Before the King Princesses and Troye Sivans arrived on the queer-pop music scene, and prior to my shift from 9xM to VH1 India (because someone had told me that I could finally listen to Taylor Swift’s Love Story), there were Bollywood songs! Don’t be shy, let’s admit it – we all had a notebook to jot down all the latest lyrics, which may have eventually become a Word document upon discovering genius and gaana.com.
Amidst these changes and shifts, we’ve tried to find our own experiences from the pre-existing database of songs we have grown up with. While no one could understand why your 13-year-old self was intensely ruminating about Riya from C division instead of completing your english homework, somehow Atif Aslam in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’s Tu Jaane Na did. Even though you did a terrible job at keeping up with the English bits of it (it’s actually: <<shining in the shade in sun like; A pearl upon the ocean; Come on heal me>> you can thank me later!).
As I turned older and queer-er, I was forced to face the song that had zapped my baby bi brain: Crazy Kiya Re from Dhoom 2. I am 24 years old now and I have moved on from Dhoom 2 to depressingly comforting Mitski or even a Sabrina Carpenter for a quick shot (pun intended) of dopamine. Yet, I can’t help but come back to these Bollywood hits, which I now listen to with a newfound perspective. Let’s take a look at some of my fave lyrics revisited with a queer audio-filter!
1. Girls like to swing – Sunidhi Chauhan, Dil Dhadakne Do
Lyrics:
Girls Like To Swing..Swing..
Zara Aage Nikal Ke..Swing..
Naye Rango Mein Dhal Ke..Swing..
Andaaz Badal Ke..
Yaani Hichkichana Nahi Hai..Swing..
In the video, we see Priyanka Chopra with slicked back hair, dressed in an all-black ensemble made up of straight pant – vest combo. She takes charge and dips Anushka Sharma who is sporting a frilly, pastel-coloured dress. While watching it, you can’t help but notice some queer undertones! It’s giving femme, fluid, and fruity, and we’re here for it.
Taking the movie’s plot into consideration, the lyrics obviously foreshadow these characters’ struggle with freedom from patriarchal practices that dictate marriage as the appropriate route to ‘settling down’, and the instant female-bonding feels like queer liberation as the lyrics emphasis on swinging! IYKWIM.
2. Thug Le – Shweta Pandit & Vishal Dadlani, Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl
Kudiyan nu thug le … hey
Mundeya nu thug le … hey
An entire generation raised on 9XM and MTV India was busy learning the hook step to this song. As the track ends, there were bi babies coming into their own queer awakening.
The movie might have flopped (did it, though?) but the songs of Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl popped off and how! While the gen-Z kids were busy learning the hook step to the song, between Ricky’s (Ranveer Singh) hair swaying to the rhythm and Ishika (Anushka Sharma) grooving in her heels, there were queer babies like me experiencing bi-panic for the first time!
As the song ends on a strong note of bi agenda that’s been seared into my brain.
3. Kadam – Prateek Kuhad, Karwaan
Lyrics:
Main ghadi ghadi;
Bekhabar hi tha;
Kya raaz mere;
Dil mein hai chupaa;
Hai naam kya mera?
From the film Karwaan, the story revolves around 3 misfits, some who keep chasing their goals and others who have given up. Yet, the feeling of being out of touch with your own body and mind is not so unfamiliar with queer & trans folks. From being in denial to having no choice but to face and accept the internal change, while questioning the past, the process is familiar to many of us. Coming out, figuring the labels, googling gender-affirming resources, and navigating the loss of the previous self, the lyrics highlight the battle of wanting to change but the hopelessness felt when failing to be able to do so.
4. Jaane Kyon – Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Dil Chahta Hai
Lyrics:
Jaane kyon log pyar karte hain
Jaane kyon woh kisi pe marte hain
Bollywood is yet to have its own queer version of the coming-of-age trope, where a group of gay friends come together for a trip. But, Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai seeded the idea for millennials and gen-Z kids anyway! Aamir Khan’s character keeps bantering with Preity Zinta’s about hating on the concept of love. And, look, I agree that cynicism is the main trait of his character, but stepping out of the hetero-tinted glasses, not everyone is looking for their “one”, (or more than one, in case you’re polyamorous!).
