Foreign Artists, Indian Music (Part 2)

Our musical journey continues, as we look at some more instances of foreign artists making music in India. Check out Part 1 first. This list starts from number 4 onwards.

4. ‘Singh is Kinng (Title Track)’ from Singh is Kinng (2008), feat. RDB and Snoop Dogg

This was a joint effort British-Indian band RDB and Snoop Dogg, and Akshay Kumar also rolled in a rap verse. It climbed high on the music charts and it is still a great track, unlike the mess in Chiggy-Wiggy with Kylie Minogue.

And here’s why : All the artists gel seamlessly. Its an array of guys boasting about greatness, matching the vibe of the film’s title and the lyrics. Now most of Singh is Kinng is just silly comedy, but it kept reverting to the emotion of being great and doing great things and doing what is right. So even though Akshay Kumar plays a village bumpkin, we accept his kingliness as the film ends. Snoop Dogg piggybacks on it and raps :

“Singh is king ,
And Snoop D-O double G is also the king!”

The music video features Snoop Dogg and RDB, Akshay Kumar and the cast of Singh is Kinng. And of course there is the cliche dancing around the Taj Mahal. RnB artists like Usher, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg were enjoying immense popularity at that time, and this song was a hit, even though it just played over the end credits.

5. ‘Boro Boro/Bure Bure’ from Bluffmaster! (2005), feat. Arash

Swedish-Iranian singer Arash Labaf’s hit track Boro Boro was featured in Bluffmaster!, starring Abhishek Bachchan. The song was a hit among me and my peers, even though none of us knew what he was singing. Years later, I found out he was singing about moving on from a love-interest gone rouge, and warning her to stay away. And then they randomly sprinkled the word Punjabi into it. It was fun.

The soundtrack of Bluffmaster! was full of novelty.

Abhishek Bachchan tried a hand at rapping with ‘Right Here Right Now.’
Arash appeared in Boro Boro, and then with Danish-Pak singer Aneela Mirza on ‘Say Na Say Na’. (Trivia : Aneela Mirza and Arash also jammed together on ‘Chori Chori’ which is a cover for the iconic song Informer by Snow. Tell that to your friends when they play Con Calma.)

London-based Band Trickbaby featured on the OST with their tracks Nine Parts of Desire, and Neela (the trippy one which plays when Abhishek Bachchan gets dizzy. Spoiler. Whoops) .

Overall, Bluffmaster was solid. As for Boro Boro, the song is still popular. You don’t believe me? Go to Youtube and see how many are listening in 2020 and how many are praying to protect it from the 2020 song remake mafia.

Bonus : If Bilal Göregen’s drumming videos made you smile in 2020, check out his organic version of Boro Boro! More proof that the track is still a banger.

6. ‘Kya Maine Socha/One Love’ from Rakht (2004), Shaan X Blue

One Love by Blue remains an immensely popular track. When it came out eighteen years ago, I would sing along and do the ‘boy band walk’ and the ‘boy band hand gestures’. You know what I am talking about. If you know, you know. One Love was the song. It was up there in every Indian kid’s favorite English songs list.

So when ‘Kya Maine Socha’ was first heard in the melodious voice of Shaan, enraged fans chanted in unison ‘COPY! COPY! COPY! COPY!’
But wait! It wasn’t an Anu Malik-esque ripoff, it was official. So the fans put down their pitchforks and the song was played over and over again till the Hindi lyrics overwrote ‘One love, foh da city streechts. One love, foh da hippap beez.’ (We all had that one friend who did the accent.)

The music video of this song is quintessentially 2000s. Guy in white clothes with colorful shades? Check. Walking towards camera and gesturing? Check. Background dancers having a seizure as the hero looks at the camera and mouths words seriously? Check. Camera bobbing as it zooms in and out? Check! And then there is the girl in denim shorts.

Everything about this song was fun, except Shaan’s aalap and the tabla beat towards the end. That part is still not so great, simply because it doesn’t belong in a song like this. But I admit, I will still sing along. 100%. Heck Yeah.