Bollywood brought the NRI experience into the mainstream
(and made millions of dollars doing it). After a spate of NRI focused movies,
we had not only another demographic hooked onto Bollywood but also a cultural
narrative to discuss the “neither-here-neither-there” feeling that many in the
diaspora feel. Although the Bollywood portrayal of the diasporic experience is
hardly nuanced and heavy-handed on the “Mera Bharat Mahaan” trope[1],
it does represent a group of people who are often ignored in the popular
culture of both their home and adopted countries.
Sometimes when I’m in the mood to wallow in my NRI angst
I’ve wished that there was a convenient Bollywood playlist that I could access.
Unfortunately, although there are playlists for everything under the sun
including the oxymoronic “Best of Himesh Reshamiya”, there don’t seem to be too
many playlists catered to us. So I decided to put together one of my own. Below
are some of my most-played “NRI” songs, from Bollywood and beyond, in no
particular order.
1.
Mera Joota Hai Japani – Shree 420 (1955)
“Let’s start at the very beginning, a very
good place to start” – Maria Von Trapp
Shree
420 has nothing to do with NRIs and is instead about the birth of an
independent India, and the rural-urban, modern-old world conflicts that come
along with it. Yet the lyrics could be lifted straight from the diary of any
Indian student going abroad for the first time with gems like:
Upar
niche, niche upar, leher chale jeevan ki
High and low, low and high, the waves of
life flow
Nadaan hai jo baithe kinaare,
puche raah watan ki
Naïve are those who wait by the
shore and only look towards the motherland
And of course the iconic opening verse that
has become even more relevant in our globalized world:
Mera
joota hai Japani, yeh patlunn Englishtaani
My shoes are Japanese, these pants are
British
Sar pe lal topi Russi, phir bhi dil hai Hindustani
There’s a red Russian hat on my head, yet my heart is still Indian
I like this song because it reminds us that
these feelings of being lost between two worlds, of missing a home that exists
only in our imaginations, is not restricted to just confused desis, but has
been felt through the years in lots of different contexts.
