J
agga Jasoos, Anurag Basu’s upcoming film, which has been threatening to up and come for a couple of years now, promises to release enough songs to put the average fifties Hindi musical to shame. The saga of the film is already the stuff of a Shakespearean comedy – and “Galti Se Mistake”, one of its 29 songs, is likely to become one of the most interesting scenes in Much Ado About Jagga Jasoos. To the great surprise of absolutely nobody, Pritam has been accused of plagiarising a Mexican soundtrack for its melody.
Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics, however, paint a portrait of masculine rites of passage that is resolutely Indian. The song features Ranbir Kapoor as the man-child he plays best, singing about exciting things like stubble, flourishing chest hair, and body odour – all of which many Indian men continue to hold as definitive marks of masculinity. In doing this, Kapoor echoes several other filmic men who have sung about their burgeoning manliness with varying degrees of devotion to testosterone and sexual innuendo and taught generations of boys how to become men.
In the world of the Hindi film, it is de rigueur to break into song-and-dance routines at the onset of maleness. Much like an exaggerated swagger or expensive cologne, the singing and dancing is an overt and tangible assertion of a series of changes that are largely internal. Growth pangs, and the conflict that they breed in male hearts, have been summarised in “Main Aisa Kyon Hoon” from Lakshya. As a bound man dreams of breaking into a free-flowing dance and he asks Providence why he doesn’t know what he is supposed to do with himself. Life would have been easier for him had a grown-up informed him that the concept of adulting proficiently is an urban legend.
Growing up is hard, primarily because it is rife with change and discontinuity. Which is why perhaps, several cultures have constructed coming-of-age rituals for men: Their symbolism is meant to help young adults prepare for and accept massive life changes. In Gulaal, a yagna marks Ransa’s coming of age, who embarks on an election campaign at a college campus. As the campaign unfolds to the strains of “Aarambh Hai Prachand”, the lyrics reference the Mahabharata to describe how violent sacrifice defines manhood. The song offers a disturbing and insightful account of traditional ideas of masculine strength, and the kind of havoc they can wreak.
Most songs offer slightly dubious indicators of a blossoming manhood that almost always involve women. We’ve come a long way from the croonings of a young, eager Aamir in “Papa Kehte Hain” who sang about maturing in terms of filial expectations. Now we mature only when a finely shaped body enters the screen.
We’ve come a long way from the croonings of a young, eager Aamir in “Papa Kehte Hain.” Most filmic men now attain maturity when they aren’t just ogling at but practically devour the woman. Image Credit: Nasir Hussain Films Arjun Kapoor celebrates his first step into manhood after fraudulently deflowering the daughter of his grandfather’s political rival in Ishaqzaade. Image Credit: Yash Raj Films
