays tribute to the glittering film industry the city is home to. That makes it just the right week to look at ten songs/scenes that paid tributes to Bombay.
Some were about a locality, some about the entirety. Some were quirky, some hatke...

We bring you Filmy Friday, a column by Diptakirti Chaudhuri.
Diptakirti Chaudhuri is crazy about Bollywood. In fact, he is crazy enough to have written a book on Bollywood trivia. He can be found on Twitter and Blogger by his first name.

 Probably the quirkiest tribute (intended or not) to a Mumbai locality was paid in Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. Two con artistes – Sridevi and Anil Kapoor – arrived in disguise to steal a priceless artefact. Sridevi was Princess China Cheeni of Chinchpokli (which seemed to be located somewhere in between China, Chile and Cherrapunji) while Anil Kapoor was Prince Sing Batata of Dongri Wadala. And if the names weren’t crazy enough, they sang a song too!

  Q: What is common to Linking Road, Warden Road, Cadell Road and Peddar Road? A: These are the places (among others) where Salman Khan went looking for Raveena Tandon in Patthar Ke Phool. In a hit song from the not-so-hit movie, Salman and Raveena went skating (what seemed like) all over Mumbai hunting for each other and recounted their adventures on these landmark roads. By the way, did you know they also went to Turner Road, Carter Road, Charni Road and Arthur Road among others? Well, there is a clear Town-Bandra bias in the places they went to!

   No tribute to Bombay can be complete without pointing out the missing Church in Churchgate and missing bandars in Bandra. In Don (the classic version), a UP migrant squatted in front of Gateway, danced on Chowpatty and made Bombay his own, thus raising applause and hackles in equal measure. And remember, what the film taught us. The simple, do-gooder belonged to Bombay. The international don was on the run from eleven countries!

 When you have a movie called Haadsaa, they can only show Bombay as a city of perils. The opening song had lots of zooms and pans across the Bombay landscape as innocent citizens got chopped down in a hail of bullets and avalanche of tomato ketchup. That Bombay is the hotbed of 'accidents' is well known. With carjacking, poolside brawls, mugging and picked pockets, this song sealed that reputation. Even the hero got 'towed' away by a crane!

  Long before a Bombay slumdog played KBC with him, Anil Kapoor was hanging around with them on the streets. In Rakhwala, he was the standard-issue Bollywood tapori Robin Hood who spent his earnings from supari killings on street urchins by taking them to five-star hotels and claiming Bombay to be his. I miss these kinds of songs in Hindi cinema nowadays... supporting dancers who don't have toned bodies, the bystanders crowding around the 'shooting' and of course, the location – which is Gateway of India and not Golden Gate.

  When one tapori star has sung his tribute, can the other be too far behind? In Swarg, Govinda came to Bombay as a domestic help but ended up becoming a Bollywood star, thanks to the happy mix of talent and luck. And when he arrived, he expressed his love for his new-found home with a trademark Street-dancing number . “Bambai humko jam gayee” turned out to be yet another stepping stone in his journey to stardom.

    One tapori deserves a second. And a second deserves a third. Jackie Shroff was a Teen Batti tapori in real life and he sleepwalked through many roles like that in his reel life as well. In an eminently forgettable movie called Badmaash, he performed a song around that famous clarion call – Aamchi Mumbai. Bali Brahmbhatt – one of the many transient voices of the 90s – sang the number as Jackie celebrated the spirit of Mumbai atop a glowing double-decker bus.

  Taxi No. 9211 was the tale of an angry taxi driver and his equally angry passenger. As the edgy drama opened, Bappi Lahiri’s trademark vocals gave us an honest tribute to the City of Gold. Complaining about the ‘housefull footpaths’ of the city, the song captured the essence of Bombaii Nagariya brilliantly by comparing it to an addiction – “Utar gayi ragon toh nasha hai..

  Gharonda had two brilliant songs joined at the hip, tracing the life of a couple as they happily explored 1BHK (!) flats together and then only one of them was left, who desultorily dragged his feet through the same flats. The struggles of living in Bombay – whether you have a future to look forward to or not – was brought out in a tender, understated way as the couple went hunting for food and shelter. "Aabo dana dhoondte hain, aashiana dhoondte hain...

 Mohammed Rafi and Geeta Dutt sang The Bombay anthem in CID. The irony of a pickpocket asking people to be careful in the city of satta-patta-chori-race was contrasted with the heartlessness of the city while the female voice at the end brought out the fairness of the city. Quite surprisingly, this was probably the best song of the film but was not filmed on the (very handsome) hero but on character actors. But then, this song did not need a hero. It needed only a heroine. The one who wears a Queen's Necklace.