The character may be singing it out of emotional immaturity, but when you revisit with an understanding of aro-ace-ness, it challenges the hetero-patriarchal idea that romantic partnerships are more fulfilling than other forms of love. You can’t blame him for questioning it, considering friendship is anyway used as an important plot tool in the movie as a solution to their interpersonal issues. So yes, don’t mind me asking Jaane Kyun Log Pyaar Karte Hain even after the movie ends.
5. Kaisi Paheli Zindagani – Sunidhi Chauhan, Parineeta
Lyrics
Nayi, nayi nahi yeh baatein, yeh baatein hai purani
Kaisi paheli hai yeh kaisi paheli zindagani
Thamma haan roka isko kisne, haan yeh toh behta pani
Kaisi paheli hai yeh kaisi paheli zindagani
Okay, now that we have gotten that out of our way, Parineeta’s song starring Rekha as the oh-so-fabulous lead singer with a moulin rouge-esque backdrop, features lyrics that sync with the film’s plot. It follows the complicated lives that the characters in the movie lead. Keeping my unhealthy obsession with Rekha’s red saree in this song aside, the lyrics throw light on how these conversations were never new to begin with and that no one could stop its course.
Given the context of how certain peeps insist on brushing off queerness and our existence as something borrowed from the ‘West’, the lyrics “Nayi, nayi nahi yeh baatein, yeh baatein hai purani” can be interpreted as a response to them. These conversations that are often dismissed as “westernizing” have always existed and have historically been documented as well. As puzzling as it is to be on the receiving end of their rootless critique, true to the words, nobody can stop us from exercising our individual free will. Life moves on with or without bigotry.
6. Kukkad – Nisha Mascarenhas, Marianne D’cruz, Shahid Mallya, Vishal–Shekhar; Student of the Year
Lyrics:
Oh seena 6 biscuit da
Oh munda 6 foot da
Oh dheere dheere karda dhamaal sa
Oh munda kukkad kamaal da
Do I hate the fact that Rohan (Varun Dhawan) and Abhimanyu (Siddharth Malhotra) don’t end up together? Yes. Is my letterboxd review for this movie an elaborate think piece on this? Yes. On a different note, Student of the Year (SOTY) explores a love triangle between Rohan, Abhimanyu, and Shanaya (Alia Bhatt). The movie deals with themes of jealousy, ambition, and betrayal. Kukkad is the song that introduces Abhimanyu to the other two protagonists. Sung from a male POV, the lyrics describe everything from his physical attributes to his persona. I have nothing more to add except, why are you as a grown man describing another man’s abs in such detail? Or maybe SOTY walked so that The Challengers could run (I am being so unserious right now).
7. Isq Risk – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan; Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
Lyrics:
Naina laage toh jaage
Bina dori ya dhaage
Bandhte hai do naina khwaab se
Na ata ho, na pata ho
Kore naino mein koi aa base
Kaisa yeh isq hai, ajab sa risk hai
This Imran Khan, Ali Zafar, and Katrina Kaif starrer is yet another love triangle film that released in 2011. Back then, I was busy learning the choreography of Ra.one’s Chammak Challo instead of watching this film. The film managed to grab the attention thanks to its fun, spunky playlist, revealing the confusion, realization, and acceptance of Kush (Imran Khan) as he allows himself to fall in love with his brother ki dulhan, through music.
This is relatable because us queer folks go through such a non-linear journey of coming to terms with so many fundamental things about ourselves, including attraction. The lyrics echo this emotion of attraction being out of your control, which is oft-debated by the bigots. They think that [queer] attraction is a choice and not instinctive. Despite the lack of important laws safeguarding us and our privacy, and increased risk of hate crimes and isolation, queer folks continue to strive for the isq that comes with the risk. Awaiting the day where this part of our lives is not a canon event that everyone of us has to go through.
Oldie But Queer Goldie; An Honorable Mention
As I sit and listen to Mukesh’s lyrics from the movie Anand: “Meine tere liye hi saath rang ke sapne chune”, I cannot help but think that maybe it is queer. Maybe it is not, but growing in a pop culture space completely consumed with the concept of a cis-boy and cis-girl falling in love repeatedly, it doesn’t hurt a little to daydream about them from a completely queer perspective.
